1. Building everyday life skills

Supporting someone to develop skills and confidence with everyday activities such as cooking, meal planning, managing money, shopping, using public transport or organising their daily routines.

2. Exploring goals, interests and opportunities

Working alongside someone to discover their strengths and passions, explore hobbies, build social connections, investigate volunteering or employment opportunities and try new experiences.

3. Supporting life transitions

Helping someone navigate significant life changes, such as moving out of home, starting a new job, leaving school, transitioning into adulthood or adjusting to a new living arrangement.

4. Building communication, confidence and self-advocacy

Supporting people to express their preferences, communicate their needs, make informed choices, develop relationships and have greater control over decisions that affect their lives.

Developmental Education can make a meaningful difference for people of all ages and at every stage of life. It’s about recognising individual strengths, exploring possibilities and working alongside people to build the skills, confidence and opportunities to live life their way.

We know that effective support starts with truly understanding the person. That’s why we’ve shared one of our DE resources below – a helpful tool for exploring an individual’s sensory needs and understanding how sensory experiences may influence feelings, responses and behaviours.

The post What does a Developmental Educator (DE) actually do? first appeared on One Tribe Australia.

A: Whether holding your son tightly during an autistic meltdown is classified as a regulated restrictive practice under the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission or state bodies (like South Australia’s DHS Restrictive Practice Unit) comes down to three factors: intent, consent, and its link to a ‘behaviour of concern’.

Under NDIS rules, physical restraint is explicitly defined as the use of physical force to prevent, restrict, or subdue movement for the primary purpose of influencing or controlling a person’s behaviour. When evaluated through a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) framework, the classification hinges on whether the hug is used to override or stop a behaviour or to deliver voluntary sensory co-regulation using proprioceptive input (proprioceptive: your body’s internal “sixth sense” that sends feedback from muscles and joints to help you understand where your body is in space, how it is moving, and how much force to use).

If the hug is not directly linked to stopping a behaviour; given purely to support sensory processing during neurological distress. Applied specifically to stop, block, or manage a target behaviour of concern – such as absconding (running off), wandering, verbal aggression, hitting, or self-injury.

Primary Intent: Soothing the nervous system using deep pressure (proprioceptive input). Subduing, restricting, or overpowering physical movement to force compliance, prevent running, or stop an action.

Bodily Autonomy & Consent: The child seeks, accepts, or welcomes the hug. Releasing occurs immediately if they pull away or say “no.” Movement is physically restricted regardless of the child’s active resistance, verbal refusal, or pulling away.

NDIS / DHS Status: This is not a restrictive practice. Viewed as non-coercive physical guidance/support.

If however, this is a regulated physical restraint it requires formal authorisation and an approved Behaviour Support Plan (BSP).

Real-World Public Scenario: The Local Shopping Centre

Imagine walking through a busy shopping centre packed with fluorescent lights, echoing chatter, food court smells, and dense crowds. For an autistic child, this environment can trigger severe sensory overload. As their nervous system shifts into fight-or-flight, their internal body map scrambles – their brain temporarily loses track of where their body ends and the chaotic room begins.

First the overload: Standing near noisy supermarket checkouts, sensory input peaks. The child experiences a meltdown, displaying behaviours of concern like verbal aggression (yelling/screaming) or attempting to abscond or wander through the crowded aisles to escape the noise.

Next the sensory seek: Realising they are unsafe and overwhelmed, the child reaches for their parent, pulls on their arm, or leans heavily against their legs – seeking intense physical contact to “reset” their nervous system.

Response is a proprioceptive hug: The parent squats down and offers a firm, squeeze-like hug. The deep touch input activates receptors in the child’s muscles and joints, sending immediate signals to their brain saying, “Here is where your physical body is, you are grounded, and you are safe.”

The outcome: Because the pressure was requested and welcomed to relieve neurological distress (rather than applied as force to subdue them) it acts as a therapeutic anchor, not a restrictive practice.

Our Neuroaffirming PBS Perspective: Meltdowns Are Not “Behaviours of Concern” A neuroaffirming approach recognises that an autistic meltdown is an involuntary neurological overload response, not a deliberate “behaviour of concern” to be managed or suppressed. Many autistic individuals rely on heavy proprioceptive input (such as tight hugs, compression, or deep pressure) to re-anchor their sensory systems during overwhelming states. Behaviours like absconding, wandering, or verbal aggression are distress responses to sensory overload or anxiety.

Restraint : If you physically grab and lock your arms around a child specifically to stop them from running away or shouting against their will, the NDIS framework classifies this as a physical restraint.

Co-Regulation : If deep pressure is offered with their consent to help ground them so they no longer feel the internal urge to run or scream, it is sensory co-regulation.

Questions to assist you to identify the ‘purpose’ of your hug:

Is the hug a response to sensory distress or an attempt to interrupt a target behaviour? (If it’s to calm an overwhelmed nervous system at the child’s invitation, it’s co-regulation. If used forcibly to block absconding, wandering, or aggression, it crosses into behavioural physical restraint.)

Does the child have freedom of exit? (If you loosen your hold and he chooses to stay, it is co-regulation. If he tries to escape and you exert force to hold him in place, it becomes a restraint.)

Are self-directed sensory alternatives available in the community? (Offering compression shirts, weighted backpacks, portable lap pads, or heavy-work activities like pushing a shopping trolley allows him to access identical proprioceptive grounding on his own terms.)

The post Q: Is hugging my child during meltdown considered a restrictive practice? first appeared on One Tribe Australia.

Physical agression (ie, hitting)
Verbal agression (ie, yelling or threatening behaviour)
Property damage (ie, breaking objects)
Inappropriate or unwanted sexual behaviour
Unsafe impulsive behaviour
Self-injury
Any behaviour that limits participation or quality of life

If you have identified this (being mindful that some behaviours can be developmentally appropriate ie in young children), it may be time to involve a Developmental Educator (DE) or Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner (PBSP).

How can a DE or PBSP help?

The role of a DE or a PBSP is to observe, to listen and establish the ‘why’ or the underlying factors that might be prompting or leading to the behaviour. They can then provide strategies, teach and reinforce skills that help the person communicate needs and achieve what they want without behaviours of concern. This usually involves a number of different angles, such as:

Understanding the behaviour: identify triggers, unmet needs, communication difficulties, pain, or sensory issues.

What’s happening in the environment: reduce noise, crowding, waiting times or other known triggers.

Trauma-informed support: we’ll consider the person’s history, preferences, relationships and experiences of previous interventions.

Early intervention: recognise signs of escalation and respond before a crisis develops.

Communication supports: visual schedules, communication devices, choice boards, social stories or simplified instructions.

Offering meaningful choices: give the person control over activities, routines, food, clothing or where appropriate, their environment.

Proactive sensory strategies: provide appropriate sensory activities, quiet spaces or movement opportunities where these are known to help.

Skill development: teach coping, emotional regulation, communication, problem-solving and self-advocacy skills.

Collaborative planning: involve the person, family, carers and relevant allied health professionals in developing strategies.

Relationship-based support: build consistency, trust and familiarity between the person and their support team.

De-escalation: use calm communication, give space, reduce demands where appropriate and support the person to regain control. 

Through this understanding, Developmental Education and Positive Behaviour Support each seek to address and understand the underlying reasons for behaviours of concern, help the person to communicate their needs more effectively, and improve quality of life.

Do I want to engage a Developmental Educator or a Postive Behaviour Support Practitioner?

If there are restrictive practices (a practice that limits or stops a person from using harmful behaviours), you must have a Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner and there must be a Support Plan (as per legislation). If you have Improved Relationships funding you can access Positive Behaviour Support.

If you have Improved Daily Living funding – look into a Developmental Educator. IDL funding & accessing support of a DE can also be useful while awaiting funding to be granted for Improved Relationships. A DE is able to support participants when there are no restrictive practices.

The post There are behaviours of concern…now what? first appeared on One Tribe Australia.

Our core purpose is to help clients get the support they need to live their best life.​ Our Employment Support Coordinators are neuro-affirming, trauma aware, and equipped with multi-disciplinary and real life experience, and utilise creative solutions to help clients to flourish and thrive.

If you’d like to know more about our Employment Support services, you can read our Service Guide here:

The post Employment Support at One Tribe Australia first appeared on One Tribe Australia.

At One Tribe Australia, we are committed to providing support as outlined in the ‘Best Practice Standards’.
Wherever possible, our PBS Practitioners are registered with the NDIS, are Proficient Practitioners, and are highly skilled and enthusiastic, generally wonderful humans. Our team lives out their belief that providing PBS support is not about changing people – it is about changing systems, mindsets, and environments so that people feel free to live authentically. We are committed to walking alongside our participants and their communities with compassion, curiosity, and respect.

Our core purpose is to help your clients get the support they need to live their best life. Our Practitioners are neuro-affirming, trauma aware, and equipped with multi
disciplinary and real life experience, including understanding of alternative methods of communication (AAC) and the utilisation of creative solutions to help clients to flourish
and thrive.

If you’d like to know more about our Positive Behaviour Support services, you can read our service guide here:

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Empowering Independence – Enhancing Support

The National Assistance Card is a free, personalised card designed to support people with disability or health conditions in everyday situations. It provides a quick, discreet way to communicate essential information to first responders, customer service staff, or the public, whenever needed.

Key benefits include:

Improved Safety – Share critical details during an emergency (eg, communication needs, medical conditions).

Ease of Communication – Helps explain support needs without verbal explanation.

Increased Confidence & Independence – Feel more secure navigating public spaces or unfamiliar settings.

Recognised Australia wide – Easily understood by emergency services and community workers across the country.

Customisable – Includes your chosen support needs and emergency contact information

This card is available to anyone with a cognitive impairment, psychosocial disability, neurological condition, communication difficulty, or other health / disability-related support needs.

Ask your Support Coordinator today and they will be happy to assist you to see if you are eligible and set up your card.

*^{Specific eligibility criteria apply and is outside of OneTribeAustralia’s control.}

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