Helping Your Family Thrive: A Practical Guide to Parenting With Positive Behavior Support

How can parents identify their strengths and needs, enhance their family functioning, and lay a foundation for positive behavior in children of all ages? Positive behavior support (PBS) is the key—and this is the book every family needs to master this proactive, problem-solving process.

Evidence-based, culturally sensitive, and family friendly, the PBS process in this book is an ideal way to prevent challenging behaviors before they occur and improve overall quality of life for whole families. Written by a team of behavior experts and parents, this book guides families through five critical steps:

1. Identifying family strengths, challenges, and needs through a preliminary self-assessment
2. Creating a family vision and expectations based on shared core values
3. Arranging the environment (family space and time) to promote success
4. Teaching and rewarding desired behavior and responding to misbehavior
5. Monitoring outcomes and problem-solving challenges

A reader-friendly guide that should be on every family’s bookshelf, Helping Your Family Thrive will show parents how to approach their children's behavior proactively and positively—and structure their home life so that every family member thrives.

PRACTICAL MATERIALS:Throughout the book, practical exercises, worksheets, and in-depth case studies illuminate what successful PBS looks like and help parents implement it successfully. Parents will also get 10 ready-to-use downloads, including fillable forms for identifying needs and goals, developing a Family PBS Plan, and monitoring progress.

Have specific behavior issues to solve? Check out the companion book Resolving Your Child's Challenging Behavior!

Meme was a consultant, researcher, educator, and advocate working with organizations that support children with significant behavioral challenges and providing information and resources through teaching and nonprofit work. She was married for over 30 years and had two young adult sons. Meme held a Ph.D. in Special Education and was certified as a behavior analyst. She published a variety of articles, chapters, and three books. She developed a comprehensive video and training package on PBS for parents of children with autism and other developmental disabilities and was a regular contributor to Parenting Special Needs Magazine. Meme worked with children with severe behavioral challenges and their families for over 30 years. She was a residential program manager, behavior specialist for a school district, staff member for a program assisting families and professionals of children with autism, adjunct instructor at USF, director of a state-wide PBS project helping schools to implement proactive, evidence-based interventions, co-training coordinator for the National Research and Training Center on PBS, research director of the Positive Family Intervention Project at USF, director and developer of the ABA and autism programs at All Children’s Hospital, and Co-Principal Investigator of a National Institute on Health-research study focused on behavioral parent education. She taught Masters’ level courses in applied behavior analysis, consulted with agencies that provide family-focused behavioral support, and lead a nonprofit organization called the Home and Community Positive Behavior Support Network (https://hcpbs.org/).

Sarah is a researcher, trainer, behavior analyst, and systems consultant supporting children, youth, families, and schools in meeting the needs of students with challenging behavior. Sarah has worked in the area of Positive Behavior Supports since 2012 when she completed an advanced practicum at All Children’s Hospital. Her area of emphasis during her doctoral training in School Psychology at the University of South Florida was family-focused behavioral interventions. Under the supervision of Meme Hieneman, Sarah delivered and evaluated the outcomes of informational workshops and intensive positive behavior support to families experiencing a wide range of challenging child behavior. After her graduate training, Sarah moved to Massachusetts and worked as a doctoral intern in specialized schools for individuals with Brain Injuries and Autism Spectrum Disorders. There, she provided training in proactive, positive behavioral intervention to teachers, families, and residential staff. Sarah’s applied experiences with youth and families across school, hospital, and clinic settings contribute to her current work focused on family-focused strategies as the key to student success.

Sarah is now an Associate Professor of School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she has trained graduate students and engaged in research and service delivery related to positive behavior support for families since 2013. Her most recent project focused on providing family education through schools, teaching parents to prevent and manage challenging behavior at home. This project involves implementing multiple types of family education using a multi-tiered model, with some proactive strategies available for all families with children in the school and more intensive education offered to families of students with more significant challenging behaviors.

Shane is an entrepreneur, organizational performance consultant, and behavior analyst who earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in behavior analysis from the University of North Texas. After graduate school, Shane moved back to the Pacific Northwest with his heart set on utilizing behavioral science to make socially significant changes in the places where people spend the most of their time: home and work. In 2007, he founded West Coast Behavioral Consultants, which housed two divisions: Optimal and Blueprints. Optimal focused on performance improvement within organizations. Blueprints focused on intensive family-centered intervention for families with children at risk of out-of-home placement due to their severe challenging behavior. In 2010, Shane founded a sister company in Vancouver, BC, Canada (W.C. Behavioural Consultants). Applying his expertise in positive behavior support to children and families' needs, Shane and his team of highly skilled practitioners collaborated closely with Dr. Hieneman to build a rigorous family-centered behavioral intervention program, including a comprehensive parenting program, Family Foundations©. Blueprints gained a reputation for producing transformational change and keeping children in their homes rather than out-of-home placements. Intending to bring these services to even more families, in 2015, Shane merged with a multi-site allied health services agency in Puget Sound, bringing Blueprints with him to his new partnership. Blueprints expanded its offerings by adding a preschool program, an early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI), and psychological services. With twenty years of specialized experience and expertise in supporting families with children with significant behavioral challenges, Shane now consults with behavioral health agencies to establish/improve and sustain quality clinical practices, systems, and tools.

Missy is a Parent Advisor at PEAK Parent Center, consulting with families, service providers, and educators on inclusive education practices for students with disabilities. She designs and delivers online and live training sessions for families and educators in areas such as effective communications and advocacy skills, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Accommodations and Modifications, Developing Friendships, and IEP Facilitation. She contributes to the PEAK Parent Center Blog and is a certified IEP Facilitator. She is also Certified Nurses Aid for her daughter. She was a Colorado Special Education Advisory Committee member for 7 years and has served on numerous Advisory Committees for the Colorado Department of Education’s Exceptional Student Services Unit. Missy graduated with high honors from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering. She has completed post-graduate work in the field of Human Resource Development at Webster University.

Glen Dunlap, Ph.D., has been involved with individuals with disabilities for more than 45 years and has served as a teacher, administrator, researcher, and university faculty member. He has directed numerous research and training projects and has been awarded dozens of federal and state grants to pursue this work. He has authored more than 250 articles and book chapters, co­edited numerous books, and served on 15 editorial boards. He was one of the founders of the Association for Positive Behavior Support, and served terms as treasurer and president of that organization. He is also the lead author on each of the books in the PTR series. Dr. Dunlap was a founding editor of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions and served for 10 years as the editor of Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. Dr. Dunlap lives in Reno, NV and is affiliated with the University of Nevada, Reno.