Press Reviews

• Darren Parnell, Principal Practitioner – Disability and Out of Home Care, Department of Health and Human Services, Victoria, Australia

  Following the presentation of my shiny new Positive Behavioural Support practitioner badge, Tony gave me a gentle nudge back into Serviceland along with this reminder: "your presence is a promise". Those words were significant and still resonate. This book is a practical, meaningful tour de force that expands on those words and then some. It is a must read for anyone interested in elephants, robots, humans, exploring, and of course, understanding challenging behaviour from a person-centred perspective.

• Sarah Leitch, Director of Development, BILD

  This is a person-centred book by a person-centred writer. Tony Osgood makes Positive Behaviour Support both accessible and achievable and focuses us directly on the values on which all support should be based. It tells us in simple terms how to do things with people instead of to them and how to work together with families instead of against them. We need more books like this please.

• Dr Anne MacDonald, Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow

  Osgood states that "challenging behaviour often means someone is experiencing a challenging life" and this theme runs throughout this excellent book, encouraging us to see quality of life as an essential starting point for our support of people who present with behaviours that challenge... "do not skimp on quality of life: it is the job of services to deliver it".

• Rose Iovannone, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Research Assistant Professor, University of South Florida

  This book is a must read for anyone who supports individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities or autism. The author describes Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) in a way that is understandable while emphasizing PBS core values of ensuring the highest quality of life for all people, including those with challenging behaviour.

• Nick Hagiliassis Consultant Psychologist and Research Lead

  BILD, International Journal of Positive Behavioural Support

  Tony Osgood speaks from 30 years of experience, which is evident in the richness of insights he shares throughout this book... Highlights include Osgood's novel and refreshingly honest way of confronting the challenges for professionals and families working together... Humour and seriousness are aptly balanced. Another chapter is dedicated to the importance of communication, namely the role of mediators in thinking of legitimate ways to hear the person's message better and nurture the 'ebb and flow of interactions'... Not surprisingly, there is plenty of strong science here, and Osgood takes the reader through PBS essentials such as person centred functional behaviour assessment, working with multiple behaviours and behavioural functions, and use of data recording... This is the kind of book that will be of high interest to experienced practitioners...Then again, it is also a book that students and early career practitioners will benefit from in that it puts out key messages and sows the seeds for the right thinking from the beginning. The book is a highly refreshing read.