The applied behavior analytic heritage of PBS: A dynamic model of action-oriented research

In the past two decades, positive behavior support (PBS) has emerged from applied behavior analysis (ABA) as a newly fashioned approach to problems of behavioral adap-tation. ABA was established in the 1960s as a science in which learning principles are systematically applied to produce socially important changes in behavior (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987), whereas PBS was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a general strategy of inter-vention and support, employing concepts and methods from ABA and other disciplines; this approach was in-tended to enhance an individual’s quality of life and reduce problem behaviors (E. Carr et al., 2002). It is well understood that PBS emerged from ABA and is indebted to ABA for much of its conceptual, method-ological, and technological foundations (E. Carr et al.