Institute for Human Development

Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is an approach to improving human behavior by making challenging behavior unnecessary and preferred behavior easy and effective. This involves the combined efforts of;Helping people improve the quality of their lives (personal, health, social, family, etc), and;Replacing challenging behavior with socially acceptable alternative behavior.;Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the science behind PBS, and the courses in the PBS Certificate are an “Approved Course Sequence” by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (see www.bacb.com). PBS employs research-validated behavioral practices of teaching and reinforcing behavior for individual children and adults as well as for groups of people (in classrooms, families, schools, etc). See www.pbis.org. Attention is focused on understanding the conditions in the environment that contribute to challenging behavior, and modifying those conditions to strengthen desirable behavior.;This 15-credit online Graduate Certificate in Positive Behavior Support prepares students who graduate, have a masters degree, obtain the required supervised experience, and pass the BACB examination, to serve as Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), and Arizona Licensed Behavior Analysts (LBAs). Our PBS Certificate graduates help parents, teachers, and others who support people with disabilities and challenging behavior.