Best Practices: Finding a New Direction for Christos

In a recent review of research on best practices, we noted that the developmental disabilities field has come to emphasize quality of life outcomes such as community integration, respected roles, self-determination, and enhanced social relationships (Carr et al., 1999). The process of creating individualized programs that seek to achieve these outcomes through person-centered planning is termed positive behavior support (Koegel, Koegel, & Dunlap, 1996). In this article, we present the story of one individual with whom innovative program practices resulted in important quality-of-life changes. In the context of this real-life example, we introduce a decision model in a practical attempt to create a deeper understanding of the critical dimensions constituting positive behavior support.