Not every difficult moment needs a formal plan, but when a behaviour keeps showing up, escalates, or starts putting someone’s safety, relationships or independence at risk, it stops being “just a phase” and becomes something worth assessing properly. Families and support workers often notice a pattern long before anyone gives it a name — a young person who has stopped eating with the family, a participant who lashes out every time a routine changes, a teenager who has quietly withdrawn from everything they used to enjoy. This article walks through 10 different behaviours of concern that commonly prompt families, carers and support coordinators to ask whether it’s time for professional behaviour support, and what actually happens once that conversation starts.
Key Takeaways
- A behaviour of concern is any behaviour that puts the person or others at risk, or significantly limits their access to everyday life, community or relationships.
- The 10 behaviours covered here range from physical aggression and property damage through to withdrawal, non-compliance and disrupted sleep — each can warrant a closer look depending on frequency, intensity and impact.
- A single difficult day rarely needs a formal response; a repeating pattern that isn’t improving usually does.
- A Positive Behaviour Support Plan starts with a functional behaviour assessment to understand what the behaviour is communicating, not just how to stop it.
- Brilliant Life Services provides Positive Behaviour Support and functional behaviour assessments for NDIS participants from Bella Vista and Campbelltown.
What counts as a behaviour of concern?
A behaviour of concern is generally described as behaviour that puts the safety of the person or people around them at risk, or that significantly restricts their access to community, education, employment or everyday relationships. It’s a broad category by design, because the same underlying behaviour can look very different depending on the person, their environment and what’s driving it. What matters isn’t the label — it’s the pattern: how often the behaviour happens, how intense it is, and how much it’s getting in the way of the life the person wants to live.
This is also where families sometimes get stuck comparing notes with other parents or carers, wondering whether what they’re seeing is “normal” or something more. There’s no single checklist that answers that question for every situation, which is exactly why a proper assessment matters more than a guess.
10 different behaviours of concern families commonly ask about
Below are 10 different behaviours of concern that often come up in conversations with families, carers and support coordinators. None of these automatically means a person needs a formal plan — but each one is worth watching closely if it’s frequent, escalating, or affecting daily life.
1. Physical aggression towards others
Hitting, pushing, biting or other physical aggression directed at family members, peers or support workers is one of the more visible behaviours of concern, particularly because it puts other people’s safety at risk. What matters clinically is the trigger and the pattern — aggression that reliably follows a specific event (a change of routine, a denied request, a sensory trigger) is telling you something, and that “something” is what a functional assessment tries to identify.
2. Self-injurious behaviour
This includes behaviours where a person hurts themselves — head-banging, skin-picking, biting their own hand and similar actions. Self-injurious behaviour is one of the behaviours of concern families are often most anxious about, and rightly so, because the risk sits with the person themselves. It’s also one of the clearest examples of behaviour that should not be managed by trial and error alone.
3. Property destruction
Breaking objects, punching walls, tearing belongings or damaging furniture during moments of distress can indicate the same underlying frustration or dysregulation as physical aggression, just directed at objects rather than people. It still carries real risk — to the person, to others nearby, and to their living situation — and the same “what happened right before this” question applies.
4. Elopement or leaving safe environments unexpectedly
Wandering off from home, school, a support setting or a public place without warning is a safety-critical behaviour of concern, especially for children or participants who don’t yet have strong road or stranger safety awareness. Because the risk is so immediate, elopement is usually one of the faster-moving behaviours in terms of needing a documented response.
5. Verbal aggression and outbursts
Shouting, swearing, threatening language or sudden verbal outbursts can precede physical behaviours or occur entirely on their own. On their own they’re less physically dangerous, but they still damage relationships, make community participation harder, and are often the clearest early warning sign that something is building.
If you’d like to talk through what you’re seeing before deciding on next steps, Brilliant Life Services can be reached on 1800 127 455 — a conversation with the team is often the easiest way to work out whether an assessment is the right next move.
6. Repetitive or ritualistic behaviours that disrupt daily life
Some repetitive behaviours are simply part of how a person self-regulates and cause no harm at all. Others — rigid rituals that must be completed before leaving the house, repetitive behaviours that cause physical strain, or routines so inflexible that any disruption triggers distress — start to interfere with daily functioning. The distinction usually comes down to impact rather than the behaviour itself.
7. Social withdrawal and isolation
Not every behaviour of concern is loud. A participant who stops joining family activities, avoids peers they used to see, or increasingly isolates themselves in their room is showing a behaviour of concern too — it’s just one that’s easy to miss because it doesn’t disrupt anyone else’s day. A behaviour support therapist will usually ask about withdrawal alongside more visible behaviours, because the two are often connected.
8. Refusal or non-compliance with routines
Consistently refusing to follow instructions, get dressed, attend appointments or take part in agreed routines can look like defiance, but it’s frequently a communication of something else — overwhelm, a sensory issue, or a routine that no longer fits the person’s needs. Persistent non-compliance that’s escalating or affecting essential daily activities like eating, hygiene or medical care is worth assessing.
9. Restrictive or distressed eating behaviours
Sudden changes to eating — refusing most foods, extreme distress around mealtimes, or eating in a way that puts health at risk — sit at the intersection of behaviour support and other allied health input. These behaviours can have a physical cause, a sensory cause or a behavioural one, which is exactly why they should be assessed rather than managed on assumption.
10. Behaviours linked to disrupted sleep
Sleep difficulties themselves aren’t a behaviour of concern, but the flow-on effects often are — increased irritability, more frequent meltdowns, reduced tolerance for change, and harder mornings. Families sometimes address the daytime behaviour without realising the sleep disruption behind it is the actual driver, which is why a thorough assessment looks at the full picture rather than the behaviour in isolation.
When one of these behaviours of concern warrants a closer look
A single hard day doesn’t need a formal plan. What usually prompts a referral is a pattern: the behaviour is happening more often, it’s getting more intense, it’s spreading to new settings, or it’s starting to limit the person’s access to school, community, family life or their own safety. Frequency, intensity, duration and impact are the four things worth tracking if you’re trying to decide whether to seek support — a rough note of what happened, when, and what came right before it is genuinely useful information to bring to an assessment.
It’s also worth remembering that behaviours of concern are rarely “just” behaviour. They’re usually communicating something — pain, overwhelm, an unmet need, a mismatch between the environment and the person’s capacity to cope. That’s the lens a Positive Behaviour Support approach starts from, rather than treating the behaviour itself as the problem to eliminate.
A behaviour of concern is rarely the problem itself — it’s usually the clearest signal someone has of a need that hasn’t been met yet.
What happens after you seek support
Seeking support for a behaviour of concern usually starts with a functional behaviour assessment — a structured process that looks at what happens before, during and after the behaviour to understand its function, not just its form. From there, a Positive Behaviour Support Plan is developed collaboratively with the participant, their family and other people involved in their support, setting out proactive strategies to reduce the likelihood of the behaviour and reactive strategies for if it does occur.
This process takes time to get right, and it’s worth being cautious of anything that promises a quick fix — genuine behaviour change comes from understanding the “why,” not from a generic script applied to every situation. Families supporting a child through this process may also find it useful to read about developmental delay support and early intervention pathways, particularly where a behaviour of concern is emerging alongside other developmental needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a behaviour of concern?
A behaviour of concern is any behaviour that puts the safety of the person or others at risk, or that significantly limits the person’s access to community, education, employment or relationships. It covers a wide range of presentations, from physical aggression through to withdrawal and non-compliance.
How is a behaviour of concern different from ordinary behaviour variation?
Most people have difficult days, and not every difficult moment needs a formal response. The distinction usually comes down to pattern — how frequently the behaviour occurs, how intense it is, whether it’s escalating, and how much it’s limiting the person’s daily life or safety.
What is a Positive Behaviour Support Plan?
A Positive Behaviour Support Plan is a document developed after a functional behaviour assessment, setting out proactive strategies to reduce the likelihood of a behaviour occurring and agreed responses for if it does. It’s built around understanding what the behaviour is communicating rather than simply trying to stop it.
Who carries out a functional behaviour assessment?
A functional behaviour assessment is carried out by a qualified behaviour support practitioner, who gathers information from the participant, their family and other people involved in their support to understand what’s driving the behaviour before any plan is developed.
Do all 10 behaviours of concern in this article need professional support?
Not necessarily. Each of the 10 behaviours can range from a mild, occasional presentation to a frequent and high-risk one. What determines whether support is needed is the pattern — frequency, intensity, escalation and the impact on safety and daily life — rather than the behaviour appearing at all.
How do I start the process of getting behaviour support through my NDIS plan?
The best starting point is a conversation with a behaviour support provider or your support coordinator about what you’re noticing and whether behaviour support is included in your current plan. Brilliant Life Services can be contacted on 1800 127 455 to talk through the options.
Making sense of what you’re seeing at home
Recognising a behaviour of concern in someone you support isn’t always straightforward, especially when it’s developed gradually or when family members disagree about how serious it is. The 10 behaviours covered here — from aggression and self-injury through to withdrawal, non-compliance and disrupted sleep — are common starting points for that conversation, but they’re not a diagnostic checklist. What matters is the pattern behind the behaviour, not the behaviour in isolation.
Getting a proper assessment isn’t about labelling someone or their behaviour. It’s about understanding what’s driving it, so the response actually fits the person rather than being applied generically. That understanding is what makes a support plan useful in practice, not just on paper.
If any of the behaviours described in this article sound familiar, it’s worth having that conversation sooner rather than later — patterns tend to be easier to address before they become entrenched.
To talk through what you’re noticing or ask about a functional behaviour assessment, contact Brilliant Life Services on 1800 127 455.
Related resources
- How to Choose the Best Behaviour Support Therapist
- What Are the Benefits of Positive Behaviour Support
- What Is the Importance of Positive Behaviour Support in Disability
- Five Ways You Can Support the Differently-Abled
- What Is Behaviour Support Service
- What Is Behaviour Support and How Do I Access It