Positive behaviour support (PBS) is considered best practice in managing behaviour that challenges in learning disability care. However, training staff to implement PBS approaches has rarely been shown to have lasting effects on consistent delivery of support plans.

This article discusses how PBS training can be designed to ensure retention of knowledge and skills, and to improve implementation of these plans – a significant problem highlighted in recent research. The conclusions drawn from this article support an interactive and collaborative training format in which direct support staff are actively involved with the design, implementation and monitoring of PBS plans. This can be neatly summarised by the Chinese proverb ‘Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I may remember. But involve me, and I will understand’.