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The Irish Society for Behaviour Analysis is delighted to welcome Dr. Lori Ann Dotson for an online evening session exploring the constructional and humanistic foundations of Multi-Element Behaviour Support (MEBS).

Whether you are new to MEBS or looking to reconnect with its core principles, this session offers a thoughtful and engaging introduction to a framework that continues to challenge how we support people experiencing behavioural expressions of need.

MEBS and the Irish Context

This session has particular relevance for practitioners working in Ireland, where MEBS has played a defining role in shaping how positive behaviour support (PBS) has developed. LaVigna and Willis first brought longitudinal MEBS training to Ireland in 1992, at a time when many people with intellectual disabilities were living in institutional settings with high rates of restrictive practices. Over the following decades, that initial investment in frontline training quietly transformed the culture of services — building a generation of practitioners who carried the values of non-aversive, person-centred support into positions of influence long before regulation made it mandatory.

Today, PBS is a statuatory requirement Irish legislation and MEBS remains its common language across disability services, schools, and family homes. With increasing demand for behaviour specialists, growing regulatory expectations from HIQA, and ongoing debate about how best to integrate neuroaffirmative approaches within a rights-based framework, there has never been a more important time to return to the values and principles at MEBS’s core.

About the Session

To its founders Dr. Gary LaVigna and Dr. Tom Willis, MEBS represents a behavioural science that places dignity, humanity, and person-centred care at its heart. Dr. Dotson will guide participants through the philosophy underpinning MEBS, exploring how attunement, mindfulness, and core behavioural science concepts come together in a framework that continues to reshape how we understand behavioural expressions of need.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Summarise the philosophy of dignity-centred care and identify the core values that underpin MEBS
• Explain the MEBS paradigm shift and illustrate how behavioural science and humanistic principles integrate to interpret behaviour as communication of unmet needs
• Recognise examples of attunement, mindfulness, and core concepts in practice, and analyse how these support dignity-centred care

About the Speaker

Dr. Lori Ann Dotson is Chief Knowledge and Learning Officer at the IABA Research and Education Foundation and a leading voice in positive behaviour support internationally. With a PhD in Clinical Psychology and advanced qualifications spanning counselling, business, and education, she brings a genuinely interdisciplinary perspective to her work. A member of the IABA’s expert MEBS training team, Dr. Dotson has presented her research across six continents and is Co-Editor of the Journal of Intellectual Disability – Diagnosis and Treatment. Her career spans over two decades of direct service leadership, clinical supervision, and training in support of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Further Learning from IABA

Members of our community with an appetite to go deeper into MEBS will be glad to know that the IABA Foundation runs a free monthly Fireside Chat series — Critical Conversations in Constructional Practice — bringing together guest experts and practitioners to discuss the latest thinking, challenges, and innovations in the field. Recent sessions have covered topics including mindfulness and attunement in practice, and MEBS in research — all highly relevant to those working in behaviour support in Ireland. The next session, taking place on 27th May, explores one nursing leader’s journey with MEBS. You can find upcoming events and access recordings of past sessions at iaba.foundation/fireside-chats.