FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT
Series VI – Part II (A) – Introduction: Conducting a Functional Behavioral Assessment
Introduction
This issue of the Classroom Management Series on Functional Behavioral Assessment will cover:
- Introduction: Conducting a Functional Behavioral Assessment
- Rationale for Using Functional Behavioral Assessments to Develop Positive Behavior Interventions
- Functional Assessment is a Team Effort
Introduction: Conducting A Functional Behavioral Assessment
Today, educators at all grade levels face a growing number of student behaviors that challenge effective classroom instruction. Fortunately, most students respond to standard strategies for addressing potential behavior problems (e.g., classroom rules, verbal praise and reprimands, and loss of privileges). However, for some students—with and without disabilities—these classroom management techniques do not produce the desired outcomes and may even worsen an already difficult situation. In recognition of the growing need to proactively address the problem, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (108-446) include provisions that help schools address both the classroom learning and behavior problems of students with disabilities.
The requirement that schools address student behavior problems in their efforts to ensure that schools are safe and conducive to learning for all students signals a fundamental shift in emphasis in Federal legislation. Beginning with P.L. 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975), schools were required to ensure students with disabilities a “free, appropriate public education” in the “least restrictive environment.” Now, schools also must ensure that students are able to be involved and progress in the general education curriculum, measure the educational progress of students with disabilities, and take preventive and proactive steps to address the relationship between student behavior and classroom learning. IDEA is explicit about what is required of Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams when addressing behaviors of children with disabilities that interfere with their learning or the learning of others.
- The IEP team must consider, when appropriate, strategies—including positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports—to address that behavior through the IEP process (see 614(d)(3)(B)(i)).
- In response to disciplinary actions by school personnel described in Sec. 615(k)(1)(B), the IEP team must, either before or no later than 10 days after the action, develop a functional behavioral assessment plan to collect information. This information should be used for developing or reviewing and revising an existing behavioral intervention plan to address such behaviors, if necessary.
- In addition, states are required to address the in-service needs and pre-service preparation of personnel (including professionals and paraprofessionals who provide special education, general education, related services, or early intervention services) to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the needs of their students with disabilities. This includes enhancing their abilities to use strategies such as behavioral interventions and supports (653(c)(3)(D)(vi)).
RATIONALE FOR USING FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENTS TO DEVELOP POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS
When a student’s behavior disrupts classroom instruction, teachers often address the problem by manipulating events that follow the misbehavior (e.g., verbal reprimands, isolation, detention, suspension). Experience has shown that this approach fails to teach the student acceptable replacement behaviors (i.e., behaviors that are expected under certain circumstances). Recently, educators have begun to introduce various programs designed to teach students more acceptable ways to behave. The area of social skills development has been especially popular. However, decisions regarding which behaviors to teach a student are largely subjective and often unrelated to the cause of the problem behavior.
In some instances, what has been absent is a method for determining “why” the student misbehaved in the first place. Today, there is good reason to believe that the success of classroom behavior interventions hinges on identifying the likely causes and purposes of problem behavior and finding ways to teach and promote appropriate replacement behaviors that serve the same “functions” as the inappropriate behaviors. We know that inappropriate student behavior may have the same form (e.g., Charles and James both swear at the teacher) but serve different functions (e.g., Charles is seeking peer approval while James is attempting to escape an aversive teacher-pupil interaction). Functional assessment helps IEP teams to understand what function the problem behavior serves for the students and leads to interventions that reduce or eliminate problem behavior by replacing it with behavior that serves the same purpose or function for the student, but is more socially acceptable (e.g., teaching Charles more acceptable ways to gain peer attention).
The logic behind functional behavioral assessment is that practically all behavior occurs within a particular context and serves a specific purpose. Students learn to behave (or misbehave) in ways that satisfy a need or results in a desired outcome. Students will change their behavior only when it is clear that a different response will more effectively and efficiently result in the same outcome. Identifying the purpose of problem behaviors or more specifically, what the student “gets” or “avoids” through those behaviors) can provide information that is essential to developing instructional strategies and supports to reduce or eliminate behaviors that interfere with successful classroom performance or participation.
Functional behavioral assessment is generally considered to be a problem-solving process that relies on a variety of techniques and strategies to identify the purposes of specific behavior and to help IEP teams select interventions to directly address the problem behavior. Functional behavioral assessment should be integrated, as appropriate, throughout the process of developing, reviewing, and, if necessary, revising a student’s IEP. A functional behavioral assessment looks beyond the behavior itself. The focus when conducting a functional behavioral assessment is on identifying significant, pupil-specific social, affective, cognitive, and/or environmental factors associated with the occurrence (and non-occurrence) of specific behaviors. This broader perspective offers a better understanding of the function or purpose behind student behavior. Intervention plans based on an understanding of “why” a student misbehaves are extremely useful in addressing a wide range of problem behaviors.
The following sections discuss a multi-step strategy that some have used to carry out a functional behavioral assessment. The ten steps listed below include the development and implementation of behavior intervention plans, which may follow the functional behavioral assessment.
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A Method for Performing a Functional Behavioral Assessment
A Method for Developing, Implementing and Monitoring a Behavior Intervention Plan (to be covered in the third monograph)
10. Modify behavior intervention plan, if needed.
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FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT IS A TEAM EFFORT
Before beginning, we want to stress the role that teamwork plays in addressing student behavior problems. In conducting a functional behavioral assessment and developing a behavior intervention plan, education personnel should draw upon a range of communication and interpersonal skills. Like knowledge of assessment itself, IEP team members may need special training in the skills of successful collaboration, such as time management, group problem-solving (including “brainstorming” strategies), active listening, and conflict resolution processes, to mention a few. If team members are to conduct the assessment, they may also need training in the skills and knowledge required to conduct a functional behavioral assessment and use of behavior intervention techniques. As with other collaborative efforts, building-level administrative and collegial support is essential to a successful outcome.
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