Functional Behavioral Assessment

- direct observation to analyze students’ behavior in relation to social and physical aspects
of the environment (Janney & Snell, 2008).

Purpose:
- To establish what behavioral supports are needed for students who exhibit a range of
challenging behaviors, such as physical and verbal outbursts, property destruction, and
disruptive behavior (e.g., temper tantrums, yelling).

FBA can provide additional information to assist the IEP team in planning more effective
interventions.

Information on the student is gathered from various settings: the school, the playground, on
transportation, in the community, and at home (Alper, Ryndak, & Schloss, 2001).

The behaviors may have a medical cause.

Allergies, infections, menstrual cycle effects, toothaches, chronic constipation, and other
medical conditions may bring on challenging behaviors.

Medication also can influence behavior.

A functional behavioral assessment should (Alliance, 2001):

1. Clearly describe the problem behavior(s).

2. Identify the events, times, and situations that predict when the challenging behaviors will and
will not occur across the range of daily routines, including
• what was happening in the environment before the behavior occurred,
• what the actual behavior was, and
• what the student achieved as a result of the behavior.

3. Identify the consequences that maintain the challenging behaviors (e.g., what the student is
“getting out of”the behavior, such as attention or avoidance).

4. Develop one or more statements or hypotheses describing specific behaviors and include the
types of situations in which the behaviors occur, as well as the reinforcers that maintain the
behaviors in these situations.

5. Collect directly observed examples that support these statements .

Figure 10–11 Functional Performance and Participation Checklist

How to Conduct a Functional Assessment

1. Identify a behavior that needs to increase or decrease. Be sure it is observable and
measureable.
2. Define the problem behavior in concrete terms (e.g., tantrums, hitting others, throwing
objects). Describe why the behavior is problematic.
 3. Gather specific information about the behavior of concern.
• What is happening before the behavior occurs?
• What is happening after the behavior occurs?
4. Collect data on possible causes of the behavior.
5. Develop a chart and collect baseline data (on at least 3 occasions).
6. Analyze the data.
7. Summarize the information:
• Environmental factors and/or antecedents that are setting the stage for or triggering the
problem behavior
• Consequences that are reinforcing the problem behavior
• Functions that are being served by the problem behavior
8. Develop a plausible hypothesis for the problem behavior

Categories of Functional Assessment

Information Gathering

- Can be called as Indirect Assessment in ABA

Gathering information involves talking to the parents, former and current teachers, the
student, and individuals who know the student well. The information may be obtained
through formal interviews, questionnaires, or rating scales to identify which events in an
environment are linked to the specific problem behavior.

The questioning should cover the following issues.

• What challenging behaviors cause the concern?
• What events or physical conditions exist before the behavior occurs that increase the
behavior’s predictability?
• What result appears to motivate or maintain the challenging behavior?
• What appropriate behaviors could produce the same result?
• What can be learned from previous behavioral support efforts about strategies that are
ineffective, partially effective, or effective for only a short time

Direct Observation

-can be called Direct Assessment in ABA

The observations can be done by teachers, support staff, and/or family members. The observer
should be able to observe the student in natural settings and over an extended period of time in
order to observe incidents of the target behavior, yet not be disruptive to the student’s normal
routine.

The observer records when a problem behavior occurs; the steps to follow include the following:
• Define the target behavior(s).
• Identify what happened just before the behavior occurred.
• Record what happened after the behavior occurred (Taylor, 2009).
• Note—after 10 to 15 instances of observing the behavior—his or her perceptions
regarding the function of the behavior and whether a pattern exists.