Functional Behavior Assessment Flowchart by Melody Wilson

Functional Behavior Assessment

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What Is It?

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An FBA is used to determine the cause of a behavior or behaviors. It also determines the factors impacting the frequency and occurrence of the behavior and is used to inform and create a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) to provide appropriate and research based interventions and instructional strategies (Iris Center, n.d.).

When Is It Used?

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An FBA is used in the case of a student who is demonstrating frequent and inappropriate behaviors, is causing injury to themselves or others, demonstrates intense behaviors, is at risk for being referred to special education, or is being moved to a more restrictive environment due to their behaviors (Iris Center, n.d.). Additionally, the student may be assessed because they are not responding to Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions that have been implemented with fidelity and their behavior is distracting from the educational process for themselves and their peers. Lastly, FBA's are used by the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team to evaluate if the student's behavior is due to their disability and/or diagnosis (Scheuermann & Hall, 2022).

Details

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Who Is Included In The Process?

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The IEP team is included in the FBA process.

The social worker will conduct FBA assessments and write the BIP.

The general education teacher informs the team about curriculum being used as well as instructional strategies and accommodations and modifications being provided. They will also provide formal and informal assessment data including academics and behaviors, they have collected to inform the FBA process.

The special education teacher supports the FBA process by providing additional ideas on how to accommodate or modify curriculum and instruction. This can include ideas on changing classroom settings and antecedents based on data they have collected, and other ideas supporting the student as they work towards reaching their goals and objectives.

The student can offer personal information based on interviews informing an FBA by providing their perspective concerning behavioral functions.

Parents provide information about student challenges and strengths and can include details about student interests and the contextual factors impacting the student. They can also provide ideas and suggestions supporting the specific needs of the child.

Ancillary staff provide information concerning specialized needs impacting student success such as motor function, speech and language needs, and adaptive physical education and adaptive technology.

The building principal provides information concerning school resources that are available to address and support student needs. This includes personnel and financial resources available to the school district.

A psychologist will conduct a formal FBA assessment, as well as other psychological assessments. They will also read and interpret the collected data and communicate their findings to the team.

(Kupper & Kohaneck, n.d.)

How Are FBA's Conducted Ethically and Professionally?

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Individual's with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that an FBA must be conducted upon a change of placement because of disciplinary concerns and it must include an evaluation concerning all areas of possible disabilities and/or disorders (FBA, n.d.).

A Parental Request For A FBA Must Be Completed Within 30 Days.

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(FBA, n.d.)

The School Must Request And Receive Written Parental Consent Prior To Conducting An FBA Using Prior Written Notice.

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(FBA, n.d.)

ALL Communication Must Be Provided In Layman's Terms And In The Families Primary Language.

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(FBA, n.d.)

FBA Assessment Tools and Strategies Must Be Culturally Unbiased.

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(FBA, n.d.)

Data Collection

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Data is collected from all of the stakeholders to provide multiple perspectives regarding student behavior to inform the FBA (Scheuermann & Hall, 2022).

Indirect Data Collection

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Indirect data collection includes reviewing and analyzing school records including social history, academic and health records, and behavioral data that the district already has on file. It also includes other relevant data from stakeholders such as paraprofessionals, general education teachers, and parents. The indirect data can come in the form of rating scales, FBA worksheets, journals, and other indirect data forms that highlight behaviors, how often and severe the behavior(s) are, antecedents, settings impacting behavior, and identified reasons or causes for the behavior. It does not include the direct observation of student behaviors in a given setting within a specific time frame (Scheuermann & Hall, 2022).

Fundamental Assessment Checklist (FACTS)

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FACTS is an indirect data collection checklist that is useable by teachers and other educational staff (Scheuermann & Hall, 2022).

Interviews- Teacher Team Questionnaire

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Interviews can be conducted to gather indirect data to gather information from personnel responsible for providing care. This can include administration, teachers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers, parents, and the student. These are organized and conducted by an educational professional such as a teacher, school counselor, behavioral analyst (social worker), or psychologist (Scheuermann & Hall, 2022).

Direct Data Collection

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Direct data collection is a formal compilation of information and works congruently with indirectly collected data. It includes the direct observation of student behavior within a given setting and specific time frame (Iris Center, n.d.).

Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence Recording (ABC)

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An ABC report is a written description of observed behaviors over a specific amount of time. It includes the setting, abnormal circumstances, and the beginning and ending times. It is to assess behavior over a specific activity including transitions before and after the activity. It is not to be interpreted or analyzed while it is being written and should only be conducted by an IEP educational staff member that is not the general education teacher, a co-teacher, or paraprofessional. The observation can also be obtained through a video recording. This is to ensure that thorough and accurate information is recorded and is not tainted by adult interaction within the classroom. After class, the written description is reviewed and data is compiled (Iris Center, n.d.).

Index Card Narrative Form

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This direct method of data collection us used to assess behavior throughout the day. Behaviors are recorded on index cards and are then sorted by an IEP team member. Cards are sorted into categories of antecedents such as: the student was given a task, the student was given a directive, or the student was asked to transition between activities. The cards can also be sorted according to consequences such as gaining teacher attention, gaining peer attention, or task avoidance. This form of data collection can be conducted by the general education teacher or paraprofessional and does not require an additional observer (Iris Center, n.d.).

Technology

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Technology can also be used to collect data by inputting information into a Google form or spreadsheet to provide graphs and quantitative reports. This form of direct data collection can be performed by anyone that is fluent in using technology and spreadsheets (Iris Center, n.d.).

Identifying And Defining Target Behaviors

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All of the data is collected for analyzation using a Functional Assessment Matrix for the purpose of identifying and defining target behaviors and their functions. Identified functions include escape and avoidance, get attention, get desired object or activity, and self-stimulation (Michigan Alliance). Examples of behaviors attached to those functions might include pacing during instructional time, fleeing a classroom, throwing chairs, making fun of other students, being sarcastic, or hiding. Once behaviors and their functions have been identified, they need to be clearly and descriptively defined. This includes the use of specific examples and non-examples. Once this is done, then the IEP team can begin to identify desired replacement behaviors which also should include descriptive definitions, specific examples, and non-examples (Iris Center, n.d.).

FBA Timeline

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The district has 30 school days to complete an FBA (FBA, n.d.).

What Happens Next?

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The data has been compiled and analyzed and the behaviors and their functions have been identified and defined. So, what happens next?

Develop A Hypothesis

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The next step is to develop a hypothesis to communicate the functional cause of the behavior based on the patterns discovered through data collection and analysis (Iris Center, n.d.).

Create A Functional Informed Intervention

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Based on the proposed hypothesis, the IEP team can begin to create appropriate interventions which may include teaching and reinforcing the replacement behavior to meet the need of the identified function in a positive and beneficial way. The team needs to consider whether or not the student is able to do the replacement behavior and whether or not the setting or classroom needs to be changed to support the students success in completing the replacement behavior (Iris Center, n.d.).

Teaching Replacement Behaviors

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Teaching replacement behaviors includes skills based interventions provided through direct, explicit instruction regarding the replacement behavior. It can also include antecedent based intervention in which the setting or antecedents are changed effecting the students success. Lastly, it can include consequence based intervention in which the teacher changes the natural consequences attached to the behavior and function (Iris Center, n.d.).

Increase The Success Of The Intervention

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Strategies can be used to increase the likelihood of student success regarding replacement behaviors and interventions. These include Implementation Fidelity which ensures the intervention and replacement behavior can be broken into steps that are implemented with consistency and fidelity. It also ensures that each step can be tracked providing ongoing data collection. Likewise, it identifies who will be collecting the data and how often the data will be collected. Secondly, it also includes Generalization and Maintenance. The team needs to consider how the student will transfer the replacement behavior to other settings. They also must consider how they can support the student in maintaining the replacement behavior long term by using supportive natural consequences and prompts that will gradually be faded as the student becomes independent in their ability to self-regulate (Iris Center, n.d.).

Write The BIP

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It is time to write the BIP once the FBA is completed and all of the above information has been collected, analyzed, hypothesized, and used to inform sustainable and appropriate interventions, instructional strategies, and replacement behaviors that can be implemented with fidelity and consistently.

Implement The Interventions and Procedures Identified and Communicated In The BIP

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During this step, the teacher will consistently implement every identified procedure and step of each intervention on a daily basis (Iris Center, n.d.).

Timeline

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Interventions should be implemented for two to four weeks on a daily basis with monthly reviews (Behavior Intervention Plan, n.d.).

Evaluate The Intervention

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Ongoing evaluations allow the IEP team to evaluate whether or not the intervention is a success by determining if the undesired behaviors are decreasing and the replacement behaviors are increasing. This process is informed through ongoing data collection including FBA and BIP Self-Assessment Forms filled out by the teacher. An Implementation Fidelity Observation Form is also used to evaluate interventions and is conducted by a school psychologist or behavior analyst (Iris Center, n.d.; Scheuermann & Hall, 2022).

What Happens If The Intervention Is Not Successful?

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If the intervention is not producing desired results, the intervention evaluation process will identify whether the intervention is being implemented with fidelity (Iris Center, n.d.).

If The Intervention Is Being Implemented With Fidelity?

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If the intervention evaluation process discerns the intervention is being implemented with fidelity, then the intervention needs to be reassessed and changed. This will include a change in the BIP (Iris Center, n.d.).

If The Intervention Is Not Being Implemented with Fidelity?

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If the intervention evaluation process determines that the intervention is not being implemented with fidelity, then the team needs to identify, based on collected data and the evaluation process, where the break down is occurring. Once this is identified, the intervention needs to be implemented again with increased fidelity (Iris Center, n.d.).