Functional Behavioral Assessments and Behavioral Intervention Plans

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Functional Behavioral Assessments and
Behavioral Intervention Plans

• Presented by Dr. Mike Edmonds
• Perry County School District
• August 1, 2007

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When is FBA Used?

• when legally required
• challenging behaviors
• when program ineffective
• risk of harm or exclusion
• when restrictive setting considered
• repeated and serious behavior

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What's All The Hype?

• Definition
• Functional behavioral assessment is

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Functional behavioral assessment is

• an approach used to help a pupil with a chronic
  behavior problem
• a problem solving method - one which takes time
  and creative collaboration among professionals
  and parents
• built on the assumption that, if a pupil keeps
  repeating a problem behavior, that behavior must
  be serving some purpose for the student -
  otherwise, he or she would not keep repeating it

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Definition continued

• a process of looking for patterns in what happens
  around and/or to the student just before and just
  after the problem behavior
• examination of these patterns to identify their
  purpose or their "function" some possible
  functions are avoiding something, getting
  something, and making something happen
• creative problem solving to enable the pupil to
  achieve the same purpose in a more appropriate or
  more acceptable way

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Functional behavioral assessment is NOT ...

• the first technique a teacher uses when a pupil
  misbehaves
• a quick fix
• a choice for teachers of pupils with disabilities
  - it's required by federal statutes (such as the
  IDEA and Section 504) and by some states (such as
  Mississippi, 37-11-18.1 37-11-55)
• a do-it-yourself technique - it takes
  collaboration

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Perry County Counselor Referral Form

• Counseling for behavioral change
• Extremely effective with early referral
• Make a counselor referral at the first sign of
  disruptive behavior

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Some Common Functions Served by Misbehaving

• Getting attention from teachers or peers - for
  example . . .
• arriving late -gt people look at you
• talking when you're supposed to be quiet ---gt the
  teacher reprimands you
• making silly noises or telling dumb jokes ---gt
  peers talk to you ( or about you within your
  hearing)
• giving a flip answer to a teacher's question ---gt
  peers laugh at you

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Escaping work, people, noise, or something else -
for example

• hand-flapping and moaning ---gt getting to go sit
  in the "quiet" room
• giving a really wrong answer to a vocabulary
  question ---gtgetting a teacher to "throw up her
  arms" in exasperation and walk away, never
  calling you to read aloud
• cursing at the teacher when she insists you do
  the assignment ---gt getting sent to the
  principal's office and thereby getting out of
  English class
• throwing a kicking, screaming, flailing temper
  tantrum ---gt getting out of morning circle (and
  getting comfort from the teacher or aide, which
  would also be an example of getting attention
  from teachers or peers)

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Obtaining a desired object or event - for example
. . .

• threatening to "get" a peer after school ---gt
  getting the peer to hand over his dessert
• yelling "It's not fair," "You don't like me," or
  "He cut in front" ---gt getting the teacher to let
  you be first in line
• cursing at the teacher when she insists you do
  the assignment ---gt getting to see the teacher
  "lose it" by ranting and raving in front of the
  class
• flicking the light switch on and off ---gt getting
  to watch a light flicker on and off
• yelling that you won't do "this baby work" ---gt
  getting the teacher to help you with the
  assignment

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A---gt B ---gt C ---gt Analysis

• An ABC analysis enables you to analyze clues
  about why the student keeps doing the same
  problem behavior. Your purpose is to identify
  patterns in order to hypothesize about the
  function the problem behavior is serving.
• Antecedent what happens just before the
  behavior occurs? Identification of the people,
  events, and/or things present in the situation
  just before each behavior.
• Behavior what the student does. The problem
  behavior stated in observable terms.
• Consequence what happens after the behavior?
  What happens after the student engages in the
  problem behavior?

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Develop Implement Behavioral Intervention Plan

• As a team, develop the Behavioral Intervention
  Plan to address the behavior, using the
  information gathered and summarized in your
  Functional Behavioral Assessment.
• Implement Plan
• Manipulate the antecedents and/or consequences of
  the behavior
• Teach more acceptable replacement behaviors that
  serve the same function as the inappropriate
  behavior
• Implement changes in curriculum and instructional
  strategies
• Modify the physical environment.

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BIP

• Behavior Intervention Plans must be monitored and
  data collected and recorded on a regular basis.
• Decisions must be made by the team as to what is
  working and what is not working.
• For those strategies that are not working, the
  team must modify and/or change the plan to try
  something else.

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6 Steps of the FBA

• Identify the Problem
• Collect Data
• Analyze the Data
• Make Determinations Hypotheses
• Develop Implement a Behavioral Intervention
  Plan
• Evaluate Progress Follow-up as Necessary

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Summary

• Functional Behavioral Assessment is a tool used
  to make decisions about why behaviors are
  occurring.
• It is necessary in order to change behavior to
  develop appropriate Behavioral Intervention Plans
  and utilize those plans on a consistent basis
  over a reasonable amount of time.

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Counselor Referral Form

• Fill it out!!!!!!!
• Insanity doing the same thing over and over
  again and expecting different results.
• Albert Einstein