Overview of Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

1
Overview of Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

• Project ACCEPT
• Lecture Presentation

2
What is Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)?

• A process for determining why a student engages
  in a problem behavior (the function of the
  behavior)
• Process for identifying a relationship between
  conditions (what is happening in the classroom)
  and the students problem behavior
• Process for identifying classroom conditions that
  could be changed to prevent problem behavior and
  to
• promote positive behavior

3
Regular Educators FBA

• Regular educators may be in the best position to
  observe and assess the behavior of a student with
  a disability in an inclusive classroom.
• FBA may be useful when a students problem
  behavior does not improve under the classroom
  management system or discipline plan.
• FBA is typically implemented by a team that
  includes the regular educator when
• a student with a disability is included
• in the regular classroom.

4
Conducting a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

• Direct observation and recording of student
  behavior in the classroom
• Observations usually conducted by school
  psychologist, special educator, and regular
  educator
• Indirect methods such as interviews and
  questionnaires are often used to supplement
  direct observation

5
Functions of Problem Behavior

• Behavioral theory suggests that problem behavior
  is maintained by
• Positive reinforcement in which the behavior
  results in or produces a new condition or event
• Negative reinforcement in which the behavior
  results in avoidance or termination of a
  condition or event
• Sensory regulation/modulation in which the
  behavior results in a change (increase or
  decrease) in the students level of sensory
  stimulation

6
Types of Positive Reinforcement that Maintain
Problem Behavior

• Social attention
• Reaction from peers or teacher, acceptance or
  affiliation with peer group
• Preferred staff
• Behavior may result in access to a different
  staff person, such as a classroom assistant
• Preferred activity or object
• Teacher may provide access to a preferred
  activity or object if doing so results in student
  ceasing problem behavior

7
Examples of Positive Reinforcement in the
Classroom

• Billys peers all laugh when Billy makes barnyard
  noises during math class. Billy continues to make
  noises each day.
• When Latrice is disruptive in class, the
  assistant moves next to her for the rest of the
  class period. Latrice is disruptive earlier in
  the class period the next day.

8
Types of Negative Reinforcement that Maintain
Problem Behavior

• Countercontrol
• Behavior allows student to gain control by not
  following staff directive, rule, or contingency
• Avoid or terminate a social condition
• Behavior results in student avoiding or escaping
  interaction with a peer or staff
• Avoid or terminate an activity or task
• Student avoids or escapes completion of an
  assigned activity or task by engaging in
• the behavior

9
Examples of Negative Reinforcement in the
Classroom

• Students in Mr. Smiths class successfully delay
  a quiz by asking numerous questions and
  discussing unrelated topics. They repeat this
  behavior before the next quiz.
• William says he is sick and wants to visit the
  nurse when he is assigned to a group experiment
  with a bully in his class. He skips class the
  next time a group activity is scheduled.
• Clarence does not want to do his math. He
  complains that it is too hard, and his teacher
  sits by him and helps him with each problem. He
  then complains
• immediately each time he is assigned math.

10
Types of Sensory Regulation that Maintains
Problem Behavior

• Increase in sensory stimulation
• Squirming, talking, doodling, leaving seat,
  listen to music
• Decrease or modulate sensory stimulation
• Rocking, leave noisy area, pick skin or nails
• Combination of increase and decrease in sensory
  stimulation
• Some behaviors (e.g., rocking) can be used to
  both increase or decrease sensory regulation

11
Direct Observation in FBA

• Observing to determine relationships between
  classroom conditions and student behavior
• Observations involve recording setting events,
  antecedents, and consequences each time a problem
  behavior occurs.
• The function of a problem behavior is evidenced
  from patterns in observational data.

12
Setting Events

• Setting events can occur or begin outside of the
  classroom but affect the probability of problem
  behavior in the classroom.
• Examples medication effects, physical injury or
  discomfort, sleep deprivation, conflict or
  stress, anxiety, allergies.

13
Antecedents (Predictors)

• Antecedents or predictors occur just before or as
  problem behavior occurs.
• Social antecedents presence or absence of
  attention from a peer or teacher, teasing,
  teacher proximity
• Activity or event antecedents teacher presenting
  instruction, difficulty of task, correction, no
  materials or demands, group activity, choice

14
Consequences

• Social consequences
• Praise, correction, laughter, change in proximity
• Tangible consequences
• Stickers, points
• Activity reinforcers
• Free-time, preferred activities, reduced homework
  
• Change in sensory stimulation
• Increase or decrease in level of stimulation

15
Basic FBA Recording Form
Setting Event (if known) Antecedent Problem Behavior Consequence Perceived function


16
Assessment-Based Interventions

• Setting event strategies
• Remove or prevent setting event
• Minimize effects of setting event
• Examples
• Prevent conflict on bus ride to school
• Allow student with severe allergies or fatigue
  issues to take breaks during
• the day

17
Assessment-Based Interventions

• Antecedent-based strategies
• Remove or alter antecedent (predictor) for
  problem behavior
• Increase antecedent (predictor) for prosocial
  behavior
• Examples
• Change students seat away from bothersome peer.
• Reduce difficulty of math assignment by
  preteaching the strategy needed to
• solve problems.

18
Assessment-Based Strategies

• Teaching strategies
• Teach student a functionally-equivalent behavior
  to replace the problem behavior.
• Examples
• Teach student to raise hand to get help with
  difficult work.
• Teach student to recruit teacher attention in
  appropriate ways.
• Teach student social skills for interacting with
  difficult peers.

19
Assessment-Based Strategies

• Consequence-based strategies
• Increase the benefit (reinforcement) for the
  replacement behavior
• Withdraw or prevent benefit (reinforcement) for
  the problem behavior
• Example
• Withdraw attention (planned ignoring) for
  disruptive comments and praise topic-related
  comments consistently.

20
Conclusion

• The purpose of this brief overview was to
  familiarize you with the basic principles and
  procedures for functional behavior assessment
  (FBA). Inexperienced practitioners are encouraged
  to read additional sources and work with other
  team members when implementing FBA with their
  students. Several different FBA recording forms
  are available in sources cited on the next slide.

21
Sources

• Chandler, L.K., Dahlquist, C.M. (2002).
  Functional assessment Strategies to prevent and
  remediate challenging behaviors in school
  settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ Merrill
  Prentice Hall.
• Friend, M. Bursuck, W.D. (2006). Including
  students with special needs A practical guide
  for classroom teachers (4th ed.). Boston Allyn
  Bacon. (Pages 442-461 address FBA).
• ONeill, R.E., Horner, R.H., Albin, R.W.,
  Sprague, J.R., Storey, K.,
• Newton, J.S. (1997). Functional assessment and
  program
• development for problem behavior A practical
  handbook. Pacific Grove, CA Brooks/Cole.