Functional Behavioral Assessment and Positive Behavioral Supports

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Functional Behavioral Assessment and Positive
Behavioral Supports
2009 Inclusion Facilitator Network
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Outcomes

• Participants will understand how the increase in
  challenging behavior is impacted by increasing
  school and student demands
• Participants will be able to discuss prevention
  strategies prior to referral for Functional
  Behavioral Assessment

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Outcomes

• Participants will be able to articulate the
  necessary components of a Functional Behavioral
  Assessment and an Individualized Positive
  Behavioral Intervention Plan
• Participants will be able to share strategies
  with school teams based on specific functions

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Think, Pair, Share

• Turn to a partner and discuss
• Why is your team or your school seeing such an
  increase in challenging behavior?
• Share back to the audience the top two reasons
  you and your partner are seeing an increase in
  challenging behavior.

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Why so many challenging behaviors?

• Increased rigor
• Full day Kindergarten
• Auditory Instruction
• Limited movement breaks
• Needed professional development
• Differentiating instruction
• Collaboration

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Increasing Demands for School Teams

• Rigorous curriculum
• Less flexibility in schedule
• Need to differentiate
• Reading interventions
• Multiple assessments

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Considerations

• Look at the physical environment
• Too noisy?
• Too many distractions?
• Physical structure?
• Schedule need to be adjusted?

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Considerations

• Look at the social environment
• Safety?
• Behaviors taught and reinforced?
• Each child valued?
• Choices?  
• Incentives?
• Class
• Individual
• Are children taught skills to replace typical
  problems?

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Considerations

• Look at the curriculum
• Challenge level
• Too high?
• Too low?
• Pacing?
• Slow
• Fast
• Variety of learning modes?
• Variety of groupings?

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Considerations

• Is motivation a factor?
• Is the child reinforced for incompatible
  behaviors?
• Individualized reinforcers?
• Student interests reflected?
• Activities
• Materials
• Is there home-school coordination of
  reinforcement?

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Considerations

• Classroom management?
• Multiple students in a class are having
  difficulty?
• Problem student changes
• Confusing expectations?
• Noise level is frenetic, not busy

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Priority?

• Only one child in the class having difficulty
  meeting social and behavioral expectations?
• Change in behavior?
• Is behavior problem in one setting?
• Which one or two problem behaviors to be
  addressed?

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3-2-1 Activity

• Think of 3 considerations you or your team would
  like to address and change before referring a
  student for an FBA.
• Think of 2 things you learned about how you might
  change the curriculum or how it is taught that
  will reduce challenging behavior in your school.
• Think of 1 social skill all the students in your
  class or school need further instruction about.

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What to Do?

• Hierarchy of Intervention
• School-wide social skills training
• School-wide incentive programs
• Class-wide social skills instruction
• Class-wide incentive programs
• Individual student intervention

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What to Do?

• School-wide Proactive Programs
• Character Education
• Check and Connect Program
• PBIS

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What to Do?

• Class Wide Interventions
• PBIS
• Second Step TM
• Why Try TM
• Anti-bullying curriculum
• Class wide incentives
• Positive praise for all students
• Ignoring minor infractions
• Use of active learning

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When all else failsTry Individual Positive
Behavior Support!

• Behavior support is the redesign of environments,
  not the redesign of individuals
• Pay as much, or more, attention to what happens
  between problem behavior bouts as to what happens
  during instances of problem behavior. (Edward
  Carr)
• Positive Behavior Support plans define changes in
  the behavior of those who will implement the
  plan.

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First Functional Behavioral Assessment

• Functional behavioral assessment is a process
  for
• Operational definition
• Predictors of problem behavior
• Maintaining behaviors (function).
• What are they trying to communicate
• via their behavior?

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What are Functions of Behavior?

• Get or Obtain
• Social Attention
• Peer
• Adult
• Things or Activities
• Preferred item
• Preferred toy
• Preferred Activity
• Sensory Stimulation

• Escape or Avoid
• Social Attention
• Peer
• Adult
• Things or Activities
• Non-preferred item
• Non-preferred activity
• Sensory Stimulation

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What might the student be communicating?

1. Given an instruction
2. Prevented from doing something
3. Not receiving any attention
4. Something is taken away
5. Transition to a new activity
6. Has nothing to do
7. Waiting for help or instruction
8. Task given is beyond skill level
9. Low Interest materials presented

• I dont know the answer
• I really want to do that!
• Pay attention to me
• Hey, Give me that its mine!
• Where am I going? Im happy here.
• Im bored
• I dont know what to do
• This is too hard, I cant do it
• This is boring

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Who is responsible for FBA?

• The Collaborative Team!!!

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Effective Components of FBA

• Setting Events and Antecedents
• (what happens before the behavior occurs)
• Personnel / peers
• Location
• Grouping
• Activity
• Auditory driven instruction
• Active learning / Cooperative learning
• Academic content

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Effective Components of FBA

• Challenging Behavior Event
• (what actually happened)
• Observable measurable
• How often (frequency) how long (duration) how
  long between (latency), or intensity?
• What time(s)?
• When is the challenging behavior not occurring?

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Effective Components of FBA

• Consequence (What happens after the challenging
  behavior occurs)?
• Staff response
• Student response

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Outcomes of a Functional Assessment

• Operational definitions of problem behaviors
• Identification of events that reliably predict
  occurrence and non-occurrence of challenging
  behavior
• Identification of what is maintaining functions
• Hypothesis statement based on direct observation
  data

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Support Plan Design

• Intervention Procedures (Positive Supports to
  Prevent the Behavior from Occurring)
• Prevention (Make problem behavior irrelevant)
• Schedule
• Use of a break card
• Sensory input
• Choices around assignments
• Changes to physical environment
• Curriculum including content sequence
• Meaningful instruction

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Seeking Attention

• Attention seeking behavior results when students
  arent getting the recognition they feel they
  deserve
• Adult or peer attention
• Positive behavior
• on task
• completing work
• Negative behavior
• Calling out
• Refusing to work without teacher support
• Asking irrelevant questions

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Strategies for the Attention Seekers

• Acceptable ways of gaining attention
• Earn time with desired or preferred person
• Provide a peer support or buddy
• Use reminders
• Reinforce the correct behavior frequently

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Escape Avoidance

• Students may engage in Escape/Avoidant behavior
  when he or she has
• The need for movement
• Structure organization of classroom is poor
• May need routine, predictability, and clear
  expectations

• Skill deficits
• Instructional demand doesnt match ability
• Maintain status
• Feelings of inadequacy
• Refuse to participate
• Withdraw
• Request to be left alone

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Strategies for Escape/Avoidance

• Opportunities for movement
• Increase predictable routines
• Break tasks into smaller parts
• Recognize achievement
• Provide choices
• Provide support

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Seeking Sensory Stimulation

• A student displaying challenging behaviors to
  achieve sensory stimulation to
• Reduce anxiety
• Focus and attend to task
• Relieve boredom or frustration
• Fulfill a sensory need
• May be over or under stimulated in certain
  environments

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Strategies for the Sensory Stimulation seeker

• Provide settings for over and under stimulating
  situation within the classroom
• Utilize social stories
• appropriately access students preferred
  reinforcers
• Decrease demands
• Teach students techniques to reduce stress

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Support Plan Design

• Teaching New Skills / Replacement Behavior (Make
  problem behavior inefficient)
• Replacement skills
• Social stories
• Ask for assistance
• Self-management log / schedule
• Adaptive skills
• Not just what we want them to do but will serve
  the same function

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Support Plan Design

• Consequence Interventions
• Prevent reinforcement of problem behavior
• Increase reinforcement of replacement behaviors

• Negative consequences
• Use of socially acceptable punishers
• Do not use negative consequences that result in
  pain, humiliation or tissue damage

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Support Plan Design

• Safety Plan/Crisis Plan (if needed)
• Prevent damage to people, property
• Prevent reward of problem behavior
• Prevent defining events
• Members of team have assigned roles and
  responsibilities

• Evaluation and Assessment
• Define what information will be collected
• Identify who will collect the information
• Define when and how the information will be used
  for decision-making.
• Decide how often it will be reviewed.

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Communication with Family

• Can provide valuable information during
  assessment
• May share effective strategies
• Home-school reinforcement

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Why Do Interventions Fail?

• Bad data
• Outcomes not measurable
• Low quality plan
• Poor implementation
• Lack of monitoring
• Inadequate support
• Failure to implement/adopt function-based
  approach

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Resources

• Carr, E., Levin, L., McConnachie, G., Carlson,
  J., Kemp, D., and Smith, C. (1994).
  Communication-Based Intervention for Problem
  Behavior A Users Guide for Producing Positive
  Change. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore, MD.
• Crimmins, D., Farrell, A., Smith, P., Bailey, A.
  (2007). Positive Strategies for Students with
  Behavior Problems. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore,
  MD.
• Froyen, L. and Iverson, A. (1999). School-wide
  and Classroom Management The Reflective Educator
  Leader. (3rd Edition) Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle
  River, NJ.

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Resources

• Jackson, L. and Panyan, M. V. (2002). Positive
  Behavioral Support in the Classroom Principles
  and Practices. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore, MD
• McIntosh, K., Chard, D., Boland, J., and Horner
  R., (2006). Demonstration of combined efforts in
  school-wide academic and behavioral systems
  andincidence of reading and behavior challenges
  in early elementary grades. Journal of Positive
  Behavioral Interventions Vol. 8 (3).
• Kern, L., Gallagher, P., Starosta, K., Hickman,
  W., and George W. (2006). Longitudinal outcomes
  of functional behavioral assessment-based
  intervention. Journal of Positive Behavioral
  Interventions Vol. 8 (2).

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Websites of Interest

• http//rrtcpbs.fmhi.usf.edu/
• http//www.pbis.org/
• http//challengingbehavior.fmhi.usf.edu/
• http//www.polyxo.com/documents/fba
• http//www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/function
  al_behavior/