10/19/2012
Leading a Team from a
Functional Behavioral Assessment
to a Practical and Effective
Behavior Support Plan
Assumptions and Objectives
• Assumptions
▫ Participants already conduct functional behavioral
assessment
▫ Participants are working with teams to build behavior
support plans for individual students.
• Objectives
▫ Define core features of behavior support plans
Rob Horner
University of Oregon
▫ Define a process for helping a team move from FBA to
Behavior Support Plan content that is technically sound
and contextually appropriate.
TA-Center on Positive Behavior Support
www.pbis.org
School-Wide
Positive Behavior
Support
Primary Prevention:
School-/ClassroomWide Systems for
All Students,
Staff, & Settings
~5%
~15%
▫ Define process for adapting planning process at your
school.
Tertiary Prevention:
Specialized
Individualized
Systems for Students
with High-Risk Behavior
Secondary Prevention:
Specialized Group
Systems for Students
with At-Risk Behavior
A Context for PBS
• Behavior support is the redesign of
environments, not the redesign of individuals
• Positive Behavior Support plans define changes
in the behavior of those who will implement the
plan.
▫ A behavior support plan describes what
we will do differently.
~80% of Students
Major Changes in Behavior Support
• Prevention
 Teaching as the most effective approach
 Environmental redesign, Antecedent Manipulations
• Function-based support
 Functional assessment
 Team-based design and implementation of support
• Comprehensive Interventions
 Support plans with multiple elements
 Link Behavior Support to Lifestyle Plan
 Person-centered planning, Wraparound, Systems of Care
• Systems Change
 Intervention at the “whole-school” level
 Systems that nurture and sustain effective practices
 Systems that are durable
Purposes of Behavior Support Plan
• Define critical features of environments where
the focus person will be successful.
▫ Behavior support plans describe what we will do
differently to establish these critical features.
• Facilitate consistency across multiple
implementers.
• Provide professional accountability.
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10/19/2012
Behavior Support Elements
Problem
Behavior
Functional Behavioral Assessment
*Team
*Specialist
Functional
Assessment
• Defined:
*Hypothesis statement
*Competing Behavior Analysis
*Contextual Fit
Content of
Support Plan
* Strengths
▫ Functional behavioral assessment is a process for
identifying the events that reliably predict and
maintain problem behavior.
*Implementation Plan
Fidelity of
*Technical Adequacy
Implementation
* Preferences
* Lifestyle vision
Impact on
Behavior and
Lifestyle
Outcomes of a
Functional Behavioral Assessment
FBA Summary Statement
• Operationally defined problem behavior(s)
▫ By response class
Setting Events
• Identify routines in which the problem behavior is most
and least likely to occur
• Define the antecedent events (triggers; setting events)
that predict when the problem behavior is most likely
Triggering
Antecedents
4
2
Allergies
In room with
Noise and/or
many people
Problem
Behavior
1
Head Hit
Maintaining
Consequences
3
Avoid
noise/people
• Define the ONE consequence that contributes most to
maintaining the problem behavior in that routine.
• Summary Statement of findings.
Primary Purposes of Functional
Behavioral Assessment
Effective Environments
• The primary purpose of functional behavioral
assessment is to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of behavior support.
 Behavior support plans built from functional assessment
are more effective
 Didden et al., 1997
Newcomer & Lewis, 2006
 Carr et al., 1999
Ingram, Sugai & Lewis-Palmer
 Ellingson, et al., 2000; Filter (2004)
• Create order out of chaos
• Problem behaviors are irrelevant
▫ Aversive events are removed
▫ Access to positive events are more common
• Problem behaviors are inefficient
▫ Appropriate behavioral alternatives available
▫ Appropriate behavioral alternatives are taught
 Define contextual information, where, when, with whom, etc.
• Problem behaviors are ineffective
• Professional accountability
•
FACTS
▫ Problem behaviors are not rewarded
▫ Desired behavior ARE rewarded
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10/19/2012
Place Summary Statement in
Competing Pathways Model
• Use information from interviews and
observations to summarize:




Setting Events
Triggering
Antecedents
Desired
Alternative
Typical
Consequence
Problem
Behavior
Maintaining
Consequences
Problem behavior
Antecedent Triggers
Maintaining Consequences
Setting Events
Acceptable
Alternative
Acceptable Alternative:
1.Same consequence
2.Socially acceptable
3.Very efficient
Desired
Alternative
Play with
others
Setting Events
Reprimand
during
prior class
Triggering
Antecedents
Playground
Typical
Consequence
Peer social
interaction
Problem
Behavior
Maintaining
Consequences
Scream at
/ threaten
others
Get access
to game or
equipment
Leading a Team from FBA to BSP
• 1. Summarize FBA
• 2. Define goals of BSP process:




Make problem behavior irrelevant
Make problem behavior inefficient
Make problem behavior ineffective
Do all this in a contextually appropriate manner
• 3. Lead discussion to identify options
Acceptable
Alternative




Use “pass”
Ask
supervisor
Ask questions, don’t give solutions
Paraphrase, elaborate, integrate
Always bring group back to FBA logic
Produce multiple ideas (elements)
COMPETING PATHWAYS
Leading a Team from FBA to BSP
• 4. Given an array of possible BSP elements, shift
discussion to contextual fit.
BEHAVIOR SUPPORT
PLANNING
Make Problem Behavior
Irrelevant
▫ What elements are feasible, acceptable, sustainable?’
▫ What is the smallest change that will produce the largest
effect?
Make Problem
Behavior
Inefficient
Make
Problem
Behavior
Ineffective
And Positive
Behavior
More
Effective
• Contextual Fit:
▫ The extent to which the people who will implement a
behavior support plan find the elements of the plan




Consistent with their personal values
Consistent with the professional skills
Consistent with the resources available in the setting
Consistent with the available administrative support
Examples of Interventions
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Outline of a Behavior Support Plan
Leading a Team from FBA to BSP
• 5. Transform ideas for BSP elements into a
formal plan for implementation
▫ Who will do what, when, and how will we know?
• Set Up (description, strengths, vision)
Outline
BSP Template
• Assessment (FBA, Person-Centered Plan, Wraparound)
 Operational Descriptions, Routines, FA Hypotheses
• Prevention
• Teaching/Education
• Consequence Procedures
 Minimize reward for problem behavior
 Ensure regular, clear reward for positive behavior
 Punishers (if needed)
• Define safety/emergency procedures (if needed)
• Evaluation and Monitoring for Improvement
 Steps for implementation
Examples:
Define (a) summary statement (b) prevention,
(c) teaching, (d) consequences
• Emmit
• Eric
• Rayette
▫ FACTS
▫ Behavior Support Plan
Summary
• Invest in building consensus around FBA summary statement.
• Recruit strategies that are local, practical, but still consistent
with FBA…(Lead don’t tell). Recruit local knowledge
• Build efficient plans (the smallest changes that produce the
largest effect)
• Ensure that the plan includes procedures for getting
implementation to occur.
• Always include procedures for evaluation
▫ Are we doing what we said we would do?
▫ Is the process having an effect on the student?
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