“I see no hope for our future if we depend on the frivolous
youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words. When I was a boy we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly
wise and impatient of restraint.”
Aristotle
The Challenge
• Problem: Eric enters the school building and
within three minutes has a verbal conflict with
another student, has walked away from a teacher
who is supervising the situation, & has convinced
other students to leave school with him. Staff
members report that he is unresponsive to their
directions and openly defiant.
• What should you do?
The Challenge
• Problem: A teacher reports that Joe continues
to disturb the class at high rates. He says that
Joe constantly talks out, often gets physical with
peers, refuses to do work and frequently gets
silly and inappropriate during group discussions.
The teacher reports that he has tried everything
and nothing works, and that he is totally
frustrated. He says he is desperate for good
suggestions.
• What suggestions would you give this
teacher?
• How do you know which strategy to try?
The BIG Idea
FUNCTION MATTERS
Outcomes for Today
• Identify the components of function
based support
• Identify simple screening tools to
determine students in need of support
• Identify a variety of Targeted Group
Interventions
Function Based Support
Takes a functional view of behavior asserting that
behavior always occurs for a reason, and the
reason is directly related to the person's unique
interaction with the environment where the behavior
occurs. Understanding the influence of context on
behavior leads to developing interventions that
include changes in the environment (Dunlop, 2001)
and an appreciation of the function that the
behavior services for an individual (Johnston &
O'Neill, 2001).
The Importance of Context
Every behavior has a social and
environmental context. When we try to
answer the question “what function” is a
behavior serving for a person” we
attempt to identify relationships between
the person, environmental events, and
the occurrence or non-occurrence of
specific behaviors.
Assumptions of Positive
Behavior Support




All behavior serves a purpose
Behavior is context related.
Inappropriate behaviors are learned and predictable.
All elements of an intervention need to be consistent
with assumptions about the mechanisms sustaining
problem behavior.
 Understanding behavioral function is essential
 Implement effective practices WITH the systems that
will support and sustain those practices
Learned Responses
• Students who chronically engage in
problem behavior have:
– Learned that it is a functional response for
getting what they want
• in many cases avoiding academic tasks they
struggle with
– Often do not have practiced alternative, more
appropriate behaviors to fall back on
A Context for PBIS & Function Based
Support
• 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.
Rob Horner- University
of Oregon
Function-based Behavior
Support
• A different approach to addressing
support for students with problem
behaviors.
• Function-based support focuses on the
“why” or function of the behavior as well
as “why does it continues to
happen”.
What happens when behavioral
interventions ignore function?
• Students may engage more frequently in the
problem behavior – it helps them to get what they
want
• Students may stop engaging in the problem
behavior, but try
another inappropriate way to achieve the function
Understanding Behavior
ABC
• If students are repeatedly engaging in a
behavior, they are most likely doing it for a
reason, because it is paying off for them….
• Behavior is communication; students can learn
either that (a) expected behavior or (b) problem
behavior is the best way for them to get their
needs met
– students will use which ever behavior works most
effectively and most efficiently for them to attain their
desired outcome
ABC of Behavior
Behavioral Events
A
B
C
An ABC Model of Learning
A
B
In reading class,
student is asked to
read the word
aloud on the board
C
student tries, but
peers laugh at the
reads slowly,
student and one
struggles, and
students says,
gets the word
“That word is so
wrong
easy”
What did the student learn?
NEXT DAY
Student is asked
to read the word
aloud on the board
What
happens
today???
Understanding Function
The most common problem behaviors in school
and in life serve a function:
1. to get something

attention, objects, activities, self-stimulation
(self-regulation)
2. to escape/avoid something
 tasks, embarrassment, situations, persons
Adapted from T. Scott, 1988
Typical Functions
Get/ Access
Peer/Adult
Social
Activities
Tasks/Tangibl
es
Sensory
Avoid/
Escape
Functional Approach to Behavior Management
•
Examples of Functions of Problem Behavior
If I don’t know how to ask for
help with a difficult
assignment, …
I might tear it up or begin
making jokes.
If I don’t excel at much in
school, but still want to be
noticed, …
I might use shocking
language or defy a
teacher’s order.
If I need a break, but don’t
know how to negotiate it, …
I might do something to get
sent out of the room
Steps in Function-based
Support Process
•
•
•
•
Define the challenge
Build a testable hypothesis (interview, observe)
Confirm the hypothesis (observe, manipulate)
Use “competing behavior analysis” to build
possible elements of behavior support plan
• Use “contextual fit” guidelines to select final
elements of behavior support plan
• Implement behavior support plan
• Monitor and modify as needed
What is FBA? A systematic process for
developing statements about factors that:
– contribute to occurrence & maintenance of problem
behavior, &
– more importantly, serve as basis for developing proactive &
comprehensive behavior support plans.
– The effectiveness and efficiency of behavior support is
improved with knowledge of behavioral function.
• Behavioral Function: The consequence that maintains a
behavior.
– Developing support without regard for behavioral
functional will result in plans that are as likely to make
problem behavior WORSE as to produce improvement.
Defining Behavioral Function
• Define the behavior
– Be specific, and operational (what you can count)
• Define the routine/context
– Place the behavior in a context.
• In that context, that behavior, by that student is most
likely maintained by ????
– Focus on the single most controlling
consequence
Functional approach logic
• Behaviors are maintained by consequence
events (function)
– Positive or negative reinforcement
• Behaviors are occasioned by antecedent events
– Relate antecedent to emission of behavior &
likelihood of consequence event
• Changing behaviors requires consideration of
maintaining consequences
Does your team use a function-based
problem solving process?

Identify appropriate replacement behaviors that serve
the same function as the problem behaviors.

Plan for systematic teaching of replacement behaviors
as necessary.

Design environment to facilitate success by
prompting/reinforcing replacement behaviors.
Designing School-Wide Support Systems for
Student Success
Academic Systems
Behavioral Systems
Intensive, Individual Interventions
•Individual Students
•Assessment-based
•High Intensity
1-5%
Targeted Group Interventions
•Some students (at-risk)
•High efficiency
•Rapid response
Universal Interventions
•All students
•Preventive, proactive
5-10%
80-90%
1-5%
Intensive, Individual Interventions
•Individual Students
•Assessment-based
•Intense, durable procedures
5-10%
Targeted Group Interventions
•Some students (at-risk)
•High efficiency
•Rapid response
80-90%
Universal Interventions
•All settings, all students
•Preventive, proactive
Defining BSP/Targeted Intervention
• When Should it Happen? What tools do we use to
identify students in need of Tier II interventions?
– When teacher reports indicate that a student is on the
verge of failure, despite school-wide or classroomwide strategies and procedures.
– When school-wide data (SWIS) documents academic
or behavioral problems that consistently distinguish a
student from his or her peers.
– When SWIS identifies a large number of students
whose behavior serves the same function
Identifying Students
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Absences & Tardies
In-school detentions
Suspensions
Number of SWIS referrals (by function)
Multiple office referrals
Recommendation by teacher
Recommendation by parent
Quick FBA’s (FACT Part A&B)
Response: Group Targeted
Interventions
• Targets groups of students that fail to respond to
school-wide and classroom expectations but who are
not currently engaging in extremely disruptive
behavior; likely to be a student with both academic
and behavioral challenges. Typically approximately
7% of school population.
• Efficient – a similar set of strategies are used across
a group needing similar levels of support
• Effective – Decreasing problem behavior in
classrooms, increasing academic engagement &
decreasing office referrals
Challenges of Behavior
Support
• Resources (time & money) are scarce
• Match level of support to level of
challenges
• Need an efficient and effective
intermediate level intervention
system that targets students at-risk
but who are not currently engaging
in severe problem behavior
Practical use of scarce resources
• School-wide team OR Targeted team to design & monitor
• Efficient system to identify those in need of more support
• Technical competence
– Functional assessment, support plan design
– Information collection and use
• If many students (>10) with less than intense needs, then Targeted
Group Intervention.
• If (a) small number of students, or (b) students with intense needs
then use an Action Team or a Wraparound Team.
Targeted Group Interventions
Group Based Programming Elements
1.
2.
Small group interventions based on descriptive functional
assessment information.
Types of intervention strategies include;
•
•
•
•
•
•
Targeted social skills instruction (e.g., problem solving and
conflict management),
Specifically structured opportunities for high rates of academic
success.
Check-in/Check-Out
Check & Connect
Advisor/Advisee Groups
Homework Clubs
Critical Features of Targeted Group
Interventions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Intervention is continuously available
Rapid access to intervention (72 hr)
Very low effort by teachers
Consistent with school-wide expectations
Implemented by all staff/faculty in a school
Flexible intervention based on descriptive functional
assessment
• Continuous monitoring for decision-making
BEP Process
BEP Plan
Morning
Check-in
Home
Check-in
Daily
Afternoon
Check-in
Daily Teacher
Evaluation
Why do “Targeted Group” Interventions
Work?
• Improved structure
• Prompts throughout the day for correct behavior.
• System for linking student with at least one adult
• Student chooses to participate
• Increased feedback
• Feedback occurs more often
• Feedback is tied to student behavior
• Inappropriate behavior is less likely to be ignored
or rewarded
Why do “Targeted Group” Interventions
Work?
• Increased frequency of acknowledgement/
reinforcement for appropriate behavior
• Adult and peer attention
• Linking school and home support
• Organized to morph into a self-management
system
Main Themes of Effective
Interventions
• Make the problem behavior irrelevant
• Change the context so the problem does not
arise
• Make the problem behavior inefficient
• Teach alternative skills that produce same
effect as problem behavior
• Exaggerate rewards for appropriate behavior
• Make the problem behavior ineffective
• Minimize the likelihood that a problem behavior
will be rewarded.
Contextual Fit
• Select support strategies based on
– Values of implementers
• Do implementers feel comfortable with procedures
–
–
–
–
Skills of implementers
Resources of implementers
Administrative support available to implementers
Expectation of effectiveness
• Least intrusion for maximal effect
Your Thoughts….
• A High School identifies through SWIS
data that over the past 3 years the
freshman class has the highest number
of office referrals with the main function
being teacher attention. What would you
suggest as group targeted
interventions?
Your Thoughts…
• When mid-term grades come out a
middle school finds that a large number
of students are failing core classes (LA
& Math) and have the lowest homework
completion rate of any grade? What
group targeted interventions would you
recommend?
One Step Further:
Tools for Gathering Information
• Routine Matrix FACTS (A&B)
• Interviews
- Functional Assessment Interview
- Student Guided Functional Assessment Interview
• Checklists
- Problem Behavior Questionnaire
• Records Review
- academic, behavioral, evaluations
• Observations
- A-B-C Assessment (identify sequences of behavior)
- Scatter Plots (plot behavior by date/time/activity)
Interview Questions….
• What is the likely function (intent) of the
behavior; that is, why do you think the student
behaves this way? What does the student
get or avoid?
• What behavior(s) might serve the same
function (see question 9) for the student that
is appropriate within the social/environmental
context?
– As well as who, what, when, where
Routines Matrix
Time
Activity
Likelihood Behavior
Home Room
1 2 3 4 5 6
Reading
1 2 3 4 5 6
Recess
1 2 3 4 5 6
Math
1 2 3 4 5 6
Art
1 2 3 4 5 6
Scream, Hit
Head
Slap thigh and
head
Functional Assessment Checklist for Teachers “FACTS”
STEP 1: Student/ Grade: _____Clarence/9th grade_____
Date: ____January
11___________
Interviewer: ___________Sugai________
Respondent(s): ____Thomas_____
STEP 2: Student Profile: Please identify at least three strengths or contributions the
student brings to school.
C. has leadership potential. Peers listened to him, and he can be very convincing and
sincere. He’s academically competent and seems to be moving smoothly and
successfully through the school curriculum.
STEP 3: Problem Behavior(s): Identify problem behaviors
___Tardy_X Fight/physical Aggression ___ Disruptive___ Theft___ UnresponsiveX
Inappropriate Language_X__ Insubordination___ Vandalism___ Withdrawn_X__
Verbal Harassment____Work not done___ Other __________ ____X _ Verbally
Inappropriate___ Self-injury
Describe problem behavior:C. may have one of the shortest fuses I’ve seen. One little
tease by a peer, and he quickly and predictably escalates through a behavioral
sequence that begins with passive in subordination (non response), moves to a mild
protest, shifts to harassment and name calling, increases to property damage and
even to physical aggression. Its interesting that he seems to “enjoy” the reactions he
gets from peers that he aggresses toward, and from peers who look up to him for his
aggressiveness.
STEP 4: Routine Analysis
Schedul
e
(Times)
Activity
Likelihood of Problem
Behavior
Specific Problem
Behavior
Low
8:00
Waiting to enter
building
8:15
Advisory & Planning
9:15
Language Arts
1
High
2
6
1
4
5
1
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
Occasional name
calling/teasing
2
3
4
5
See escalation described
above
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
6
6
11:30
Math
12:00
Lunch
12:35
Earth Science
1:15
Art or Phy Ed
1
6
1
6
1
6
1
6
Mostly teasing and
touching property of
others. Doesn’t
escalate much
further
2
6
1
10:15
3
See escalation described
above
Occasional teasing
See escalation described
above
Minor verbal harassment
See escalation described
above
Functional Assessment of Behavior
“BIG IDEAS”
• Functional behavior assessment is a problem
solving process – a way to think about behavior
systematically.
“FBA can be done in your head.”
• Functional assessment identifies the events that
reliably predict AND maintain problem behavior.
Functional Assessment
Outcomes
• Operational Description of Problem Behavior
– Organized by response classes, behavioral routines
• Identification of events that reliably predict
occurrence and nonoccurrence of problem
behavior
– Immediate antecedents and setting events
• Identification of Maintaining Consequences
(Function)
• Hypothesis statement(s)
• Direct Observation Data
Functional Assessment Pathway
Maintaining
Consequence
Setting Event
Triggering
Event or
Antecedent
Problem
Behavior
THE FUNCTION
“Get something”
“Get away from
Something”
FBA Expanded
Antecedents
Behavior
Consequences
(Outcome/Function)
B
A
Setting
Events
Immediate
Environmental
factors that
influence
behavior, not
immediate
Appropriate
Behavior
or
or
Slow
Triggers
Problem
Behavior
C
Fast Triggers
Occur
immediately
before a
behavior
Goal:
Goal:
Decrease
Acquire skill
& Increase
Access
Reinforcement
Punishment
Avoid/Escape
When Sylvia misses her 12:30 medication &
teachers make multiple task demands, she makes
negative self-statements & writes profane
language on her assignments. Teaching staff
typically send her to the office with a discipline
referral for being disrespectful.
What
function?
Avoid
difficult
tasks
Setting event
Misses 12:30
medication
Antecedent
Teachers
make
multiple
task demands
Response
Sequoia makes
negative selfstatements &
writes profane
language
Consequence
Teacher sends
Sequoia to
office for being
disrespectful
Rickie has dyed his hair three colors & is teased
several times by his friends before class. When he
enters the class, his teacher stares at his hair.
Rickie immediately says “what are you staring at?”
His teacher immediately sends him to in-school
detention.
Setting event
teased several
times about his
hair by his
friends before
class
Antecedent
His teacher
stares at his
hair in class
Escape
adult &
What
function?
peer attention
Response Consequence
asks
his teacher
what she’s
staring at
His teacher
sends him to
in-school
detention
Behavioral Pathways
When given math worksheets & other assignments, Daniel
does not do his work, he uses profanity & disrupts lessons,
especially, when he has worked alone for 30 minutes without
peer contact. His work does not get completed, & he avoids
teachers requests.
Setting Event Trigger
Alone for
Given Math
30+ minutes
or other task
Behavior
Profanity
disruption
Consequence
Gets out of
completing work
Jack gets into arguments with his math teacher if she asks him to correct his
mistakes. As a result of this behavior Jack often avoids work and gains the
teacher’s attention. This is more likely to happen if he has had difficulty with
another subject prior to coming to math.
Setting Events
Triggering
Antecedents
Problem
Behavior
Maintaining
Consequences
Jack gets into arguments with his math teacher if she asks him to correct his
mistakes. As a result of this behavior Jack often avoids work and gains the
teacher’s attention. This is more likely to happen if he has had difficulty with
another subject prior to coming to math.
Setting Events
Difficulty with
another
subject before
math
Triggering
Antecedents
Problem
Behavior
Maintaining
Consequences
Asked to correct his
mistakes
argues
Avoids work
Mitch
• 15 years old, no disabilities, highly verbal,
good sense of humor
• Problem behaviors: Talks out, calls other
students names, uses teasing voice tone
• Context: In less structured contexts where he
is not getting peer attention.
• Maintaining Function: obtain peer attention
• Setting Events: Extended time without peer
contact.
Setting Events
Time without
per contact
Triggering
Antecedents
Problem
Behavior
Maintaining
Consequences
Seat work;alone
Calls students
names
Attention from peers
Define the Consequence
Typically Associated with Desired
Behavior
• What generally follows performance of
the desired behavior
– Ignored?
– Praised?
– Access to new activity?
– Access to social contact?
– Error correction?
Identify the “Replacement”
Behavior
• An appropriate Replacement Behavior:
– Serves the same function as the problem
behavior
• The replacement behavior is a member of the
same response class as the problem behavior
– Is as, or more efficient than the problem
behavior
• physical effort, schedule of reinforcement, time
to reinforcement
– Is socially acceptable
– Can be learned to criterion in 10 school
days
Desired Behavior
Do work
quietly
Setting Events
Minimal
peer
contact
Triggering
Antecedents
Seat
Work,
Alone
Problem Behavior
Tease,
Taunt
peers
Replacement Behavior
Request
to work
with
peers
Typical
Consequences
More
work,
points
Maintaining
Consequences
Attention
from
peers
Implications
• Building a Commitment to Behavior Support
in Schools and Communities
• Establishing the Foundation Systems
– Teams
– Time
– Access to Behavior Specialist (as guide, capacity
builder, collaborator)
• Using Effective Technology
– Person-Centered Planning
– Functional Behavior Assessment
– Comprehensive Behavior Support Design
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
• Link Behavior Support to Lifestyle Plan
• Multi-component interventions
• Linking behavioral, educational, mental health strategies
• Systems Change
• Intervention at the “whole-school” level
• Systems that nurture and sustain effective practices
• Systems that are durable
Summary
• Focusing on the “behavioral function” of
problem behavior places the challenge
in the context rather than in the student.
• Behavioral function affects how we
organize support at all levels of
SWPBS.
Stop asking me if we’re almost there.
For crying out loud, we’re nomads