Question: The example in this presentation illustrated a student with high frequency, low intensity behaviors (e.g. calling out, lack of engagement). Is DBI still applicable for students with low frequency yet “dangerous behaviors”? If so, what might DBI look like for these students?
Answer: Typically, it is more difficult to monitor the progress of students who have high intensity (severe) and low frequency behavior. It is challenging to look at data the same way for these students due to the low frequency and often severe nature of their behaviors. However, very few children show only intensive behaviors and nothing else. Usually there are some less intense behaviors that occur more frequently that are related to those intensive episodes and the
DBI process can be used for those students by measuring those less intensive forms of behaviors.
Progress monitoring these more frequent and less-intensive behaviors may allow teams to make adaptations to a child’s behavioral intervention supports to better meet the child’s needs. This allows teams to be more proactive in making adaptations to interventions based on data, rather than waiting for occurrences of severe behavior to decide whether or not an intervention is working.
Question: Typically, is an FBA part of the diagnostic assessment? What other assessments are could be used as diagnostic assessments?
Answer: The FBA could be a part of the diagnostic process. Gathering information about the motivation for a child’s problem behavior often is informative, and can direct the adaptation of tier 2 interventions. While using some level of functional assessment to gather information and make a hypothesis about the function of behaviors can be part of the diagnostic process at the secondary intervention level, a full functional behavioral analysis might not be needed until tier
3.
In the diagnostic process, it is also important to include some level of academic assessment.
Academic and behavioral difficulties are often related, and an academic assessment will help teams to determine if academic difficulties may motivate children to engage in problem behavior, perhaps to avoid challenging tasks. For example, if a child is having difficulty with reading, a team may consider using the Check-in and Check-out process as a way to prime that child on the reading instruction that’s coming up, perhaps by providing reviews or extra practice.
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In addition, social skills assessments often yield valuable information during the diagnostic process. Targeting deficits through social skills evaluation is often useful in informing adaptations to secondary interventions.
It is important to keep in mind that a diagnostic assessment does not always mean a formal assessment. When a student is at the primary of secondary tier of support, informal assessments can be very informative, such as observations or a review of a child’s academic work from the class where problem behaviors occur. Standardized measures or achievement tests are often not necessary unless a child progresses to a more intensive tier of support.
American Institutes for Research
1000 Thomas Jefferson St. NW ~ Washington, DC 20007
202-403-5000 ~ TTY 877-334-3499 ~ Fax 202-403-6844 www.intensiveinterventions.org