Functional Assessment Interview
1. Describe the Behavior(s)
Behavior
Describe it
At the beginning:
At it’s most
severe:
At the end:
At the beginning:
At it’s most
severe:
At the end:
At the beginning:
At it’s most
severe:
At the end:
At the beginning:
At it’s most
severe:
At the end:
How often (per
hr., day, week)?
Duration?
How serious?
2. Are there any overlying events (setting events) that set the stage for the
problem behavior (e.g., illness, medications, lack of sleep, hunger, change
in schedule, change in teacher)?
3. Briefly list the person’s daily schedule of activities and the people who
are with him/her during each activity. Check the activities during which
the person engages in problem behaviors
Time
Activity
Where?
Who is there?
Do problem
behaviors occur?
4. When, where, and with whom are the behaviors most and least likely
to happen?
Most likely
Least likely
5. Are there specific things that seem to trigger the behavior
(Instructions, noise, certain people, someone else getting attention,
denying a request, inability to get something he/she wants)?
6. Before or during the problem behavior, does he/she communicate a
want, a need, or a desire to escape something?
If no communication, what would this person have expressed, if
he/she could have?
7. What happens immediately after the problem behavior occurs?
Looking back at the schedule (question 3) and the activities during which
problem behavior tends to occur, give two examples of what happened
immediately after a behavior occurred.
8. Why do you think the behavior is occurring?
9. What do you think should be done to help this person avoid engaging
in problem behavior?
D. Bannerman Juracek and A. McCart, 2002. Adapted from O’Neil, 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. Pacific Grove, CA: Brookes/Cole Publishing.