Functional Behavioral Assessment
Department of Public Instruction document with updates by Ann Brady 2/08
Introduction
Functional Behavioral Assessments have been used to try to determine why individuals
exhibit specific behaviors and how the environment interacts with the individual and
those behaviors. Although this method of analyzing behavior was developed with the
autistic and severely developmentally delayed population, it can easily be used to look at
any individual with problem behaviors.
The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and North Carolina Policies
require that a Functional Behavioral Assessment be conducted after removals for
disciplinary reasons “as needed” and definitely after a change of placement due to
disciplinary removals. Although a Functional Behavioral Assessment is not required
until there has been a change of placement for disciplinary reasons, best practice is to
perform such an assessment for any student with disabilities who has problem behaviors.
This practice would lead to proactively creating interventions to help the student learn
more appropriate behavior. A positive behavior intervention plan is also required by
IDEA for any student with special needs who has behavior problems “as needed” and
definitely for any student after a change of placement due to disciplinary removals.
The Individual Education Program Team (IEP team) is responsible for developing an
assessment plan to address problem behavior. During the IEP team meeting, the target
behavior should be specifically identified and decisions should be made about exactly
who will conduct each component of the Functional Behavioral Assessment, when the
assessment will be completed and when the IEP team will meet to discuss the assessment
and to create proactive behavioral interventions.
Components of a Functional Behavioral Assessment
Any Functional Behavioral Assessment must include these steps: identify and define the
specific problem behavior; collect information about the occurrence of the behavior
through observation, systematic data collection, and interviews of the child, parents, and
staff; identification of the antecedent events and consequences surrounding the behavior;
identification of the function or purpose of the behavior; and development of a hypothesis
about the behavior. Once the assessment is complete, interventions can be created based
on the hypothesis and other relevant information. Each of these steps is explained in
more detail below.
Functional Behavioral Assessment – Page 2
Identify and Define the Specific Problem Behavior
When a student with a disability begins to exhibit behavior that is significantly impeding
the learning of that student or other students or is resulting in a change of placement for
that student, the Individual Education Program Team should meet to look at the specific
problem behavior. The team must agree what behavior is creating the greatest problem.
At this meeting the behavior must be defined in observable, measurable terms.
"Threatens school personnel" is not an adequate target behavior. "Threatens school
personnel by aggressive posture, invading personal space, and using verbally threatening
and abusive language" is a specific target behavior. This behavior is both observable and
measurable.
Plan the Assessment
Once the target behavior has been defined, the IEP team decides what information to
collect about the behavior, as well as how it will be collected. The team determines
which parts of the assessment will be completed by which members of the team. After
the tasks are identified and distributed, the IEP team sets the time and place for their next
meeting in which they will look at the information.
Collecting Information
Information about the target behavior should be gathered from all available sources.
Interviews should be conducted with the relevant people - the student, the parents or
other adults where the student lives, the teacher, other school staff who work with the
student, etc. During the interviews questions should be addressed about when the
behavior usually occurs, during which activities, who is usually around at that time,
where the behavior occurs, how often, and how long the behavior lasts. Find out what
happened before the behavior occurred and what usually happens as a result of the
behavior. The interviews are also a good time to identify the strengths of the student what is the student good at doing, what are skills and interests that have been
demonstrated. This information can be very helpful in designing interventions as a result
of the assessment.
Direct observation of the student in the classroom can provide information about problem
behavior. During an observation, data can be collected in a systematic manner
concerning the behavior and its setting, the antecedents, the consequences, and possible
reasons for the behavior.
A review of the written records about the student, the psychologicals, the Individual
Education Program, interventions, and other documentation, can be a valuable source of
information. A review of discipline records and incident reports can help look at the
history of the behavior and what happened when the behavior occurred in the past.
Functional Behavioral Assessment – Page 3
Analysis of the Data
Once the data are collected, the Individual Education Program Team meets to develop a
hypothesis concerning the target behavior. Information from the interviews, observation,
and record review is shared within the team. The team determines what usually precedes
the target behavior and what appear to be the consequences of this behavior. Then, using
all the information, the team tries to determine the function or purpose of the behavior for
that student. Generally the student is either trying to get attention, something tangible, or
sensory stimulation or trying to get away from attention, something tangible, or sensory
stimulation. The team must be aware that one behavior may serve more than one
function for the same individual as well as more than one behavior may serve the same
function for the same individual.
A hypothesis statement is agreed upon and written by the IEP team. The hypothesis is
written in this manner: when this occurs, the student does, in order to. "When this
occurs" is a description of the antecedents and setting information associated with the
student's problem behavior. "The student does" is a description of the problem behavior.
"In order to" is a description of the possible function of the behavior. Here is an example
of a specific hypothesis statement:
When David is presented with academic work in large or small group settings
requiring writing, multiple work sheets, or work that he perceives to be too
difficult, he will mumble derogatory comments about the teacher, refuse to
complete his work, destroy his assignment sheet, and/or push/kick his desk or
chair over in order to escape academic failure in front of his peers.
One the IEP team agrees on a hypothesis statement, they are ready to design specific
interventions for the behavior. The interventions should teach the students new behaviors
and new skills which allow them to fulfill the function of the behavior in a school
appropriate manner.
NCDPI - Division for Exceptional Children