Functional Behavioral Assessment
Student Name: Rachael
_x__Observation __x_Student Interview __x__Teacher Interview ____Parent Interview ____ Rating Scales __Other
Description of Behavior:
The student engages in many behaviors. When she is in class, she will raise her hand or blurt out a statement. If the teacher calls on her or
addresses her statement she will then raise her hand and/or talk out of turn as often as 5 times a minute. If the teacher does not call on her or
address her statement she will start making comments loudly throughout class. This often annoys the class to the point where many students will
begin to be hostile towards her by making loud, negative comments, and throwing things at her. She will begin to bug other students as well by
butting into their conversations, taking things off of their desk or out of their hands, trying to physically remove them from areas and activities that
involved the student receiving a special privilege, pushing and punching students, and calling other students names. In most cases, the teacher
scolds her, but this doesn’t decrease her behavior. It intensifies it. In the hallways, she repeatedly harasses students. If the interaction between her
and the other student(s) doesn’t go well, she proceeds to harass the student(s) by continuing to talk to them long after she has been asked to stop,
shoving them if they try to walk away, calling them names and throwing pencils at them if they give her negative attention.
Setting (where, when, and with whom, also when is the behavior absent)
The behavior occurs in most of her classes and in the hallway between classes as well. The behavior does not occur during choir, at lunch, and in
homeroom. No information is available on whether the behavior occurs at home or not.
Frequency: The behavior occurs multiple times a day several days a week. Often, the behavior will occur several times in a single class,
depending on the teacher and his or her reaction to the behavior.
Intensity: The intensity varies day to day. Some days the behavior is very intense, while others it is very mild or doesn’t occur at all.
Duration: The duration of the behavior varies with the intensity. On days where the behavior is intense, the behavior can span several hours over
a course of a day. On days where it is not intense, the behavior may last as little as 30 seconds to a minute.
Describe Previous Interventions: Previous interventions included the use of rewards, token economies, student contracts, suspension (in house
and out of school) for misbehavior, student contracts, and negative reinforcement. Attempts to incorporate the parents into any interventions have
failed. Additionally, a self-contained timeout room has been utilized when the behavior becomes too intense and disrupts the class. The usage of a
self-contained timeout room has been fairly successful in reducing the student’s target behavior as well as allowing the class to focus on their
schoolwork again by removing her from the environment.
Educational Implications: The behavior effects the education of not only herself and others. This behavior causes her to not be on task and often
times, distracts the whole class as well. In addition, this behavior often annoys her classmates, which alienates her from the class. This makes
forming meaningful relationships with peers very difficult.
Functional Behavioral Assessment
Function of Behavior: Indicate how you believe each area below may help organize and direct the problem behavior.
Emotional Factors (anxiety, depression, anger, poor self-concept)
The student seems to be extremely anxious for most of the day. This anxiousness also seems to intensify towards the end of the day. The student
may also have a poor self-concept as well. She frequently tries to seek the attention of everyone around her. In addition, she feels that no one in the
school likes her, which contributes to her poor self-concept.
Cognitive Distortion (inaccurate attributions, negative self-statements)
She feels that no one likes her and that she has been completely and totally alienated by all the other students in the school as well as the teachers
and the principle as well. While the student has not directly identified this as an inaccurate attribution of herself; she seems to hold the belief that
she needs to be the center of attention at all times. She seeks to always be a part of the conversations going on around her or in class, as well as
talking to students in the hall, whether they want to talk to her or not.
Modeling (Determine if the behavior is copied, from whom?)
It is not apparent that the student is copying the behavior of others.
Family Issues: The relationship between the parents is strained. They have reported to teachers that they often argue with each other several times
a week. In addition the father has reported that he does not like his daughter and does not spend much time with her. He reports that often when he
does spend time with her, it is to yell at her about not turning in schoolwork or about misbehavior at school. The mother has reported to teachers
that she often caves in to the student’s demands regardless of her own feelings.
Physiological/Constitutional Issues: The student was recently diagnosed with scoliosis and was fitted for a back brace.
Communicating a need:
The student’s behavior communicates a need for attention, either good or bad.
Curriculum/Instruction/Setting
The student has reported that she has often been bored with the work given to her in class. Additionally, she has also reported that she feels
alienated by her teachers and classmates because they do not like her.