Functional Behavior Assessment

The Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) is an effective tool for analyzing a

students behavior and monitoring the progress that he or she makes towards amending
undesirable behaviors because it is a document that takes into account observations,
record reviews, interviews, and data analysis regarding a particular student to help
determine why he or she behaves as he or she does. Once the function of the students
behavior has been determined, his or her special education teachers, behavior analysts,
and any other adults involved in the data collecting process, can discover ways that said
student might still receive that same function through a pro-social and appropriate
replacement behavior. Additionally, the FBA details important environmental factors that
allow the child to act as he or she does, while also making suggestions as to how the
environment could change so that the student would feel supported and encouraged to act
in a more positive way.
More specifically, the Functional Behavior Assessment allows teachers to
operationalize or fully define a particular students problem behavior, so that others in the
classroom could easily observe it and determine when that behavior was taking place.
Teachers must also account for the frequency and duration of said behavior, which would
further add to the accuracy of the description being provided. In addition to this, the FBA
provides information regarding whether or not the problem behavior affects the students
learning and the learning of his or her peers. If it is proven that the behavior does indeed
impact academic achievement, the likelihood of the child being recommended for a
Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) increases. Before putting this plan into place, however,
it must be documented on the FBA whether or not Tier II interventions were previously

tried with the student and if they were, the results of such accommodations and strategies
must also be described. If the evaluators decide not to proceed with a Behavior
Intervention Plan, they must document why and explain how and when they will
reevaluate the students FBA.
All of this information attests to the usefulness of the FBA because one can see
that it provides a basic outline of the students concerning behavior as well as the times
when it is most abundantly seen. By collecting a rich amount of data to inform the FBA
writing process, teachers and evaluators are ensuring that the information being gathered
is accurate and thus, is likely to provide a well-rounded and objective description of the
student that will help to determine whether or not he or she is experiencing academic
difficulties as a result of undesirable behavior. Furthermore, this document makes a
recommendation for or against creating a BIP for the student, so it acts as a preface or
perfect lead into the document that is described in the following section.
Behavior Intervention Plan
The Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) is an effective tool for reducing problem
behaviors and replacing them with appropriate, positive, and pro-social behaviors
because it, like the FBA mentioned prior, is based on a wealth of data that is collected
through both direct and indirect means. Once again, teachers must carefully and
specifically define the students problem behavior, its frequency and duration, and
describe how it is impacting the childs ability to succeed in the classroom. The function
of the behavior is also provided, as well as the environmental factors that support this
behavior, and any changes that could be made in the classroom to assist in the
implementation of positive replacement behaviors that would again, serve the same

function or provide the same consequence as the students maladaptive or undesirable

behavior. All of this information relates extremely well to the Functional Behavior
Assessment (FBA), which was outlined in the previous paragraphs and can be found in
Appendix C at the end of this paper. The assessor views the BIP as a longer, more
detailed, and more extensive version of the FBA because it goes into greater detail in
terms of appropriate replacement behaviors.
In the BIP, teacher operationalize the replacement behavior that theyd like to see
the child employ in the classroom and they must provide a specific, step-by-step
procedural outline for how this behavior will be taught to the student. Teachers must
follow the same steps when creating and describing a reinforcement plan for establishing,
maintaining, and generalizing the desired replacement behavior. Finally, the Behavior
Intervention Plan also provides areas for the evaluator to list what will happen if the child
reverts to his or her problem behavior after the appropriate pro-social one has been
learned, detailing specifics such as what to do when prompting the student to switch to
the replacement behavior, handling the problem behavior if it occurs again, and taking
any further school or classroom consequences.
As one can see, the BIP provides an extremely detailed explanation of the
students problem behavior and replacement behavior and because there are physical
procedural steps to guide the teacher in teaching, implementing, and reinforcing the
positive behavior, it greatly increases the likelihood of success for all parties involved,
including the student. The Behavior Intervention Plan is also extremely beneficial when
working on improving behavior because it sets pragmatic behavioral goals for the student
that can be amended and revised as necessary and as goals are reached. The assessor also

feels that because the reinforcement plan is, as all other elements of the document are,
based on data, most likely from surveys regarding the students favorite activities or
reinforcers, the student is more likely to abide by his or her plan and strive to reach his or
her goal because the reinforcement that is given is something that truly matters to the
student.