Functional Behavior Assessment

• Behavior is functionally related to the teaching environment
• We cannot make a child behave (or learn)- we CAN create an environment that makes it much more likely
• Much more concerned with the function of the behavior than the form (throwing chairs or hiding under them and crying) - how is this related to what is going on in the child's environment
• That allows us to make a plan to meet that child's need & alter the environment so that we see the replacement behavior or pro-social skill
• Focus on observable behavior - kids come with experiences, thinking, disabilities that contribute to the behavior - cannot change past or alter DNA - cannot ask child to stop being ODD for a few minutes to see if the intervention will work = label free approach- of course they will have other sources of support needed
• Not a counselor or therapist, I am a teacher - good news is that research continues to show us that instructional based approaches are some of the most efficient and effective in creating real, meaningful behavior changes
• Focus on teaching behaviors and practicing behaviors
• Best practice vs discipline
• Process vs forms

• Rule out medical issues, vision, hearing, speech impairments, etc - academic strengths & weaknesses
• Start breaking down the environment & looking for predictable things that happen before the behavior and after the behavior

Basics

• Behavior is learned
• All children learn a set of social skills to get their needs met
• Often a disconnect between the skill they are using and the skill we expect them to use at school
• Don't assume kids know YOUR rules, expectations, & social skills
• Many times a student can tell you what they should have done instead, but they are not using that skill because it is not getting their need met or it's not getting the need met more efficiently & effectively than "doing the right thing"
• Must compete with what the kid is getting now if we are going to change the behavior pattern
• Every social interaction you have with a child teaches him/her something - every interaction we have with all of the other students watching is also teaching something - what we are teaching is "if I do this, you are going to respond this way" - students learn to predict future outcomes based on past interactions or by watching others
• Behavior communicates need
• Children engage in behaviors to "get" what they find reinforcing and "avoid" what they find aversive
• Multiple layers and many kids have multiple functions to their behavior...
• No such thing as universal reinforcers - no such thing as universal aversives
• Always look for patterns in the behavior and the environment to find what maintains that behavior
• Need is determined by looking at what happens prior to and after behavior
• FBA leads to hypotheses about the functional relationships between BEHAVIOR and the TEACHING ENVIRONMENT
• If the environment is giving a child something & the behavior continues, the behavior is being reinforced
• If following a behavior, the child is allowed to stop an activity or is removed from the situation and the behavior continues or increases, the event is aversive to the child
• Especially for students with special needs or students who are far behind, as they progress in school, academic work becomes more aversive bc they are not being successful - eventually school becomes a pretty aversive place for many kids
• Events in the environment can "trigger" challenging behavior - they serve as cues for the student to perform a behavior bc the student can predict the outcome when the cue is present

Hypothesis (linked to FBA - point of FBA is to create hypothesis to design intervention)

• When this occurs....
• The students does.....
• To get/avoid....

Interventions:

Positive Behavior Support Plan

• Teach replacement behaviors that result in same/similar outcomes
• Environment should not allow problem behavior to result in previous outcomes
• Ideally replacement behavior should be more efficient than problem behavior

We send kids to specialists (special ed, counselors etc to learn social skills but unless the environment allows for everyone to practice those skills, odds are they are not going to become fluent...foreign language analogy

Essential Steps

1. Request for assistance
2. Operationally define problem/replacement behavior
3. Background/archival data, data collection, environmental assessment
4. FBA - indirect measures (interviews, rating scales), direct observation (looking for functional relationships and what that child can predict)
5. Hypothesis regarding function of problem behavior
6. PBS plan - social skill instruction (what to do instead), self management (always encouraged) , environmental modifications, etc
7. Implement, monitor, evaluate progress - use data already collecting - office referrals, TIP referrals, etc

Essential components in the classroom based on research

1. Classroom expectations/rules defined & taught (all use schoolwide, create classroom)
2. Procedures & routines defined and taught
3. Continuum of strategies to acknowledge appropriate behavior (4:1)
4. Continuum of strategies to respond to inappropriate behavior per schoolwide procedure
5. Students actively supervised (pre-corrects, positive feedback)
6. Students given multiple opportunities to respond to promote high rates of academic engagement
7. Activity sequence promotes optimal instruction time and student engaged time
8. Instruction is differentiated based on student need

These 8 are on pbismissouri website - mini modules - 10 minute inservice on each topic followed by two week focus with peer coaching and feedback - research says if you want behavior to change, you must give feedback!

Tier II

Use a universal screener - catch sooner rather than later

Limit Tier II to three strategies

1. Additional social skills - every social skill taught even if it's anger management is linked back to universals (ROCKS)
2. Self management - CICO (elem), Check & Connect (secondary) - linked to universals (ROCKS) or CHAMPS
3. Academic supports

Tier III

• When small group not sufficient
• When problem is intense and chronic
• Driven by FBA
• Connections to mental health and community agencies
• Part of a continuum - link to universals

Functional assessment is NOT special ed, it is not specialized instruction - gen ed teachers can do functional assessments, gen ed teachers can implement behavior intervention plans - special education kids CAN have tier II supports, still gen ed kid % of day and entitled to same supports as everyone else - there may be some considerations if a kid has IEP, have that conversation with special ed team

IDEA says if you suspect a disability & you suspect it in a way that's official (such as the principal saying he/she suspects there is a disability and is the point person to start referral process), that child has all the legal rights (procedural safeguards) as if he already has an IEP