TABLE OF CONTENTS

	Acknowledgments
	Introduction
	IDEA Rights and Requirements
	IEP Team Roles and Responsibilities
	Why a Functional Assessment of Behavior is Important
	Conducting a Functional Behavioral Assessment
	Identifying the Problem Behavior
	Possible Alternative Assessment Strategies
	Techniques for Conducting the Functional Behavioral Assessment Indirect Assessment Direct Assessment Data Analysis Hypothesis Statement
	Individuals Assessing Behavior
	Behavior Intervention Plans
	Addressing Skill Deficits
	Addressing Performance Deficits
	Addressing Both Skill and Performance Deficits
	Modifying the Learning Environment
	Providing Supports
	Evaluating the Behavior Intervention Plan
	Summary
	Resources
	Appendix A
	Appendix B

In addition to factors of skill and motivation, the functional behavioral assessment may reveal conditions within the learning environment, itself, that may precipitate problem behavior. Factors that can serve as precursors to misbehavior range from the physical arrangement of the classroom or student seating assignment to academic tasks that are "too demanding" or "too boring." Again, simple curricular or environmental modifications may be enough to eliminate such problems.

Providing Supports

Sometimes supports are necessary to help students use appropriate behavior. The student, for example, may benefit from work with school personnel, such as counselors or school psychologists. Other people who may provide sources of support include:

Peers, who may provide academic or behavioral support through tutoring or conflict-resolution activities, thereby fulfilling the student’s need for attention in appropriate ways;

Families, who may provide support through setting up a homework center in the home and developing a homework schedule;

Teachers and paraprofessionals, who may provide both academic supports and curricular modifications to address and decrease a student’s need to avoid academically challenging situations; and

Language pathologists, who are able to increase a child’s expressive and receptive language skills, thereby providing the child with alternative ways to respond to any situation.

In addition, a variety of adults and students in and around the school and community may contribute support. An example of how one Local Education Agency helped a student use some of his energy in an appropriate manner involved allowing the student to work with the school custodian, contingent upon his completing his academic work each day.

Whatever the approach, the more proactive and inclusive the behavior intervention plan – and the more closely it reflects the results of the functional behavioral assessment – the more likely that it will succeed. In brief, one’s options for positive behavioral interventions may include:

	Replacing problem behaviors with appropriate behaviors that serve the same (or similar) function as inappropriate ones;
	Increasing rates of existing appropriate behaviors;
	Making changes to the environment that eliminate the possibility of engaging in inappropriate behavior; and
	Providing the supports necessary for the child to use the appropriate behaviors.

Care should be given to select a behavior that likely will be elicited by and reinforced in the natural environment, for example, using appropriate problem-solving skills on the playground will help the student stay out of the principal’s office.

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