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SUMMARY OF STEPS TO CONDUCT A FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT To review, in conducting a functional behavioral assessment, the IEP team identifies and defines the problem behavior first in broad and then specific terms (Steps 1 and 2). The team reviews information from various sources (e.g., questionnaires; semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, and others; or observations of students in various settings) and in various forms (e.g., scatterplots or ABC charts) (Step 3). Next, the team carefully examines what they have learned about the behavior and its context in order to determine its function(s) and decides what to do next (Step 4). In some cases, both the purpose of the misbehavior and an appropriate intervention will quickly become apparent, as when a student repeatedly acts up when asked to complete too demanding an assignment in reading. In other instances, the IEP team will need to collect and analyze different types of information and look for multiple clues regarding the source(s) of the problem behavior, such as antecedents that trigger or consequences that maintain acting-out behavior (Step 5). As we have suggested, no two problems are likely to stem from the exact same source, and information collected on different students will likely vary in kind and amount. In the end, the team must work to develop a probable explanation of why the student is not behaving appropriately, test the hypothesis (Step 6), and develop a behavior intervention plan accordingly. |
