Essay On Functional Behavioral Assessments

When basic classroom management techniques and behavioral interventions are ineffective when dealing with challenging behaviors, it can be helpful to take a closer look at a student’s behavior. Is the behavior causing injury or harm to the student or others, intense or occur frequently, or place the student at risk for referral to special education or a more restrictive environment? If yes, than an intervention team could then discuss the possibility and appropriateness of conducting a functional behavioral assessment. (FBA). Challenging behaviors are often displayed when a student is trying to “obtain something they desire, or when the student is trying to avoid something they do not desire.” A functional behavioral assessment, or FBA, is used to determine the function of the behavior, and what is helping the behavior to be maintained. It helps teachers to understand the reason

The FBA process has been shown to be effective in the general education classroom setting to reduce problem behaviors, such as noncompliance and task avoidance, as well as to increase desired behaviors, such as academic engagement and participation. FBA’s have also demonstrated to have success as a tertiary intervention in schools that use a three-tiered behavioral intervention process. Research done by Burke, Hagan-Burke, and Sugai in 2007 demonstrated that function-based interventions is effective with students who have severe disabilities, multiple disabilities, ADHD, and learning disabilities, as well as students who are at risk for emotional or behavioral disorders. Functional behavioral assessments have also shown to be effective with ELL students, in the general education classroom. When involved in function- based interventions ELL students have shown reduced levels of task-avoidance and increases in their academic