Functional Assessment & Behavior Support Plans

1. Functional Assessment&Behavior Support Plans For Charter Schools March 2011 Presented by: Cindy Myers Comprehensive Behavior Specialist

2. Behavior Serves a Purpose • Get/Obtain • Attention • Tangible • Activity • Sensory • Avoid/Escape • Attention • Activity • Sensory, pain, discomfort

3. To determine what purpose or function the behavior serves for an individual, you must conduct a functional assessment!

4. Functional Assessment is a Process Determine characteristics of the • Individual • Environment that exert an influence on the appearance of behavior

5. Characteristics of the Individual: • Physical • Health related difficulties that affect sleep, mood, general well-being, affect/emotion • Learning • Executive function, memory, language-communication, auditory or visual, individual vs group instruction, strategies, processing, math-reading-writing • Self-regulation • “constitutional” factors, tolerance to stimuli, executive function, frustration tolerance, delay of gratification, organization, attention, concentration, self-soothing • Social-emotional • Response to authority, coop with peers, interests, friendships, support network, problem solving, introvert/extrovert

6. Characteristics of the Environment • Structure • Physical layout, temporal organization, stimulation, transitions, predictability • Instruction • Planning, organization, support, style, group size • Expectations for Behavior • School & classroom expectations, taught, precorrection, praise, systematic reinforcement, feedback • Teacher & Relationship factors • Preparation, skill, personal attributes, style, flexibility

7. To repeat: • Functional Assessment is a process • to gather information about factors related to the student and the environment • that influence behavior • To determine what purpose the behavior serves for the individual

8. 3 different methods of FA • Interviews, checklists, & questionnaires • Direct Observation • Functional Analysis Manipulations

9. Functional Analysis Manipulations • Mini experiments • Not recommended in school settings

10. Interviews, Checklists, Questionnaires • A variety of instruments, tools, forms for collecting information • Common tools include: • File review • FAI, Student Directed FAI • MAS • FAST • District specific forms • One of these alone does not constitute a FA!

11. Motivation Assessment ScaleDurrand & Crimmins

12. Information to Consider: • Communication Style • Social Support Network • Student Learning Style compared to Teacher Style (Environmental Fit) • History of the Behavior & Previous Interventions • Impact or Seriousness of Behavior

13. Now What? • Analyze the information • Are there setting events consistently associated with the behavior? • Are there antecedents or triggers consistently associated with the behavior? • What consequences maintain the behavior? • What function does it serve? • Keep a “paper trail” of the process!

14. The culmination of the information gathering process is to end up with a hypothesis about the function of the behavior!

15. Develop a Hypothesis

16. Collect Direct Observation Data • Direct Observation data either • Provides evidence to support your hypothesis • Provides evidence that you may want to revise your hypothesis

17. Direct Observation Data • Best choices • FAO by Dr. Rob O’Neill • Structured A-B-C form (modified from Brian Iwata)

20. Structured A-B-C

21. Based on Your Hypothesis, Choose an Alternative Replacement Behavior • This behavior MUST serve the same function as the problem behavior!! • Use “The Competing Behavior Diagram” model to visually describe the results of your Functional Assessment

22. Desired Alternative Typical Consequence Competing Behavior Diagram Problem Behavior Maintaining Consequences Setting Events Triggering Antecedents Acceptable Alternative

23. Behavior Support Plans

24. Intervention Plans • An intervention plan should address each area of the Competing Behavior Diagram • Setting Event strategies • Predictor/trigger/antecedent strategies • Teaching strategies to teach replacement behavior • Consequential strategies • How not to reinforce problem behavior • How to reinforce replacement behaviors • An intervention plan is not a single strategy, but a cluster of strategies

25. Setting Event Strategies • Strategies to “mitigate” or address those things which “set the student up” for problem behaviors • Usually involve structural changes • Alter the physical setting • Enrich the environment • Improve the activities or curriculum • Predictability and choice options

26. Trigger or Predictor Strategies • Triggers are those things that “set the student off” • Identify strategies to eliminate or mitigate the trigger • Antecedent Strategies • See handout

27. Teach Strategies • Strategies to teach alternative replacement behaviors • Social skills • Communication strategies • Academic skills & strategies • Compensatory strategies • Emotional regulation strategies • See handout

28. Consequential Strategies • What will you do when the problem behavior occurs? • What reinforcers will be used (including schedules of reinforcement) to increase the use of the replacement behavior • See handout

29. Develop a Data Collection System • How will the intervention be monitored?

30. Train those who will implement • Do all staff members know what to do and how to do it? • Do all staff members know how to collect the data? • Do all staff members know what to do when the problem behavior occurs?

31. Review Data • Schedule a time to review the data to see if the intervention is working • About 2 weeks • Decide next steps • Continue with plan • Revise plan

32. FBA & BIP • Functional Assessment is a process • Looks at relationships between physiological & environmental factors & problem behavior • Ends with a hypothesis • BIP must be directly related to FA results • BIP must address “prevention” or antecedent strategies, teaching replacement behaviors, and reinforcing replacement behaviors • BIP does not outline what the student must do, but what the staff does!