Behavioral Assessment

Description of the Strategy

Behavioral assessment (BA) is a general approach to collecting and analyzing information about behavioral events and the contexts in which those events are observed. Each BA begins with a question that will be addressed with the collected information (e.g., Is this student's behavior significantly different from his peers? or Does this behavior significantly impair an area of major life functioning?). The process, participants, and tools used in the BA vary depending on the question(s) asked.

BAs are conducted for three main purposes: (1) to obtain a baseline of current level of occurrence, (2) to identify factors that contribute to the occurrence of the behavior, and (3) to guide the development or evaluation of an intervention.