Functional Behavioral Assessment of Problem Behavior

Description of the Strategy

One of the major concerns of parents, teachers, and other caregivers in applied settings such as classrooms is the occurrence of problem behaviors. These can range from mildly disruptive behaviors, such as students’ talking out or getting out of their seats, to severe behaviors, such as self-injury, aggression toward others, and destruction of materials and property. Students who engage in problem behaviors, regardless of their labels or diagnoses, are much more likely to be placed in more restrictive educational placements (e.g., self-contained classrooms or schools) and to be suspended or expelled. Beyond the school setting, such behavior patterns place tremendous stress on parents and families, jeopardize opportunities for participation in residential and vocational programs and settings, and tax limited resources. As an example of financial impact, a study conducted over 10 years ago by the National Institutes of Health found that the annual cost of services for people with mental retardation in the United States who exhibit self-injury, aggression, or property destruction exceeded $3.5 billion per year. A final major concern is that such behaviors place persons at greater risk for abusive treatment by teachers and other support staff.

In the early development of the field of behavior analysis, B. F. Skinner and others identified functional relations among behavior and antecedent and consequent stimuli as the main focus for research efforts. In more recent years, functional behavioral assessment (FBA) has taken on a narrower meaning in applied areas such as education. It now refers most often to the process of identifying those variables that reliably predict and maintain the occurrence of problem behavior in applied settings (classrooms, residential and vocational settings, homes). It is important to understand FBA within the context of comprehensive behavior support. An FBA provides critical information that serves as a guide and foundation for developing a comprehensive plan to teach and promote appropriate behaviors and reduce or eliminate problem behaviors. It is only one step in an ongoing iterative process, which includes gathering assessment information, developing behavioral hypotheses, developing and implementing a comprehensive behavior support plan, and monitoring the effects of the plan and making modifications as needed.

A Brief Note About Terminology. To describe these kinds of assessment activities, the literature and practitioners use several terms relatively interchangeably, including functional assessment, functional analysis, and functional behavioral assessment. However, a consensus has developed regarding their different meanings. Functional assessment and functional behavioral assessment are broader “umbrella” terms that refer to the full range of possible strategies for collecting assessment information, including interviews, observations, and experimental procedures (the term functional behavioral assessment became more widely used after its inclusion in the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA] of 1997). Functional analysis is now used to describe only a subset of assessment procedures that involve manipulating environmental conditions within an experimental design to identify the antecedents or consequences that influence problem behaviors. This entry will use functional behavioral assessment as the broader term and the more specific functional analysis when appropriate throughout.

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