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The Way to a FBA
Posted by Stephanie Lawless on 2/9/2018 7:00:00 AM
I love the GPS on my phone. In the past whenever I needed to get somewhere, I would get directions like, “Go down to the light, turn right, once you get past the McDonalds turn left, after two stop lights turn left again, at the first stop sign turn right, about three blocks in you need to turn left and the school will be on your right.” I typically nodded and thanked the person, knowing I was going to get lost at the first intersection. Now when I need to get somewhere I tell my phone, “Navigate to Hope Elementary” and boom, step by step instructions that gets me exactly where I need to go.
In the world of behavior management I see the FBA, Functional Behavior Assessment, as my Google Maps. Using data we are able to identify functions of behavior that help give us direction for identifying replacement behaviors. Performing an FBA is a process of evaluating the student’s and staff’s behavior, the environmental conditions, and outside factors that all play a part in how a day goes.
FBAs, like Google Maps, have different routes you can take. All defined in our FBA/BIP Process & Procedures, we have three choices. One is simply to evaluate the problem behavior and determined if you are doing everything you can (or should be doing) to support the student. For example, you are working with a student and she is struggling with following directions. You look through her IEP and see that auditory processing is a weakness and the CC team determined she needs to have directions provided in written forms. So then you go back to the classroom and check whether she receives directions in written form? If not, make that happen before you do anything else. BOOM, you just functionally assessed the behavior. Essentially, in the map analogy, we turned left when we should have turned right… recalculate, adjust and move on.
Now, in the same situation, if you check and she IS receiving directions in written form and the IEP is being followed then we might want to consider the next level of FBA. At this point you can do an informal FBA, meaning you are reviewing existing data and do not need parent permission. This would include considering things like attendance, grades, nurse visits, office visits, tardies, classwide behavior charting, token economy participation, ClassDojo points, number of citizenship tickets she received in the hallways… anything that has been universally collected for all students or through the typical process of the school day. This also includes general classroom observations. Like, the Gen. Ed. teacher who noticed that the student always struggles more on days she does not eat breakfast at school, or if she sits in the back of the class she has a harder time focusing on the teacher.
All of this provides us with information we can use to make informed decisions on strategies to improve the student’s behavior. For this student, the team can discuss and review everything you already know: she needs directions written, she does better with a full tummy, and she more focused when she sits in the front of the class. DONE, FBA complete, plan determined. Written directions: full tummy, and preferential seating. Easy peasy. This level of intervention should work for most students. Remember back to our tiered levels of support, tier one should work for around 85% of student, tier two should work for 10%, and tier three is only for around 5%. (depending on which version of the triangle you look at)
For extreme cases you will have to consider the highest level of FBA, and everything is basically the same. You consider the problem behavior, the functions, when and why it is occurring, etc. The only difference is now you will need to collect new data. We know in SPED this means we need to get consent, which starts a 50 day timeline. Consent is generated in IIEP and is tracked so when this is initiated it is important the the entire team is on board with the decision, including school psychologists. As a team you will want to identify what type of data you want to collect and who will collect it. After the new data has been collected your team will look for patterns and trends to help you make decisions.
Regardless of the rout you take, tier 1, 2, or 3, reviewing existing data or new data, the outcome should be the same, a team that can make informed decisions and get you to where you want to be. Because when it comes to behavior it is easy to get lost at the first intersection.
Stephanie Lawless, Assistant Director
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