Functional Behavioral Assessment

Define the Problem

Student Name: Age (years/months): Grade: Report Date:

S 8 years old 3rd 2/10/2015

Name of Person Conducting Assessment: Nicole Vance

Description of the Observational Context/Setting (type of program, grade level, etc.)

Third grade general education classroom, observation occurring during the early morning of the
school day. During two lesson one independent and one group work.

Based on the interview with the teacher, please list strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

1. Very communicative

2. Gets along with others easily

3. Strong reading level

4. Eager to share in class discussions

Weaknesses:

1. Difficulty transitioning

2. Easily distracted by outside factors

3. Trouble controlling himself verbally

4. He distracts the students that are working around him

Reason for FBA/BIP:

To help student become on task during independent and group work.

Sources of Data:

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 Document Review: N/A

Interviews: Teacher Interview

Observations: Latency Recording, Scatterplot, & ABC

observation.

Rating Scales: N/A

Definition of Target Behavior:

The student displays avoidance when presented with the daily work. This occurs frequently
throughout the day and is easily distracted by other classmates or things brought from home
in his desk. He fails to redirect himself to the task that he is expected to complete.

Description of the Target Behavior: (Including estimation of the frequency, intensity,

etc.)

The behavior is not focused to one specific subject area and happens frequently throughout
the day. The latency from when Steven is asked to begin the work to when he actually
begins the work is anywhere from a minute to 3 minutes. I am going to use the Latency
recording form for my observations to help measure when Steven is given instruction to
begin a task and when the behavior starts and stops. This allows me to measure the
frequency and length of time these behaviors our occurring throughout the day.

ABC Recording Form

CEP 449, Spring 2015

Student Steven Observer Nicole Vance

Teacher Jo Trumble Subject/Class/Context Classroom

Event/Stimulus/ Antecedents Behavior Consequences

Setting

During Math Asked to complete Playing with a flashlight Distracted other

math problems brought from home. students.
from the book.

During Language Students read the Walking around the Was told by teacher to
Arts passage and use classroom. sit down and begin
sticky notes to reading.
predict.

During individual Read book from Talking to a friend. Asked by tablemates to

book reading time. book box for 15 please stop talking.
minutes.

Summary of ABC Analysis:

From the ABC recordings, Stevens behavior occurs most frequently during his independent work
time. Each time the students went from group work to individual work Steven engages in other
things such as walking around, talking to other classmates, playing with things brought from home
in order to avoid or escape independent work. His consequences have been reminders from the
teacher as well as other classmates asking him to be quiet.

Baseline Data

Dates Event Recording Interval Length of Percentage On

Recording (On observation Task

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 Task and Off
Task in
seconds)

2/17/15 Classroom; during 255/ 920 30 Minutes 22%

independent work
time

2/17/15 Classroom; during 144/ 1,791 30 Minutes 7%

independent work
time

2/26/15 Classroom; during 1,046/ 726 30 Minutes 59%

independent work
time

2/26/15 Classroom; during 461/ 1,213 30 Minutes 28%

independent work
time

Summary of Baseline Data:

Latency recording was conducted when observing Stevens behavior for 30 minutes during
independent work time. Over the course of 30 minutes I would mark down the time he was on task
completing his work, which was Steven in his seat doing his independent work. I would then also
put the time of when he was off task avoiding his work. I recorded each time he switched from on to
off and how long that lasted within the 30-minute observation. The desired behavior is for Steven to
stay in his seat and complete the task asked of him during his work time.
The baseline data suggest that Stevens undesired behavior of being off task occurs about half
(50%) of the time during the four observations.

Settings and Situations where Behavior is Most/Least a Concern:

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 After multiple observations, it apparent that Stevens behavior occurs during independent work time.
When Steven knows he is not being monitored as much by the teacher. Stevens avoidance of work
could be because he is just not motivated to do so. He is smart and understands the material when
asked. The concern with the observations would be how to motivate Steven to stay on task when he
knows he is not being watched as closely.

Identify Antecedents:
Who is present . . .
When the behavior tends to occur? When the behavior almost never occurs?
The students teacher is present when the The behavior occurs often throughout the day, even
behavior occurs. Also classmates that are with other teachers.
sitting near him who frequently talk to him
during classwork.

What is going on . . .
When the behavior tends to occur? When the behavior almost never occurs?
The behavior occurs when the students are The behavior usually does not tend to occur when
working on their daily work independently. the class is in a whole group discussion.

When/Where does the behavior . . .

Tend to occur? Almost never occur?
The behavior tends to occur in the classroom, The behavior almost never occurs when in small
during daily work independently. group work or large group discussion.

Identify Consequences Maintaining the Behavior:

When the behavior occurs, what are the reactions or actions . . .

Teacher in Ms. Trumble will prompt Steven to get the materials out needed to complete his
the context? work. She will sometimes sit next to him and hold his hand to keep him focused on
his daily work and help him with work when needed. She will also remind Steven to
focus on his own work so he does not have to complete it for homework.

Peers in the Peers tend to ignore him when he is trying to distract them from completing their
context? daily work as well. Sometimes his tablemates will get aggravated by him talking and

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 ask him to please stop so they can focus on their work.

Student to N/A
other
people?

Parents? (if N/A

applicable)

Factors that may be influencing or maintaining the behavior include . . .

Academic Steven does well in school when he is focused there is no academic factor concerns
Factors right now.

Social- Steven gets along with classmates and hold the critical social skills needed to
Emotional interact with his peers.
Factors

Health/Medica Steven has ADHD.

l Factors (if
relevant)

What interventions have been tried in the past? What did you observe or teacher report?
What happened?

There has not been an intervention tried in the past.

Develop a Hypothesis

Student: Steven Date: January 2015- May 2015

Develop your hypothesis pertaining to the purpose or function of the students behavior:

When this occurs ..

The undesired behavior appears when the student is given the daily work to complete by himself
and is aware that his teacher is not adequately monitoring him.

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 The student does
Steven engages in various forms of the target behavior he wanders the classroom, engages in
conversations with others, and engagement in alternative tasks of interest to him.

To get/avoid ..
Steven engages in the target behavior in order to escape from being forced to complete the task
at hand, until positive reinforcement or punishment is provided by his teacher (in form of
gestural or verbal prompt).

Does the student possess the necessary skills? Yes No, needs instruction in
Yes, Steven possess the necessary skills to be successful with the implementation of the
designed intervention.

Behavioral Intervention Plan

Student Name: Steven Date: January 2015- May 2015

Target Behavior: (State in observable terms, using action verbs, and identify the data
collection system to measure progress)

Identify the replacement behavior(s) that result in a same/similar outcome for the student.

Develop a Plan
Teach: What other behavior or skill will be taught to the student so he or she can accomplish his or
her purpose in a more acceptable way?

Prevention: How will situations or the context be altered or changed to support the replacement behavior,
or to minimize the problem behavior?

Response: How will people respond when the problem behavior occurs so that their response does not
reinforce the inappropriate behavior or cause the person interacting with the student greater
upset and stress?

Identify a Replacement Behavior:

Steven will gain attention when he has completed 5 steps or questions for each assignment.
He will add a star to the reinforcement tower so he can count how many stickers he needs and
keep track of his progress as well. Steven will also be able to receive a reward once he has
filled 4 stickers in the tower.

Intervention Explanation:

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 I will administer the intervention by having Steven complete 5 steps or questions for each
assignment. Whether they are correct or incorrect on the completion of 5 steps or questions
Steven will receive a sticker. After receiving 4 stickers throughout the day Steven will be
rewarded. After each week I will assess where Steven is at and after continuous completion I
will raise the number of questions and stickers needed.

Teaching Plan: Who is How often?

responsible?

Steven will learn each time he displays the Myself and Steven will be
appropriate behavior he will earn a sticker. When my mentor reminded
Steven displays the appropriate behavior he will be teacher Ms. multiple times
reminded that he is getting closer to the goal. When Trumble. throughout the
he is not displaying appropriate behavior he will be days that I am
reminded that he is not earning stickers toward his at the school
reward and he must change his behavior to receive a that he is
sticker. working
towards earning
a sticker.

Context Alteration Who is How

Responsible? Often/When?

Stevens environment does not change throughout of Steven, Steven is

the day. During transition times from large group Myself (when reminded
work to independent work Steven is reminded to observing) multiple times
stay on task. and Ms. throughout
Trumble the day to
complete 5
steps or

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 problems to
receive a
sticker
towards his
reward.

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 Consequences for Desired Behaviors: Who is How Often?
Outcomes Responsible?

Steven receives a sticker that he places on his

reinforcement menu when he has completed the Myself After the
desired behavior of completing five steps or completion of
problems. Steven receives praise for completing the five steps or
tasks and once earned four stickers receives a problems he
reward (sugar free gum, line leader, a special treat, receives a
etc) sticker. After
four stickers
earned he is
rewarded.

Consequences for Undesired Behaviors: Who is How Often?

Teach [response to problem behavior] Responsible?

The teacher will remind Steven that he will not be Teacher After many
rewarded if he is displaying the undesired behavior. instances of the
The teacher also communicates with the student that a undesired
sticker can be taken away for undesired behaviors. behavior
occurring.

Specify Behavioral Objectives:

The goal for Steven is to decrease the times of him becoming off task during independent
daily work. Increasing the times he is able to complete his work independently and decrease
the amount of work he then has to take home as homework because of not completing it in
class.

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 Analysis of the Behavioral Intervention Plan
Data Collection Plan

Student Name: Steven Date: January 2015- May 2015

Timeline for the next meeting to review and evaluate effectiveness of the intervention:

Date:

Data Collection Plan: What data will be collected to evaluate the program? By whom?
Indicate what data was needed to evaluate success (e.g., frequency, duration, latency). Provide
brief instructions to service providers on how to collect this information, and when to collect this
information. Specify who is responsible for which type of data collection.

Data Collection Plan: (What behavior should be recorded and what type of recording system)
The undesired behavior will be recorded by using latency recording how many times he is on
and off task, as well as how long those times are for.

Who: When:
Nicole Vance During Independent Work time
Jo Trumble

Frequency of Review of Progress (select one)

Bi-Weekly Weekly Monthly

Data Collection Method (select one):

Event Duration Interval Time Latency

Recording Recording Recording Sampling Recording

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 Data Representation:

Baseline
Intervention

Maintenance and Generalization Plan:

To maintain the intervention the teacher must continue to implement the intervention on a
daily basis to keep the student focused on his daily work independently. After the continuous
completion of the 5 steps or answers I would raise the number of questions and stickers
needed in the future to continue his progress until he can complete his daily independent work
without needing to be instructed to do so, this should be when the reinforcement of positive
behavior should be reduced. This intervention can be used in other contexts with other
students in the classroom who display the off task behavior during independent work time.

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 Conclusion:

Based on the observation data collected during the implementation of the intervention it was
successful. Looking at the graph and written data the occurrence of Steven becoming off task
during the 30 minute observation period decreased to only a few occurrences throughout the
time period. Also out of those occurrences of off task behaviors the length of time Steven was
off task had reduced. When watching the data collection video #2 Steven is participating in
the undesired behavior, this is because it was during a group-teaching lesson where Steven
was not reminded of the desired behavior. Staying to the maintenance and generalization plan
will help in the decrease of the undesired behavior from occurring and the desired behavior
occurring more frequently.

Reflection:

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 One of the challenges I faced during this assignment was observing my focus student as he

started to get apprehensive because he was wondering why I was staring at him and taking notes.

After explaining to him that this was my homework he started to feel okay, however, when

implementing my first data collection video it was a rough day for my student because he

wanted no part of the video recording. He threatened to break the camera and said he did not feel

safe with it recording. After explaining to him that it was merely for teachers to use to help us

look at the way we teach was my own homework assignment, he again felt a lot better and okay

with this.
Another challenge I faced was having my mentor teacher implement my intervention plan

when I was not around. I had left my intervention plan with my mentor teacher and told her she

did not have to implement the plan if she did not feel comfortable doing so. She did implement it

but not at consistent frequency and my intervention was needed. Soon it became only

implemented when I was in the classroom. This caused another challenge because our

interventions were to be implemented a week and a half before the students had their spring

break. Since my student Steven was absent the one-day of the first week I was going to

implement my intervention, I was not able to implement it until the following week which was

the week before spring break. Therefore, when my focus student came back from spring break it

was the last week of collecting data from our interventions and I had to reintroduce my

intervention and explain the desired behavior since my focus student did not remember.
One thing I would have done differently is had one more week of my intervention before

collecting more data. I feel like I would have seen significant improvement if I had more time to

implement the intervention. Furthermore, this was a worthwhile and good experience of

applying instruction on classroom behavior management to an actual classroom. I was not only

given the tools to help myself with my future classroom behavior managements but I was also

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 given real life hands-on experiences that I will take with me throughout my teaching career. I

feel I am more knowledgeable when it comes to intervention plans and this will help me with

any challenges I may face later on.

CEP 449, Spring 2015

Recordings of observations

February 17th, 2015

First Observation
Start: 9:27 am
+ 52.38 On Task
- 10.40 Off Task
+ 8.40 On Task
- 3:51 Off Task
+ 1:08 On Task
- 3:57 Off Task
+53.30 On Task
- 2:01 Off Task
+ 22.08 On Task
- 5:23 Off Task
+52.20 On Task
End: 9:57am

February 17th, 2015

Second Observation
Start: 10:00 am
- 13:07 Off Task
+ 1:50 On Task
- 1:00 Off Task
+ 2:24 On Task
- 15:44 Off Task
End: 10:30 am

February 26th, 2015

Third Observation
Start: 8:50 am
+ 54.40 On Task
- 35.88 Off Task
+ 5:07 On Task
- 42.71 Off Task
+ 1:08 On Task
- 3:33 Off Task
+ 1:33 On Task
- 2:51 Off Task
+ 51.02 On Task

CEP 449, Spring 2015

 - 1:02 Off Task
+ 3:46 On Task
- 2:19 Off Task
+ 4:07 On Task
- 1:04 Off Task
End: 9:20 am

February 26th, 2015

Forth Observation
Start: 9:30 am
+ 2:22 On Task
- 12:44 Off Task
+ 1:52 On Task
- 3:54 Off Task
+ 25.14 On Task
- 3:35 Off Task
+ 3:02 On Task
End: 10:00 am

Intervention
March 31, 2015

Start: 9:00 am
+ 1:05 On Task
- 6:38 Off Task
+ 1:10 On Task
- :57 Off Task
+ :53 On Task
- 3:03 Off Task
+ 1:39 On Task
- :39 Off Task
+ :59 On Task
- 2:39 Off Task
+ :55 On Task
- 2:41 Off Task
+ 1:48 On Task
- :51 Off Task
+ 1:47 On Task
- 3:47 Off Task

CEP 449, Spring 2015

End: 9:30 am

March 31, 2015

Start: 9:40
+ 6:27 On Task
- 3:38 Off Task
+ 4:18 On Task
- 2:36 Off Task
+ 5:07 On Task
- 1:13 Off Task
+ 6:08 On Task
End: 10:10

April 16th, 2015

Start: 12:00 pm
+ 2:36 On Task
- 1:18 Off Task
+ :40 On Task
- 1:52 Off Task
+10:54 On Task
- 3:32 Off Task
+ 9:30 On Task
- 2:54 Off Task
End: 12:30 pm

April 17th, 2015

Start: 12:00 pm
+ 28:02 On Task
- 2:58 Off Task

CEP 449, Spring 2015

Reinforcement with student

CEP 449, Spring 2015

Teacher Interview

CEP 449, Spring 2015