Topic 10

Topic 10

Holly Tetreault

Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Function Based Interventions for Students

The Basics

According to IDEA 2007, as presented by the Council for Exceptional Children, a functional behavior assessment is conducted when a behavior is determined to impede the learning of him/herself and others. A function-based intervention is put into place when the student is non-responsive to primary and secondary positive behaviors supports. The behavior should first be identified; data collected to show that current interventions are not successful, and finally the plan will contain a replacement behavior that can replace the current behavior. The function refers to why the student is doing what they’re doing. There are two major functions; to obtain something or avoid something. The function-based intervention is put into place and monitored to determine if it has replaced the original behavior with a positive or more acceptable behavior that still allows the student to acquire their needs.

Kansas Institute of Positive Behavior Supports

The following are three resources from the KIPBS site. A description is provided in addition to a link to the KIPBS page where more information can be found. Each resource will be utilized in the future to aide in function based interventions.

Interview Form

The interview form is used to collect information on a student during a Functional Behavioral Assessment. For an FBA to conducted it must be determined that the behavior occurs even with tier 1 and 2 interventions. The intervention should address the behavior that needs to be replaced. I personally used this form this year. A general education teacher completed it (as best as she could) on a student I was conducting an FBA on. In my schedule I am unable to observe the student as often as I would like and I do not witness many of the behaviors that occur in the classroom. This allows the teacher a form to constructively tell me about the behaviors.

Competing Behavior Diagram

The competing behavior diagram is used to determine the setting events, antecedent, and the behavior. From there the team determines what the desired behavior is and the replacement behavior. This allows the team to document what they hypothesize and the effectiveness of the interventions. The chart is extremely helpful in outlining what we often think but don’t often verbalize. For me it is an easy visual representation of the behaviors.

Direct Observation Tips

Though I have had experience with PBS and work in a PBS school the direct observation tips sheet has provided me constant on hand support with PBS. It provides me with information on FBA specifics, types of measurement, and examples of graphs. For those working on function-based interventions with limited PBS experience, it serves as a cheat sheet or survival sheet. I have printed this off and kept it by my computer at work. The measurement is the most helpful and reminders on operational definitions. I find it also comes in handy when we are discussing issues at our weekly PBS team meetings and one person may begin speaking in terms unknown to others in our group that don’t have the extensive training. It is one of many references for function based interventions that I have already found super helpful!