There are five major goals for this module. Upon completion of this module, you should be able to do the following:
This module will address the following critical questions:
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Providing support to students who engage in challenging behavior is one of the most difficult tasks teachers face today (Dunlap & Kern, 1993; Horner, Sprague, & Flannery, 1993; Vaughn & Horner, 1997). The movement toward inclusion of all students in general education classrooms has made it imperative that teachers are given the tools necessary to support students with special needs.
The purpose of the Academy is to translate validated research in Positive Behavioral Support into practical and easy to implement strategies for teachers. This module will introduce tools and procedures that can be used by teachers to systematically assess the types of challenging behaviors they may encounter in their classroom.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also called IDEA, now refers to "Functional Behavioral Assessment" as an approach that is a necessary part of disciplinary procedures. IDEA also emphasizes the need for positive, preventative strategies for managing problem behavior.
Put simply, a Functional Behavioral Assessment is a process for understanding why a student engages in problem behavior and what features of the environment predict both the occurrence and nonoccurrence of problem behavior (Tilly et al., 1998).
The information in this module can assist teachers as they fulfill IDEA requirements by showing them how to implement functional assessment procedures.
Before introducing specific tools and strategies that can be used to assess problem behavior, the first lesson will describe assumptions and themes that influence Positive Behavioral Support and how these assumptions and themes have changed over time.
For instance, Positive Behavioral Support now places a strong emphasis on redesigning the environment in order to prevent problem behavior, and teaching the student new skills that make problem behavior unnecessary (Horner & Day, 1991; Foster-Johnson & Dunlap, 1993; Horner & Carr, 1997). This emphasis has had an impact on the type of assessment information that is needed. In the second part of this lesson, we will be discussing the types of information gathered during the functional assessment process.
Top of Page | Bottom of PageIn Lesson 1, we described the assumptions and themes that have influenced Positive Behavioral Support and we discussed why these assumptions and themes have influenced current functional assessment processes. We then discussed types of information that are gathered during a functional assessment.
In this lesson, you will learn about the major outcomes of functional assessment and we will provide a brief outline describing three types of functional assessment strategies: indirect assessment methods, direct assessment methods, and functional analysis. These functional assessment strategies can be used to help you develop your hypothesis statement that clearly identifies why a student is engaging in problem behavior. The major objective of Lesson 2 is to familiarize you with the elements of a good hypothesis statement.
This lesson will give you an opportunity to respond to questions throughout the presentation. You will be learning how to identify a good hypothesis statement and have an opportunity to practice writing hypothesis statements.
Top of Page | Bottom of PageIn the previous lesson, you learned how to write a hypothesis statement about why a problem behavior occurs. Now you will learn what types of assessment measures can be used to collect the information needed to build the hypothesis statement, starting with this lesson on indirect assessment strategies. The purpose of this lesson is to introduce a variety of indirect assessment strategies that can be used to complete a functional assessment.
Examples of indirect assessment strategies include interviews, record reviews, quality of life measures, and checklists and questionnaires concerning the student's behavior. The types of assessment strategies you choose for a particular student will depend upon your familiarity with the student, the complexity of the problems encountered, and the unique aspects of the student and the student's environment.
In past lessons, we have described three types of functional assessment strategies: indirect assessment methods, direct assessment methods, and functional analysis. This lesson will focus on both direct assessment methods and functional analysis.
In the first part of the lesson, we will discuss how measurement systems are used in functional assessment. We will be looking at two popular direct assessment methods, the scatter plot, and ABC analysis form.
In many cases, a combination of indirect and direct assessment methods results in clear hypothesis statements regarding the function maintaining a student's problem behavior (O'Neill et al., 1997). Sometimes, however, direct observations do not reveal consistent patterns and the information gained through indirect methods does not identify the environmental events associated with problem behavior. In these cases, a functional analysis may be needed. The last part of this lesson will provide an overview of the functional analysis process.
Top of Page | Bottom of PageThe process of using functional assessment information to develop an effective behavioral support plan can be both exciting and challenging. At this time, however, more information is available on implementing a functional assessment than on applying the assessment results (Horner, 1994). Linking functional assessment information to a behavioral support plan requires you to look at the problems you are encountering from a different perspective.
An important shift in our thinking occurs when we begin to understand how our behavior is directly related to the student's problem behavior. By accepting joint ownership of the problems that are occurring, we are able to see how we can change in order to decrease a student's problem behavior. Making environmental changes, teaching new skills, and responding to both appropriate and inappropriate behavior are important aspects of a behavioral support plan. You will use the functional assessment information to identify what changes are needed in order to decrease problem behavior and enhance the student's quality of life.
This lesson will demonstrate how to apply the functional assessment information you have gathered. The first part of the lesson will discuss how to link behavioral support strategies to the functional assessment. In the next section, we will demonstrate this process by showing you how a behavioral support plan was developed for a preschool student named Allen. At the end of the lesson, we will spend time discussing important issues related to positive behavioral support plan development.
Each of the five lessons will include readings to supplement the lesson topic, an outline and notes on the topic, and a glossary. In each lesson will be links to an Activities section, a Directed Questions section and an Assessment section.
In a 3-page paper 1) describe the relationship between functional assessment and positive behavioral support. How would you use functional assessment information to design positive behavioral support strategies?
Or 2) Describe and give examples of the components of a positive behavioral support plan and describe an intervention that could be used for each of the four categories of intervention approaches.