Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

The Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is the starting point for clearly understanding undesirable student behavior. The FBA is a structured process of gathering information and data to precisely identify, define and quantify a problem behavior in order to develop and implement positive interventions to reduce or extinguish the undesirable behavior.

Conducting an FBA is imperative for understanding a problem behavior that impedes a student’s learning or the learning of others. It is the all-important information-gathering, so that a plan (Behavior Intervention Plan [BIP]/Positive Behavior Support Plan [BSP]) can be developed to successfully change the unwanted behavior to a more desirable and appropriate one. Whether a formal FBA is written, or a more informal process is used, the information gathered is critical to the creation of the BIP.

The FBA provides vital information about the problem behavior including:

the predictors or triggers that cause the behavior
the consequences (positive and/or negative) that maintain it (reinforcers)
the function or purpose that the behavior serves for the individual (why the student is demonstrating the undesirable behavior)

The FBA has been a proactive and widely accepted practice used to assess and better understand challenging behavior in schools since the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1997 (IDEA).

Purpose of a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

The purpose of an FBA is to identify and understand the reason for a student’s problem behavior. The assessment provides information so that an individual behavior plan can be created to alter environments, instruction, or interactions, as necessary, and replace the inappropriate behavior with an appropriate replacement behavior(s) that serves the same function.

The FBA informs the team writing the BIP. Even if an FBA is not formally required, the process of collecting information on the behavior is extremely helpful for educators in order to better understand the behavior and to write a meaningful. Behavior Intervention Plan.