My child’s school conducted a Functional Behavioral Assessment because of his behavior problems. What is FBA, and can that help us at home?
Functional (Behavioral) Assessment: (FBA) seeks to identify the problem behavior a child may exhibit, determine the function or purpose of the behavior, and develop interventions to teach acceptable alternatives to the behavior. The process is as follows: (1) identify the behavior that needs to change, (2) Collect direct observational data on the behavior, (3) develop a hypothesis about the reason for the behavior based on the behavior’s typical antecedents and consequences, (4) evaluate possible health or other social conditions that may be contributing to the behavior problem and (5) implement a behavior intervention based on the foregoing analysis. FBAs conducted at home often provide different information than in school since the reasons the child exhibits problem behavior at home may be different. IEBT staff often routinely use FBAs to develop treatments for problem behavior.
