project 2

1

Advantages and Disadvantages of Functional Assessment for the ESE Transition Student

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Education

Instructor’s Name

Due Date

2

Abstract

Transitioning is a fundamental part of development and growth. For Exceptional Student

Education, the same phenomenon is even more challenging, given the disabling conditions

present therein. Conversely, educators have established respective means for assessing the

behaviors informing the difficulties in transitions and thereby produced behavioral plans to suit

the same. One critical approach employed in such endeavors is Functional Assessment, a general

term that refers to indirect, experimental, and observational techniques used in behavioral study

and intervention. The latter approach has proven to be beneficial, especially in offering credible

information. Still, the processes and nature of the same method describe some disadvantages

which equally define the appropriateness of functional assessment in transitioning ESE students.

Therefore, the exposition presented focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of FA in

dealing with the demographic mentioned above.

3

Advantages and Disadvantages of Functional Assessment for the ESE Transition Student

Functional assessment is an umbrella term that refers to various approaches, including

observation and functional analysis of different patterns and behaviors. Functional assessment

has explicitly been critical in tackling some conditions such as eating disorders. An FA approach

employs to collect relevant information regarding challenging behavior faced by individuals. The

case becomes complex when dealing with ESE students. Conversely, the motivating factors for

the issue may be changed to reduce the occurrence of the same behavior. Functional assessment

becomes even more controversial in assisting ESE students with transitioning. Notably, children

undergo numerous transitions from elementary school to high school and consequent levels

without any form of emotional scarring (Desrochers & Fallon, 2014). The changes are inevitable

parts of growth, and they do not face challenges in the same. However, for persons with

disabilities, making the same transitions may portray more challenges than opportunities. Due to

these particular situations, the respective children need unique planning, which offers support

while moving through the educational and life cycle (Desrochers & Fallon, 2014). Conversely,

the functional assessment presents advantages and disadvantages when dealing with ESE

Transition Student, which arise from the approach’s intricacies.

Functional Assessment

Currently, three main approaches to functional assessment exist; functional analysis,

survey, and observation. The same facets allow for gathering information on a specific attribute

or behavior by probing the individual on the initial foundations of the same problem. For

children with many disabling characteristics, there is a necessity of addressing their functional

abilities in essential skills such as language, math, or literacy (Desrochers & Fallon, 2014). For

the students to effectively master the same disciplines, they need to independently attend to their

4

basic needs such as feeding, bathing, and dressing, among other self-care practices. The

capacities herein are essential in promoting a quality and comfortable life for the students with

disabling conditions. Conversely, educators need to assess the individual’s skills of the children

in a bid to provide support for the respective deficiencies (Desrochers & Fallon, 2014). Thus,

functional assessment for ESE students focuses on the behaviors that may impede their smooth

operation independently and through assistive approaches.

The transition for Exceptional Student Education mainly associates with planning and

offering assistance to individuals shifting from high school to adult life. The process herein

helps learners and their families prepare adequately for the intricacies of the new situations that

are likely to arise from unfamiliar scenarios (Kilpatrick & Wolbers, 2019). Conversely, students

are probed to think about their goals and targets beyond high school in terms of employability,

independence, or further education accordingly. The purpose of transition assessment is to

support students as they prepare for the future by setting and addressing barriers that may impede

a convenient transition. Specifically, ESE students changing can have the platform to identify

post-school support systems and services, helping them gain essential competencies necessary in

life (Kilpatrick & Wolbers, 2019). Still, the functional assessment conducted therein varies due to

the unique capacities and attributes of the students therein. At face value, transitioning is a

critical part of the development which equally affects ESE students

Advantages of Functional Assessment for the ESE Transition Student

Notably, when students with disabling conditions have to change or shift from one

placement to another, they may face challenges that are addressable through functional

assessment. Specifically, functional behavioral assessment is pivotal in gaining insight on

learner’s behaviors to determine the issue in the respective action therein (O'Neill et al., 2015).

5

Notably, these procedures apply to all students other than ESE individuals who are transitioning.

Conversely, the approach helps in identifying target behaviors and conversely defining a

hypothesis and behavioral intervention plans. Most importantly, the functional assessment

provides current information concerning the respective individual and offers a more in-depth

insight into the issue at hand. Perhaps, the extensive nature of this approach informs most of the

advantages accompanied therein (O'Neill et al., 2015). Essentially, the focus of this approach is

describing the social and environmental facets that surround a given behavior. This broad

perspective offers sufficient information regarding the respective trend and thus explains why

someone faces challenges, thereby defining practical and appropriate means of dealing with

problematic issues. Therefore, at face value, the main advantage of FA is that it provides broader

and greater insight into the individual case.

Educators are responsible for more than providing education to the learners, especially

when dealing with unique students. Other than responding to the child’s knowledge facets,

functional assessments offer affordances that assist in aiding the overall development of the

individual therein. Notably, the different behavioral challenges manifested in ESE students may

equally initiate the same effects on transitioning and learning altogether. Conversely, the teacher

may be required to mediate such conditions by ‘treating’ the causative agents (Roscoe et al.,

2015). Simultaneously, several studies postulate the negative relationship between poor academic

performance and behavioral issues such as aggressiveness or lack of social etiquette. The same

behaviors adversely impact how a child develops, and lack of support from the teachers may

exacerbate the same situation. At this juncture, the upside of using functional assessment

displays through the easy deployment of the respective procedures: functional analysis,

observation, and experimental analysis (Roscoe et al., 2015). Identifying the functionality issues

6

affecting academic achievement can equally help in addressing contraindications in challenging

transition situations.

Another critical benefit of functional assessments in transitioning ESE students is that it

uses different techniques in diagnosing the underlying symptoms of behavioral discrepancies. In

so doing, the methods offer educators large amounts of information. Still, the methodology used

therein allows for visual analysis of the collected data, making the process simple but effective

(Oakes et al., 2017). The techniques described in this approach may seem confusing at first, but

over time, the benefits make it the preferred form of promoting positive behaviors in

transitioning ESE students. Conversely, the accuracy displayed by the same approach makes it a

gold standard for assessing functional behavior. Additionally, using different sources adds to the

accuracy of inferences made therein (Oakes et al., 2017). Specifically, functional analysis can

identify the challenging, useful behaviors more conclusively since the interactions therein

verified the vitality of the functions.

Disadvantages of Functional Assessment for the ESE Transition Student

The main disadvantage of using Functional Assessment arises specifically in indirect FA.

The latter approach uses close relatives and friends to the individual in question and, conversely,

sourcing the respective behavioral information from the same personalities. Such secondary

sources include parents, teachers, and aides, among others (Lee, 2016). However, since the type

of information collected using indirect approaches is not underpinned on direct objective

observations, and then it may as well provide unnecessary information, which conversely

increases the risk of memory errors (Lewis et al., 2015). For instance, data from an interview

may provide a significant and considerable amount of data which may be biased at the same

time. A study revealed that the reliability of Functional Analysis Screening Tool (FAST), a type

7

of FA, is about 63 percent (Heyne et al., 2016). Conversely, despite the easy application of the

approach herein, the results of the survey reveal more in-depth information sourced using the

same method but must be corroborated with other additional entities to ensure credibility (Heyne

et al., 2016). Therefore, at face value, the downside to functional assessment is the presence of

subjective and biased information.

Still, another major setback of Functional Assessment, specifically observation, requires

ample time to impact the outcome significantly. Notably, most people may not notice that

observational studies may be time-consuming, especially when accuracy and reliability are

priorities (O'Neill et al., 2015). Conversely, the behavior of interest has to undergo several

observations to develop a hypothesis on the same. The same tool also offers correlational

information, which posits that causality cannot assess in the process. This comprehension means

that the descriptions and analysis described does not describe why the challenging behavior

occurs. Conversely, causal studies allow to equally developing hypothesis on the causes of issues

that might impede proper transitioning and thereby determine what forms the foundation of the

individual behavior (O'Neill et al., 2015). Simultaneously, when children portray a challenging

behavior, the main concern may be to determine why such patterns display all the same. Thus,

Functional Assessment describes disadvantages in time consumption and lack of causality

foundations.

Notably, the functional analysis may face difficulties in low occurrence rates of the

behavior in question. Conversely, the function of the individual pattern may not be easily

identified each time using the standard functional analysis premises: demand, control, focus, and

perception (O'Neill et al., 2015). Therefore, the assessment may elicit extensive procedures if the

frequency of occurrence is not supportive. Conversely, controlling the conditions that inform a

8

malicious behavior may promote the activity, thereby impeding the development of essential

skills necessary in transitioning. Still, multiple probing and interference may propagate the

effects through multi-element designs of the approach herein (O'Neill et al., 2015). Thus, the

procedures herein may face controversy and criticism based on the ethical foundations of the

same practice. Besides, some of the techniques in FA focus on assessing precursor behaviors

instead of the specific problematic conduct. In the process, the method may neglect other

significant variables, such as physiological capacities (O'Neill et al., 2015). Seemingly, the

system herein presents several disadvantages which arise from the nature of the procedures used.

Functional assessment is a critical tool used in behavioral management, and it presents

numerous benefits and downsides in the use of the same on transitioning ESE students. FA is

specifically significant as it helps the students, teachers, and parents, among other stakeholders,

define a vision that underpins on sufficient information and testing. Notably, the same approach

has several advantages, one being that it is that it quickly offers a lot of information. Besides,

functional analysis can manipulate the respective conditions therein to determine the general

ideas underlying the behavior. Simultaneously, the approach also accrues several disadvantages,

the most prominent being biased information, which conversely informs inaccuracy. Still, in case

of low frequency in the pattern in question, the assessment may require extensive observation

and conversely pose a risk of memory errors. Arguably, functional assessment is a critical

approach in assisting ESE students’ transition, but the appropriateness of the same relies on the

accuracy and frequency of occurrence.

9

References

Desrochers, M., & Fallon, M. (2014). Instruction in Functional Assessment. Milne Publishing.

Heyne, D. A., Vreeke, L. J., Maric, M., Boelens, H., & Widenfelt, B. M. V. (2016). Functional

Assessment of School Attendance Problems: An Adapted Version of the School Refusal

Assessment Scale–Revised. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 25(3), 178–

192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1063426616661701

Kilpatrick, J. R., & Wolbers, K. A. (2019). Beyond the red pen: A functional grammar approach

to evaluating the written language of deaf students. Psychology in the Schools, 57(3),

459–474. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22289

Lee, S.-H. (2016). A Survey on Current Status of Educational Guidance and Support Needs of

Middle School Special Educators for Transitioning Students with Disabilities from

Middle to High School. Korean Journal of Special Education, 50(4), 277–301.

https://doi.org/10.15861/kjse.2016.50.4.277

Lewis, T. J., Mitchell, B. S., Harvey, K., Green, A., & Mckenzie, J. (2015). A Comparison of

Functional Behavioral Assessment and Functional Analysis Methodology among

Students with Mild Disabilities. Behavioral Disorders, 41(1), 5–20.

https://doi.org/10.17988/0198-7429-41.1.5

Oakes, W. P., Lane, K. L., & Hirsch, S. E. (2017). Functional assessment-based interventions:

Focusing on the environment and considering function. Preventing School Failure:

Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 62(1), 25–36.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988x.2017.1326799

10

O'Neill, R. E., Albin, R. W., Storey, K., Horner, R. H., & Sprague, J. R. (2015). Functional

assessment and program development for problem behavior: a practical handbook.

Cengage Learning.

Roscoe, E. M., Phillips, K. M., Kelly, M. A., Farber, R., & Dube, W. V. (2015). A statewide

survey assessing practitioners' use and perceived utility of functional assessment. Journal

of Applied Behavior Analysis, 48(4), 830–844. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.259