Functional Behavioral Assessment / Behavior Intervention Plan Process Summary
Heather M. Robles
EDSP 429: Survey of Trends in Special Education
Department of Education, Liberty University
DR. Anita Fauber
July 4, 2021
Functional Behavioral Assessment / Behavior Intervention Plan Process Summary
The functional behavioral assessment is a process used to understand the social,
academic, physiological, and environmental factors that contribute to the problem behaviors a
person presents so that improvement can be made on the effectiveness and efficiency of
behavioral interventions and support (O’Neil et al., 2015). The functional behavior assessment
involves the collection of information to develop a behavior intervention plan for the designing
of an individual’s environment to create an effective support system that melds academic,
instructional, and medical variables together (O’Neil et al., 2015). There are four major steps to
the development of a functional behavior assessment with a behavior intervention plan. These
steps are: (1) “functional assessment and analysis strategies,” (2) “linking the function of the
behavior to the intervention,” (3) “building behavior support plans,” and (4) “writing behavior
support plans” (O’Neil et al., 2015).
Functional Assessment and Analysis Strategies
The assessment process is used to address problem behaviors and often requires multiple
different methods of collecting data and depends on the complexity of the problem behaviors and
the environment they occur in (O’Neil, 2015). The functional assessment and analysis strategies
step consists of:
The Functional Assessment Interview – Is used as a process to collect information about
events that influence problem behaviors and acts as an opportunity to identify variables
that can be targeted through direct observation and/or systematic manipulation strategies
(O’Neil et al., 2015).
The Student-Directed Functional Assessment Interview – Is used to attain important
information for the development of a plan from the person performing the problem
behavior and allows for the understanding of preferred activities, describes complaints
about work or situations, allows for the understanding of requested alternative activities,
creates an understanding of personal distractions, describes difficulties with peers, and
can be used to augment information gained from teachers, parents, and others (O’Neil et
al., 2015).
Direct Observation – Is used to validate and clarify summary statements about what
predicts and maintains problem behavior and can help provide clear and helpful
information in the development of summary statements (O’Neil et al., 2015).
Functional Analysis Manipulations – Is used when interviews and observations fail to
identify clear patterns of predictors of problem behaviors and what maintains them and
“is the only approach that allows documentation of a true functional relationship between
problem behavior and antecedent or consequent events” (O’Neil et al., 2015, p. 58).
Linking the Function of the Behavior to the Intervention
The purpose of the functional behavior assessment is to identify the function of
undesirable behavior, understand it, and link the setting of the events and immediate antecedents
with behavior consequences to effectively develop multicomponent support designed to make
problem behavior irrelevant, inefficient, and ineffective (O’Neil et al., 2015). Understanding the
function of the behavior allows for the reduction of counterproductive interventions and
increases the effective interventions to increase positive behavior (O’Neil et al., 2015). It is
important to link the function to the behavior or the unwanted behavior could be reinforced by
intervention. Identifying and knowing the function or functions of problem behaviors “is the key
element in identifying interventions to address problem behaviors” (O’Neil et al., 2015, p. 71).
Building Behavior Support Plans
Behavior support plans are designed to create logical connections between the assessment
information collected and the expected behaviors of an environment. “Research suggests that
function-based behavior support interventions and plans are likely to be more effective and
efficient than interventions that are not tied to an FBA hypothesis” (O’Neil et al., 2015, p. 75).
There are four broad theses that are important to consider in the development of a behavior
support plan, these are: (1) the plan should indicate how stakeholders will change their own
behavior and should not only focus on the problem behavior of the person of concern, (2) the
plan should be based on the functional behavioral assessment data, (3) the plan should be
consistent with the principles of applied behavior analysis and built using the best practices, (4)
the plan should be a good fit with the values, resources, and skills of the people responsible for
its implementation (O’Neil et al., 2015). Once the functional behavioral assessment is completed,
active collaboration should be used to develop and plan the competing behavior model to define
features of an effective environment (O’Neil et al., 2015).
Writing Behavior Support Plans
The behavior support plan is the professional description and expansion of the competing
behavior model strategies and used like a blueprint for developing the formal behavior plan and
the implementation of the plan (O’Neil et al., 2015). The elements of a behavioral support plan
are:
Operational description of the problem behaviors – Includes clear descriptions of
problem behaviors that are clear enough that a support provider can identify instances
and non-instances of each problem behavior (O’Neil et al., 2015).
Summary statements from the functional behavioral assessment – Contains summary
hypothesis statements or the entire competing behavior model diagram (O’Neil et al.,
2015).
General approaches to making the problem behaviors irrelevant, inefficient, and
ineffective – Includes the subsections (1) foundational and lifestyle strategies, (2)
preventative antecedent strategies, (3) teaching strategies, (4) consequence strategies.
Safety or crisis intervention plan – Is included in any plan where behavior puts the focus
person or other persons at risk for injury or harm with the goal in an emergency situation
is not to teach or change behavior (O’Neil et al., 2015).
Specific descriptions of typical routines and difficult problem situations – describes
routines that, if disrupted could create escalated behaviors (O’Neil et al., 2015).
Monitoring and evaluation plan – Indicates the system that will be used for collecting
data and the process for data review (O’Neil et al., 2015).
Implementation plan for the behavior support plan – Is a separate plan that is developed
for the implementation of the behavior support plan and outlines the activities to be done,
the persons responsible for each activity, and the timelines for the completion of the
activities needed to implement the behavior support plan
Conclusion
The functional behavior assessment and the behavior support plan work together to
develop a behavior intervention plan that will allow for the modification of a person’s
environment and create acceptable behavior. Each of the individual steps are critical to
developing a successful plan and require the buy-in of all stakeholders throughout the entire
process.
References
O’Neill, R.E., Albin, R.W., Storey, K., Horner, R.H., & Sprague, J.R. (2015). Functional
Assessment and Program Development for Problem Behavior (3 Ed.). Cengage
rd
Learning.
