Functional Behavioural Assessment Case Study

usable Behavioural opinion Case take on working(a) bearingal judgings for SeanSiobhan L. HealyIntroductionMrs. Valdez, a second grade instructor at Hacienda Elementary School, contacted me via email requesting my services regarding one of her students. Mrs. Valdez would like me to join forces with her and several(prenominal) administrators, including the principal of Hacienda Elementary School, to talk of the students behavioural issues. The subject of concern is Sean, a 9 year old boy, who had been held sticker to repeat second grade due to his ADHD and the resulting inattentiveness and impuissance grades. Sean is described as a bright and lovable boy at naturalize and at home but due to his (recently diagnosed) ADHD, he is a lot inattentive during class, jumps out of his seat and throws crumbled up school papers at peers when asked to complete a task.His lack of concentration and the inability to finish some(prenominal) task at school have earned him weakness grades d uring the preliminary school year and p bents and teachers fear that he may be failing second grade again, if nothing is done to help him. Seans pargonnts atomic flake 18 against every pharmaceutical medications to treat his ADHD and they have consulted with an herbal sterilise to treat the condition. Now, Mrs. Valdez has asked me to develop a carriage intervention plan for Sean, in order for him to succeed academically and socially during the current school year.The usable brand demeanors seen in Sean ar, a) in upkeep, in get to of not paying trouble to teachers instructions and school work, b) out-of-seat air, defined as any time Seans behind was not making contact with his chair, and c) throwing items (i.e., crumbled up papers) at peers. If my interdisciplinary group up up and I atomic number 18 able to describe the specific purposes of a Functional conductal Assessment for Sean, to the Hacienda Elementary School administrators during the planning meeting, wh ence we exit be able to design and implement an efficacious treatment plan for this student based on the results of the proposed FBA.Functional Behavioral Assessments are use to determine why an individual exhibits certain demeanours and in what substance the environment influences the individual and their miens. In the fuck offning, the method of analyzing behavior was created with the autistic and disadvantageously intellectually disabled population in mind, but it can be applied to any individual with problem behaviors. According to the State mount of Education, northern Carolina (2015), The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that a Functional Behavioral Assessment be conducted if a behavior was a manifestation of the disability or, as appropriate, for other disciplinary removals (http//ec.ncpublicschools.gov).In many schools, the Individual Education weapons platform Team (IEP group) develops an judicial decision plan to address proble m behaviors. During IEP team meetings, charge behaviors must be identified and specified. Decisions must be made nigh who will conduct each component of an FBA, and a timeline as to when the assessment will be completed is set. Usually, the IEP team will meet to discuss the assessment results and to design and implement behavioural interventions. Some times, The IEP team and members of a school administration need to bring in an independent team of experts in order to exhaust all possibilities of an effective FBA, curiously in the display case of Sean (State Board of Education, NC, 2015).In civilize Assessments are performed when schooling about precedings, forces, and critical variables, needfully to be ga thered corroboratoryly via interviews, screening forms, and rating scales. The Indirect Assessments are considered an adjunct to direct measures, as the data gathered from these measures is usually not considered quite as reliable. However, Indirect Assessments are often the first procedures performed in an FBA because the observer is able to figure meaningful musings and he or she may begin the construction of hypotheses about the juncture of behaviors rather quickly (Steege Watson, 2013).The interdisciplinary team would first assess Sean by conducting five general go of a Functional Analysis. look one would be a Functional Assessment question during which the team would question at least both or three soulfulnesss who know Sean very well and who have been tough in the powers in which the behaviors occurred ( closely likely his parents and Mrs. Valdez). The interview would focus on identifying noticeable behaviors displayed by our referred student. For example, when addressing Seans inattentive behavior, the team should ask Mrs. Valdez, the teacher, to clearly and concisely describe the observable characteristics that constitute inattentive behavior. It is important to note during the interview, what function Seans behaviors serve. Fo r example, his out-of-seat behavior may actually serve 2 distinguishable functions, one to get caution from his peers by jumping out of his seat, and deuce to escape from or avoid academic instruction from the teacher. This type of information will be relevant for the entire process of FBA, because, if the functions are different, the resulting interventions may be different as well (Steege Watson, 2013).With a typical alphabet Assessment, when the in use(p) behaviors occur, the observer is expected to usher those behaviors and the ready antecedent and conchronological succession variables. Observers often identify one immediate antecedent and one immediate consequence that occur during a behavioral suit. For example, the ABC Interviewer could record the followers in Seans classroom A Antecedent Teacher, Mrs. Valdez, requests Sean to sit guttle and complete his task, B Behavior Sean jumps up, crumbles his school paper, and throws it at a peer, C Consequence Mrs. Valdez ve rbally reprimands Sean and sends him to the principals office. However, in this instance, a single ABC arrangement was not able to identify all of the relevant variables connected to this behavioral incident because, there were a number of additional incidents preceding this enter. Oftentimes, with the particular of a series of behavioral incidents, the observers verbally report or record only the final incident (Steege Watson, 2013).Thus, a Behavioral Stream Interview (BSI) could be performed in Seans case, in which contextual variables that are associated with the fussy behaviors, can be identified. This kind of interview centers on the idea that there are many variables, including individual, antecedent, and consequence variables in Seans environment that feign his challenging behaviors. These different variables often interact in a inevitable manner and are not stagnant. Steege and Watson (2013), compare the ongoing flow of behavior and related stimuli to a river, sometim es a stream that gently meanders through a meadow, and at other times a raging flood tide rushing through mountainous canyons (p.106).The BSI has the potential of identifying patterns by calculating the sequence in which the variables occur. It can be compared to a movie strip of several captured pictures in a sequence, unlike a single photograph of a singular antecedentbehaviorconsequence interaction (A-B-C) (Steege Watson, 2013, p. 106).Furthermore, data could be collected through a questionnaire such as the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL Achenbach, 1991, as cited in Sattler, 2002) which measures internalizing and externalizing problems in children and adolescents. The CBCL is designed for parents of children and adolescents ages 4 to 18 age old. The rationale for conducting the interview is to observe the target behavior. The reason for utilizing the CBCL is that it includes a Teachers give out form (TRF, Achenbach, 1991, as cited in Sattler, 2002). According to Sattler, the TRF has satisfactory validity. operate Assessment covering fire Tools or a Motivation Assessment subdue may additionally be use.The Functional Behavioral Assessment Screening institute (FBASF) would be a particularly useful hawkshaw to record data about, a) busy behaviors (i.e., target problem behaviors), b) behavioral strengths (i.e., characteristics that are operable and appropriate, adaptive behaviors, and skills), c) Reinforcers (i.e., stimuli that are preferred by the student, people, activities, and events), d) Communication skills (i.e., verbal expressions, gestures, signs, or devices). In the context of Seans case, his behaviors too, are not occurring randomly, but are caused by an interaction between antecedent, individual, and consequence variables (Steege Watson, 2013). contain descriptive Functional Behavioral Assessments, on the other hand, are very powerful tools in school lays. They are powerful because the procedures center on direct ruminations of behavio rs in situations and settings in which the target behaviors occur. Systematic observations, and not just mere indirect information lead to solid hypotheses on function and starts of behaviors (Steege Watson).Therefore, step two in a Functional Analysis would be a Direct Observation and collection of data by observing Seans target behaviors directly. The team could do a Sequence Analysis by recording antecedents, behavior, and consequence (a Maladaptive Behavior Card can be used for this purpose). Furthermore, the frequency and rate of the behavior would be recorded. The frequency of item per whole of time, for example, would be 30 behaviors divided by 20 min of observation = 1.5 behaviors per elegant or about 3 behaviors every two legal proceeding. Next, the continuation of each behavior and the latency (which is the duration of time between a stimulus and a response) would be recorded, for example, how soon after the stimulus does Sean begin to jump up or throw paper balls at classmates (Carbone Zecchin, 2014).Step three deals with experimental manipulations if they are feasible based on the grimness of the behaviors. This procedure enables the observer to empirically test the functions of the behavior. The situations in which the behaviors occur most frequently suggest the function of the behavior. In order to test for the functions of the dysfunctional behavior, the interdisciplinary team would have to perform an Alone Condition running in which Sean would be alone without any stimulation and then calculate if any aggressive behavior occurred within a 20 minute session. Next, an Attention Condition-Test is performed to find out if the behavior is maintained by attention. This involves harming Sean in a preferred activity and if a maladaptive behavior occurs, the team would give him 10 seconds of attention after each occurrent of the target behaviors by saying Sean, dont throw anything at your classmate, you could hurt her The team would count th e number of times the behaviors occurred and this session would drop dead 20 minutes. Then, comes the Demand Condition Test, which is designed to explore if a behavior is maintained by Escape or Avoidance. The interdisciplinary team will place Sean in a demanding task or situation and leave alone him to escape (or leave the situation) each time the target behavior occurs. The team would wait for about a minute and then direct Sean covering fire to the demand situation or task, while keeping count of the number of times the behavior occurs. This session should besides last 20 minutes (Carbone Zecchin, 2014).Last but not least, the Play Condition-Test will be performed, which is a control condition. In this scenario, the interdisciplinary team would place Sean in an enriched reinforcing environment, leave him to engage in preferred activities of his choosing, and count the number of times the behavior occurs. This session, again, will last 20 minutes. Step four will be a Functi onal Analysis Summary, to include a form/ chart outlining the Functional Analysis Interviews conducted, the Direct Observation Data collected, and the Experimental purpose implemented. Step five will outline a Behavior Lesson object and after carefully choosing of an intervention, this will be called an Intervention Lesson Plan for Sean (Carbone Zecchin, 2014).In the literature by Steege Watson (2013),The Conditional Probability Record (CPR) is a form thatallows the observer to simultaneously observe and record theantecedents and consequences of behavior. The advantage ofdoing so allows for the epitome of the likelihood(probability) of a behavior given a particular antecedent andthe likelihood of a particular consequence following abehavior (p. 134).Lets say, we take a 5-minute excerpt from a 15-minute observation period, and it shows that Sean was out of his seat during 70% of the intervals, then, of the intervals in which Sean was out of his seat, 51% of those resulted in a v erbal reprimand by Mrs. Valdez and 43% resulted in her physically guiding Sean back into his seat. Therefore, Seans out-of-seat behavior resulted in some form of attention by Mrs. Valdez in 94% of the intervals. On the other hand, when Sean was working on his assign tasks, it resulted in no attention, verbal or physical, from Mrs. Valdez. So, only in 29% of the intervals in which Sean was working on his tasks, was Mrs. Valdez near him. Therefore, one of the hypotheses is that Seans out-of-seat behavior is maintained by Mrs. Valdez attention because doing so is more than three times as likely to result in some form her attention than working. During these observations, there may be some influence by Seans peers in the form of looking at him (23% of the intervals) or cheering him on (18%), however these consequences were not as probable as Mrs. Valdez attention.Additionally, there also appears to be a negative reinforcement because Sean is able to escape from the assigned task by get ting out of his seat. Antecedent and consequent possibilities are verified by further observation and analysis (Steege Watson, 2013).The interdisciplinary team could complete a Functional Behavioral Assessment Observation Form (FBAOF) for Sean. This is an assessment procedure involving direct observation and recording data of interfering behaviors and contextual variables. The FBAOF is generally used to record behavioral episodes or behavioral incidents that involve one single interfering behavior. The observer uses an FBAOF each time the interfering behavior occurs to record, 1) Date and time of day, 2) Setting events (i.e., activities, tasks, places, etc.), 3) Antecedents (i.e., events that appear to trigger the behavior), 4) Behavior (i.e., the defined interfering/target behavior), 5) Consequence (i.e., events following the interfering behavior), 6) Effect (i.e., change in rate or intensity of occurrence of the behavior), 7) Staff (i.e., person recording the data, working direct ly with Sean). Should the interdisciplinary team use the FBAOF, they must differentiate between an antecedent and a setting event. The antecedent is a precipitating variable (i.e., a specific event triggering a behavior), while the setting event is just the general situation that the behavior occurred in (Steege Watson, 2013).Last, but not least, the interdisciplinary team could utilise the Task Analysis Recording Procedure (TARP), which is an effective procedure for principle functional life skills and for progress monitoring (Steege Watson, 2013, p. 146). It is used for documenting a persons level of performance on specific tasks, instructional procedures, appellation of effective and ineffective instructional prompts, and to document levels of occurrence of interfering behaviors, especially in the context of instructional programs (Steege Watson, 2013).TARP is a useful tool for recording a decrease of interfering behaviors, while, at the same time, documenting an profit in desirable and appropriate behaviors. For example, we could use the TARP data recording in order to measure Seans occurrences of negative behaviors within a social or classroom setting, while, at the same time, recording any desirable behavior, such as doing his assigned tasks independently. This procedure is mostly used in individuals with autism who reside in group homes but TARP could be used in Seans case because of his ADHD diagnosis and universe in a group setting (classroom) (Steege Watson, 2013).It is important for the interdisciplinary team to put emphasis on the vast selection of indirect and direct descriptive FBA procedures. In many cases, a combination of both types in an assessment process is adequate for an assessment and an understanding of behavioral functions. A comprehensive mixture of several procedures can lead to the design of effective intervention plans (Steege Watson, 3013).ReferencesCarbone, V. J., Ph.D., BCBA Zecchin, G., BCABA. (2014). How to conduct a Functional Assessment Develop Behavior Plans to reduce Problem Behavior.Retrieved on March 10, 2015 fromhttp//armstrong.edu/images/psychology/FunctionalAssessment.pdfPublic Schools of North Carolina. State Board of Education. (2015). Functional Behavior Assessment. Retrieved on March 10, 2015 from http//ec.ncpublicschools.gov/instructional-resources/behavior-support/resources/functional-behavior-assessment.Sattler, J. (2001). Assessment of children Cognitive applications (4th ed.) La Mesa, CAJerome M. Sattler.Steege, M.W., Watson, T.S. (2013). Conducting School-Based Functional BehavioralAssessments, Second Edition. Guilford Press. VitalBook file.