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A Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is a structured process used by an IEP team to identify the reasons behind a child's challenging behaviors and to develop positive interventions. An FBA is required under federal law in specific disciplinary situations and can also be requested by parents when behavioral challenges hinder a child's progress. The assessment involves data collection, analysis of behavior patterns, and the development of a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) to support positive behavior changes in the child.

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php-c215a

A Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is a structured process used by an IEP team to identify the reasons behind a child's challenging behaviors and to develop positive interventions. An FBA is required under federal law in specific disciplinary situations and can also be requested by parents when behavioral challenges hinder a child's progress. The assessment involves data collection, analysis of behavior patterns, and the development of a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) to support positive behavior changes in the child.

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What is a Functional Behavioral Assessment

and How Is It Used? An Overview for Parents


When a child with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) has challenging behaviors in school that are not
improving, parents may request a re-evaluation to more closely examine the behaviors of concern.
As part of that re-evaluation, a district may conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) to identify
special education and related services and develop or modify a behavioral intervention plan.

What is an FBA?
The FBA is a structured data gathering process an IEP team uses to help identify positive behavior interventions
and supports to be used in the school. An FBA is used to determine the answers to the following three questions:
• Why does the student have challenging behavior?
• What reinforces the challenging behavior?
• What positive interventions help decrease the challenging behavior and increase the desired behavior.

When is an FBA required?


Federal law requires an FBA whenever a child with a disability has an educational placement change for
disciplinary reasons in the following instances:
1. When a child is removed from school for more than 10 consecutive days for behavior that is a
manifestation of the student’s disability.
2. When a child is removed for more than 10 school days for conduct that is not a manifestation of the
disability but the IEP team determines that an FBA is necessary.
3. When a child is placed in an interim alternative educational setting for not more than 45 school days for
behavior involving a dangerous weapon, illegal drugs or infliction of serious bodily injury.

Are there other times to develop an FBA?


When positive behavior interventions and supports are effective, your child should be making progress on the
IEP goals. If he or she is not making progress, or if there are new behavioral challenges that are keeping your
child from making progress, parents should think about requesting a new FBA.
You may also request an FBA if your child’s challenging behaviors interfere with other children and their ability
to learn. It is always best to put your request in writing and keep a copy for yourself.

What happens next?


After receiving your written request, the IEP team would then meet, review the behavioral concerns, and
determine the need for an FBA. Sometimes the IEP team wants to consider new or different positive behavioral
interventions, supports, or strategies. Sometimes they may agree that it is necessary to conduct a new FBA.

PACER CENTER
© 2015 PACER Center, Inc. | ACTion Sheet: PHP-c215a
8161 Normandale Blvd. Minneapolis, MN 55437 | Phone (952) 838-9000 | MN Toll-Free (800) 537-2237
ACTION
INFORMATION SHEETS
[email protected] | PACER.org
Who collects data for the FBA?
The IEP team.

What are the steps in conducting an FBA?


1. Identify and agree on the behavior(s) that need to change. The identification process begins with
describing the challenging behaviors so that everyone understands the concern. If a child has many
problem behaviors, it is important to focus on those that are the most serious.
2. Determine where the behaviors do and do not occur. The team may conduct interviews, perform
observations, and discuss the following questions:
• What is different about the places where the behaviors do not occur?
• What is different about the places where the problem behaviors do occur?
• Are the problem behavior(s) related to how the child responds to the teacher or peers?
• Does the number of other students present, or the difficulty of the schoolwork, cause a problem?
• Does the time of day or a child’s mood affect the behavior? Are there daily problems for the child
(such as on the bus in the morning, or challenges with peers in the hallway)?
• Do the behaviors occur in a specific set of circumstances or a specific setting?
• What specific events seem to support or influence the problem behaviors?
3. Collect information on the child’s performance from as many sources as possible. There may be other
places to get information about the child’s challenging behaviors. That may include a review of previous
assessment data, behavior incident reports, and other documented information the school has about the
child’s behavior. Parents also might share information from other assessments including mental health
providers. While this is good information to know, parents should be knowledgeable about how much
private health information they should share.
4. Develop an informed guess about why problem behaviors occur (the function of the behaviors). Using
all the information gathered through observation and review of data, an idea of why the behavior occurs is
stated. This helps predict where and why your child’s problem behaviors are most and least likely to occur.
5. Identify behaviors that can be taught and supported within the school and that provide your child with
positive alternatives to the problem behavior(s).

How do you use information from the FBA in your child’s IEP?
Children who are using negative behavior can benefit from learning new ways to act. The IEP can include goals
for learning alternative, more positive ways to respond when they are frustrated, angry, or afraid. A plan for
using positive behavioral interventions should also be in place as part of the IEP process for your child.
Once your child’s FBA is completed, you should find these changes made to the IEP:
1. Goals that teach replacement behaviors. Children can be taught to recognize their triggers and learn
new skills to use in place of the challenging behavior(s) they previously used.
2. A Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). This plan includes specific strategies for modifying the
curriculum, environment, activities, or interactions with the child to prevent occurrences of the
challenging behavior.
It should include positive reinforcement and supports when your child demonstrates that he or she is using
the new skills in place of the challenging behavior(s).

© 2015 PACER Center, Inc. | ACTion Sheet: PHP-c215a | PACER.org 2


Please note: It is important also to know that a positive Behavior Intervention Plan is NOT a plan to
determine what happens to a student who violates a rule or code of conduct. That would more appropriately
be called a discipline plan.
For additional information on positive behavior interventions, functional behavioral assessment, and related
topics, please contact:
PACER Center
PACER.org
Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
pbis.org
Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning
csefel.vanderbilt.edu/
Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention (TACSEI)
challengingbehavior.fmhi.usf.edu/
Minnesota Department of Education
education.state.mn.us/mde/index.html
IDEA.gov
https://sites.ed.gov/idea

See PACER’s companion handout, Examples of Positive Behavioral Intervention Strategies:


PACER.org/parent/php/php-c215b.pdf

© 2015 PACER Center, Inc. | ACTion Sheet: PHP-c215a | PACER.org 3

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