Education 5306/5406 FBA template, 2014

Dominican Student: Elizabeth Escalante

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EDUC 5306/5406: FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR ASSESSMENT PLAN TEMPLATE
Complete an FBA for EACH BEHAVIOR that is interfering
with the students academic and social potential

STUDENT FIRST NAME: J DATE: April 27, 2014

DATE OF BIRTH: May 7, 2014 AGE: 9

MALE/FEMALE GRADE: 4

STAFF PARTICIPATING IN ASSESSMENT:

DATE (S) OF ASSESSMENT: April 1,2,3,7,8,14, 2014




I. REASON FOR FBA
Explain the target behavior in specific, observable terms, describing what the behavior looks like and the
reason for this referral. (If there is more than one behavior, complete additional forms.)

It is difficult for J to initiate and stay focused on tasks that are assigned to him. Even when he begins a
task, he can easily become unfocused and can take him at least 45 minutes to an entire class period to
begin working again. It can also take him this long to begin working on any task that is given to him.
Whenever any kind of school work is presented to him, he ends up shutting down by setting his head
down on the desk and expresses his unwillingness to work by asking Why do I have to do this? Im
tired. On the days that he has more energy, he still has troubles with focusing on his work by fidgeting
and humming in his seat, and going off topic by talking to the teachers, other adults, and sometimes
other students around him about other topics unrelated to the work.

II. STUDENT PROFILE

Gather background information in order to assess the behavior in each of the following categories:
IEP
Medical
Family consultation (family interviews)
Previous interventions
Defining and prioritizing behavior
Assessing student environment

Education 5306/5406 FBA template, 2014
Dominican Student: Elizabeth Escalante

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A review of Js IEP was conducted on January 2014. He is identified as having an Other Health
Impairment on his IEP. He is diagnosed with ADHD and is currently taking medication (32 mg of
Concerta) to support his rate of attention and focus. He currently spends 81% of his school day in the
general education setting and 19% in the Resource Specialist Program (RSP). His accommodations as
required by his IEP are preferential seating, teacher-check ins for clarification, re-teaching/scaffolding of
lessons, flexible seating and setting for work or tests, sensory breaks, and check-ins with the guidance
counselor five times a week. A behavior goal that has been written for him in his IEP states: By 1/9/2015,
when given teacher directed assignments with program accommodations (scaffolding, teacher check in for
understanding of directions) in the general education setting, J will initiate the task, stay focused on his work and
complete the assignment 80% of the time as measured by teacher records and observations.

In the past, J has received sensory breaks such as fidgets that he can fiddle with that might have helped
him focus on his work. However, none of these fidgets have worked and became more of a distraction
than a benefit for J. Because of this, he is no longer offered sensory breaks. J has also been benched
often, where he is kept in class (either in the general education classroom or RSP) during recess time and
is required to complete a new parameter of work for example, instead of completing all ten math
problems, he must complete at least three of them before going out to recess. The RSP staff has also tried
consequences such as taking away privileges if J does not complete the minimum amount of work he
needs to go before leaving RSP. These privileges that J does not like losing is his time at Lunch Bunch
which is held in one of the RSP rooms where students who have nowhere else to go or no other friends to
hang out with during lunch come here to have lunch with other peers and listen to stories read by a
teacher. The losses of privileges are starting to become ineffective though, and the RSP staff has now
resorted to office referrals when J does not complete any work for a certain amount of time.

Js family is concerned about how he will be able to handle the increasing academic difficulties of school,
especially when he becomes a 5
th
grader next year. His family is also concerned about the current
medication he is taking and if there are any benefits of it at all. They plan on having a re-evaluation with
Js pediatrician to see if there should be any changes to his medication that could help him give a better
performance at school.


III. ASSESSING THE BEHAVIOR
Describe briefly (include data collection forms):
Interviews (student, teacher, paraprofessional, support staff, school psychologist, counselor. . . )
Observation (ABC Chart, scatter-plots, interval/duration/frequency recording, incident log, etc.)
Checklists
Questionnaires

After observing J over the first two weeks of April, I have seen that J has difficulties with initiating tasks
and staying focused on any subject or on any task that is given to him, no matter what the difficulty level
is. He may be asked to do something as challenging as completing independent math or writing
assignments to writing a short thank you note for donors who have donated to his classroom. I have also
seen J on days where he does appear to be too tired to want to try completing the work by resting his
head on the desk and rubbing his eyes. I have also heard him at times express that he is too tired and
wants to know why the work must be done. I have then seen him on other days where he has had more
energy but still cannot focus on the work as he wants to try to talk to anyone around him about
something else that is not related to his school work. If changing the topic becomes unsuccessful for him,
he would fidget in his chair, kick his feet around, and hum.
Education 5306/5406 FBA template, 2014
Dominican Student: Elizabeth Escalante

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Further observations were conducted throughout the two weeks and the scatter plots show the number of
times J becomes unfocused and receives prompts from a teacher to get on task. It occurs frequently in
both the general education and RSP settings, and in any period of the day either morning or afternoon,
any subject. These counts of times when J gets prompted to initiate or complete a task happens a little
more so in RSP than in the general education setting. J could be receiving more prompting in RSP due to
the smaller group of students who are served in the same time block that J goes there and the staff can
quickly detect when J is not focusing on his work.

The A-B-C chart records completed have shown that J has trouble initiating tasks and can take him an
entire class period to get started on the work that is presented to him. There are also times when the RSP
staff have made office referrals and asked J to do his work in the office as it takes him multiple prompts
from teachers to begin his work. About 9 out of 10 times when J is asked to complete any kind of task,
teachers in both general education and RSP must change the parameters and the requirements of the
work to be sure that J gets at least something done and go out to recess on time. Whenever he does not
meet these new requirements that the teacher has assigned him, he would be benched or asked to stay
in during some of his time at recess to complete what was asked of him. For example, when he is retyping
a summary that has already been transcribed by the teacher on paper, he would sit staring at the
computer and fidgeting in his chair for the whole class period (which goes from 11:20 to 12:15pm at RSP)
and only have the title of the summary typed out. His original requirement would be to retype the entire
paragraph that was transcribed for him but teachers would have to change the parameters of the
assignment and ask him to type at least two more sentences. This does not work for J and he still cannot
stay focused enough to type two sentences, let alone another word aside from the title. This also happens
in the general education classroom where the teacher would have to set a new parameter of requirements
for J to have him get some of his work done. J has already stayed in class many times and has lost a lot of
recess minutes to complete some of his work, so threatening to bench J has worked for some occasions.
There are also times where the general education teacher must sit down next to him and continue to
prompt him multiple times to stay on task. This has also worked for J and has allowed him to go out to
recess on time.

In an interview with the RSP staff, they say that there are a lot of reasons why J is having issues with
staying focused on all tasks. One of these reasons is his ADHD and that the medication that is being
prescribed to him is not working for him. (J has also said this himself.) The RSP staff has recommended to
Js mother that they may need to revisit the pediatrician again to reevaluate his medication. Another
reason for Js difficulties with staying focused is due to some academic difficulty. Although he is skilled
enough to perform at the average grade level (according to his formal assessment scores), J may have a
harder time articulating thoughts when asked about abstract ideas. He also may not understand the task
and can take him longer to process what is being requested of him. Another reason for his issues with
staying focused is also due to having a hard time outside of school, by living in two different homes as
well as a recent death in the family. Because of these multiple of reasons, the exact function of Js
behaviors are unknown, but they are most likely done to avoid work and escaping tasks that he may see
as too difficult. He often complains about tasks that are presented to him and puts his head down on the
desk, pouts, and asks why he has to do the work. At times, he has also expressed how cannot do the work
that he will never get it done. On the days that he has more energy, RSP staff have described Js
thoughts to here, there, and everywhere as he is always trying to change the topic by talking about
something else that is unrelated to the task, or fidgets in his chair while humming and looking around at
other places in the room. On both of the days that he is more tired or has more energy, the staff must
constantly redirect him to get him focused on his work.

IV. ANALYZING THE BEHAVIOR RESULTS
Education 5306/5406 FBA template, 2014
Dominican Student: Elizabeth Escalante

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Describe and synthesize the following from the multiple sources of data (Provide data collection or record review):

Predictors/triggers:
Setting events
Antecedents

Consequences: What happens after the behavior occurs?
Consequences that maintain the behavior
What other consistent consequences were found?

Frequency, Intensity, and duration of behavior:
When does the behavior occur?
How long does the behavior continue?
How often does the behavior occur?

Other:
What setting events or antecedents identified are associated with low rates of target behavior?

It is hard for J to focus in any setting, whether that is in the general education setting where he is in a
larger group or when he is at RSP with a smaller group and receiving more attention from staff. No
matter what the task presented to him, whether it is Math, Language Arts, an art project, or working on
the computer, J requires multiple prompting to begin working. With multiple prompts and threats to take
away privileges such as time off of recess, it can take J 45 minutes to one whole class period to begin
working on a task. This happens at any time of the school day, morning or afternoon.

The most consistent consequences that J has been receiving are multiple prompts from teachers to get on
task or to stay on task. He also receives verbal reprimands from the teacher. These reprimands are also
paired with threats to take away privileges such as getting out to recess on time and Lunch Bunch.
Teachers have often followed through with these consequences when J does not complete the required
work to get out to recess on time but these threats to take away privileges are now beginning to lose its
effect as J has expressed that he doesnt care about Lunch Bunch anymore or would appear to not listen
to what the teacher is saying by putting his head down on the desk. Recently, J has continually been sent
to the office to complete his work there. No further administrative action has been done from there.

According to RSP staff, J is more likely to be focused on something when he is reading a book that is a
topic of his interest, such as trains, ships, or animals that are of interest to him. He is also more likely to be
engaged when an adult with sitting down with him one on one and stays with him during the whole time
he is working. Having an adult stay with him the whole time to continually prompt him to complete his
work. When J has the opportunity to have an adult sit with him for the whole time he is working, he
would be able to complete his work 4 out of 5 times. However, it is rare that J gets this opportunity for a
staff member to stay with him the whole time as teachers need to attend to other students in both RSP
and in the general education classrooms.

V. HYPOTHESIS OF THE FUNCTION OF BEHAVIOR

Identify function of behavior: obtain, avoid/protest, or self stimulation

Education 5306/5406 FBA template, 2014
Dominican Student: Elizabeth Escalante

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Within the context of the hypothesis, describe the following:
Setting events
Antecedents
Consequences

The function of Js internalizing behavior is to avoid work and escape tasks that may be too difficult or
uninteresting to him. The setting events for Js behavior are at most times during the school day, whether
it is in the morning or afternoon. J has trouble focusing to initiate and complete tasks in all academic
subjects taught at school and in any other tasks done at school, including art projects and tending to the
school garden (one of the class activities during the school day). The immediate consequence is that a
teacher prompts him multiple times to get on task or to stay on task. These teacher prompts can either be
prompts encouraging him that he can get the work done as well as verbal reprimands. These verbal
reprimands are then followed by threats to take away privileges such as time off of recess and/or Lunch
Bunch. There have been many occasions in the school year where J has lost these privileges that they are
now having less of an effect on his performance in his work. These consequences have slowly become
ineffective and J still has trouble with focusing on his work both initiating the task and staying on task
when he starts it.

At times when J begins to stay focused, he can stay on task about 80% of the time, whether he completes
the requirements of work he needs to do or not. It is about 60% of the time in both the general education
classroom and at RSP where J can initiate a task.

VI. FBA SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Describe:
What alterations in the environment, instruction or interactions could prevent the behavior from
recurring?
Identify functionally equivalent replacement behaviors.
Describe current methods of reinforcement and recommend any changes of reinforcement.
What goals, services, etc. are you recommending?

J currently sits at a table group where he is closer to the front of the room towards the windows. The
windows have been an additional distraction for him so it is recommended he would be moved closer to
the center of the room where the teacher can also be closer to J. It is also recommended that J remain with
classmates that would be most helpful and patient with him whenever they are doing group or partner
work. Moving him closer to the center of the room may also help become more focused with the materials
that are presented to him, which are mostly from the front of the room.

It is also recommended to provide with J with a teacher-made checklist or a graphic organizer that he can
use to help organize his thoughts. This checklist can give him a list of all the materials he needs to get out
and it will be an extra reminder for him to get started on what he needs to do. For example, to start the
math period in the morning, J can have a checklist that looks like the following:

- Get folder.
- Take out multiplication chart.
- Take out dry erase marker
- Begin filling out multiplication chart with facts I know.
- Begin working on assignment.
Education 5306/5406 FBA template, 2014
Dominican Student: Elizabeth Escalante

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- Complete assignment.

And so on. J can have additional checklists for different periods of the day where he can check off and
track his own progress through the school day.

In conjunction with these checklists, the number of checks and tasks that J completes can also be used
as tokens for his own personal reward system with reinforcements that appeal to J. He will have to work
to get these checks and complete all the tasks that are on his checklist in order to earn the reward that he
wants to gain. Some of these reinforcements can include giving him free time on the computer or the
iPad. Other reinforcements can be giving him a free choice on books that we would like to read. J may
also share what we would be interested in and can negotiate with the teacher on what he would like to
work for.

It is also important for J to continue receiving teacher praise when he is successful as this will help
reinforce the idea that he can indeed complete work when he puts his best effort into it. Reminders of
rewards should also be continued as this helps motivate J to complete his work. Because removals of
privileges have become ineffective, it recommended that the behavior goals focus on reinforcing the
desired behaviors by rewarding J when he is working. Although J will still require multiple prompts
from teachers to get on and stay on task, he needs to be reminded of the rewards he can potentially earn.

An example of this from a recent time that this has worked was where J has expressed interest in musical
instruments and wanted to see a violin. It was negotiated between him and the teacher that if he finishes
retyping his whole summary on the computer, the teacher will bring a violin to school tomorrow that he
can see only if his work is complete. The next day, J was able to complete his work even though he had to
stay in for a few minutes during recess. He was motivated to get his work done and was able to earn the
reward of seeing the violin. Even if he was not close completing his work at all, he could still go to recess
on time but not earning the reward of seeing the violin. This recent success shows that with more rewards
such as this that is of interest to J will motivate him to complete his work. Continuing this can be
beneficial to him.

It is also recommended that J learns replacement behaviors such as taking a short break from work when
he needs it rather than exerting all of his effort and energy to get focused. Allowing J to have some time
to himself, even for at least five minutes can help him give him that time to re-focus. But he must be
reminded that these breaks are only for the purposes of him to help re-focus on the tasks he needs to do
rather than a way of for him to avoid the task for a couple of minutes. He will need to learn that the
expectation for him is to get focused on the task again after taking a short break by leaving the room,
getting a drink of water, etc.