Functional Behavior

Assessment Project
Part E
Emily Quinn

Student Demographics
Name: Yoki*
Age: 8
Gender: Male
Grade: 2nd
Date of Report: 12/12/16
Background Information: The student is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
*The name has been changed to protect the identity of the student.
Reason For Referral
Yoki was referred by his special education teacher and his general education teacher for
an FBA due to his constant blurting in class..Blurting is defined as answering questions or
making a comment without raising his hand and being called on during whole group instruction.
While the blurting is not inappropriate, the general education teacher noticed that it was
happening a lot during whole group instruction, which took away from instruction time. This
blurting could also pose as a distraction for the student, the teacher, and potentially other
students. The general education teacher tried many strategies to reduce the blurting with not
much success and believes the blurting could be due to a want for attention. *The student had
started to throw fits, another behavior problem, that started to take place after the FBA for
blurting had begun. So for this FBA, the evaluator has focused on blurting, not throwing fits.
List of Methods of Functional Behavior Assessment
Child Interview
Teacher Interview
Informal Observation
Direct Observation (ABC)
Direct Behavioral Observation (Baseline Data)
Summary of Indirect Data
CHILD INTERVIEW
Yoki described that he does well in school and he feels as though school is going really
well. He loved English and math, especially when he gets to do math by himself. He liked that he

got to learn things like reading, writing, and math in his second grade classroom. Yoki enjoyed
participating in specials like gym, music, art, and library and that he was good in those classes
but least liked recess. He also let the evaluator know that he enjoyed getting Dojos and getting to
clip up.
Yoki was very self-aware of his blurting problem. He stated that he blurts because he
knows the answer and that he is excited about his answer and just wants to share it. He shared
that right before he blurts, he would think about raising his hand but not have enough time to
raise his hand so he would blurt. He also would blurt because he thinks of raising his hand but
the teacher would call on other students even when he had his hand up, so he would share
anyways. He ultimately said he just couldnt wait to share. Yoki said if he blurted less or did not
distract anybody, there would be fewer problems in school.
TEACHER INTERVIEW
The teacher initially expressed concern about Yoki blurting during whole group lessons
when they are sitting at the carpet. She said that Yoki blurts, it is nothing that is off topic and it is
not inappropriate, but it is distracting. She was glad that he was so interested and engaged in
learning that he would want to share his ideas and make comments. The teacher further
explained the problem by saying it happens too frequency throughout the day, usually occurred
when he was interested in the lesson, and that one way to predict the behavior was going to
happen would be Yoki raising his hand and making noises, but other times it just happens.
The current major consequence that Yoki had was getting a few warnings, then clipping
down for blurting too much, which Yoki understood why he was told to clip down. She noted
that Yoki enjoys praise and getting Dojo points so the student would enjoy getting Dojo points

for not blurting. She explained his strength of being engaged in class, as well as being high
achieving academically.
INFORMAL OBSERVATION
The evaluator noted that that during the informal observation that Yoki would not blurt
during independent work but blurted the most during the whole group read aloud. Yoki would
make comments about the book and tried raising his hand, but when he was not called on, he
would blurt the answer. At another point, he gave a silent signal to go to the bathroom but still
blurted to ask to go to the bathroom.
The students strengths included working well independently, being very skilled in
reading, writing and math, being sweet and friendly towards others, having the awareness of
good vs. bad choices, doing what he is told without getting upset or angry, having a good
understanding of his feelings, and staying engaged in lessons, group or independent work.
However, the student struggled with getting upset if another student got more attention than him,
blurting even if his hand is up or if he is holding a silent signal, and waiting only short periods of
times to blurt when his hand is raised.
Summary of Direct Data
The evaluator directly observed Yoki two times over fifteen minute periods where the
evaluator observed his blurting. It was clear that Yoki would blurt a lot more to try to answer a
question, show the teacher his work, or to make a comment on the lesson or on what other
students were doing. A lot during the first observation, the teacher ignored the behavior since
they were little comments. Later in the observation, the teacher would try to reinforce the skill of
raising his hand to talk by explaining he could not answer the question because it was another
students turn and another time when she asked him if he was supposed to talk when he blurted a

comment, which he then had to clip down. During the second observation, the behavior was
ignored less and the teacher kept clarifying situations that the student was blurting about. There
was more intense blurting during this observation, which caused him to clip down a lot more,
leading to a minor fit and even more blurting. By the end of the lesson, one of his consequences
was to go talk to the social worker for having such a problem with blurting and meltdowns that
day. It is clear that the blurting starts when he wants to answer a question or make a comment.
When collecting baseline data, I decided to use the frequency method to best see how
many times the student blurted during whole group lessons. Whole group lessons only occurred a
few times a day during reading and math. We decided on observations happening during any of
those group lessons since the behavior was pretty well observed occurring across all group
lessons, not specific to a subject. Observations were around fifteen minutes each and I would
mark an X when the student blurted, defined as making a comment or answering a question
without raising his hand and being called on. The first observation he blurted 11 times in about
fifteen minutes, the second observation was 8 times in about fifteen minutes, the third
observation he blurted 15 times in about twenty one minutes, 3 of which occurred during a fit,
and the last observation he blurted a total of 8 times in about sixteen minutes. This averaged out
to 10.5 times over the four observations. Since the observation times were around fifteen
minutes, this meant that the student, on average, would blurt a little over every minute of a
lesson.
Hypothesis Statement
When involved in a whole group lesson, Yoki starts to blurt, defined as answering
questions or making a comment without raising his hand and being called on, to gain attention
and because of possible overstimulation.

Intervention Plan and Goals

Yokis Competing Behavior Model can be found on page 13. The target behavior was
blurting defined as answering questions or making a comment without raising his hand and being
called on by the teacher. Yokis desired behavior was to sit quietly during lessons, specifically
whole group lessons. Yokis replacement behavior was for Yoki to answer a question or to make
a comment or to write comments that he wanted to blurt out on a Post-it note. While watching
Yoki, the main setting event was his diagnosis since almost anything that happened any day
would still allow blurting to be a huge problem throughout group lessons.
Yokis decreasing behavior goal was: during whole group lessons, Yoki will decrease
blurting, as defined as answering a question or making a comment without raising his hand, from
a baseline average of 10.5 over a 15 minute interval to an average of 5 times per 15 minutes over
four consecutive observations at the end of two weeks. To increase his replacement behavior, his
goal was: using a self-monitoring strategy, Yoki will raise his hand to answer questions or make a
comment on a Post-it note 80% of the time during a whole group lesson.
The intervention plan that the evaluator decided to implement with Yoki was giving the
student Post-it notes for him to write down comments or answers to questions during whole
group lessons. This would help stimulate himself by writing and he would also be able to get his
answers down. At times that he would want to share, he would hold the Post-it note pad up and
the teacher would praise him for it. Ideally the evaluator wanted him to write his comments on
the Post-it notes and raise his hand to answer questions, however, it was acceptable for him to
write down his answers on a Post-it note and raise the pad to share his answer.
This would be implemented by explaining to Yoki the expectations of the Post-it note
pad, practicing using the Post-it notes by modeling and giving him an example scenario, and then

implementing this strategy into the whole group lessons. According to a study by Evan Dart,
self-monitoring strategies that are effective include a student tracking his or her on task behavior
during a specific time period (2012). While the strategy the evaluator implemented is a selfmonitoring strategy that would take place over the fifteen minute observation periods. Yoki
would be responsible to monitor his behavior by knowing when he should write down answers or
comments when he was self-aware that he would not be able to wait long enough with his hand
raised. The evaluator adapted the self-monitoring strategy to best fit the student and his needs.
Although he was not given a formal self-monitoring sheet, the evaluator used the Post-it notes as
a way to measure if Yoki was self-aware enough to write down his comments and answers
instead of blurting them.
Along with the use of the Post-it notes, the general education student would also work
with the student to praise him if he properly used the Post-it note strategy. According to Breaking
the Attention-Seeking Habit: The Power of Random Positive Teacher Attention, there is a huge
importance of ignoring problem behaviors and giving random positive praise to the proper
behavior to help promote the desired behavior and decrease the target behavior (Intervention
Central). To use this within the evaluators strategy, it would include verbal praise by the teacher
if Yoki performed well throughout the lesson and it would be up to the general education
teachers discretion to allow the student to clip up if he was doing outstanding. As predicted, the
student could be blurting due to a need for attention. By correctly using the intervention strategy,
the student would not only better himself by working towards his desired behavior, but he would
obtain positive attention and praise from his teacher.
Since overstimulation could be a contributing factor of Yoki blurted, the evaluator
decided having his own Post-it note pad would assist with this cause. If Yoki became over

stimulated, he would be able to write down his comment or question and have the chance to
doodle a response instead of writing. According to Mackenzie Lee who wrote Sensory
Integration: Helping Students with Autism Incorporate Sensory Integration Techniques, a way to
combat sensory overload that could cause vocal outbursts in students with autism are sensory
integration techniques, which could include the use of different communication tools (2013). The
Post-it notes provided a different type of communication skill for Yoki and allowed to express
himself in a unique way if he felt over stimulated during lessons. The Post-it note strategy would
give Yoki a possible way to alleviate this overstimulation by writing or drawing responses out.
Effectiveness of Plans
The intervention plan worked really well with Yoki. Yoki, on average over four
observation periods, blurted 10.5 times before the intervention. After the intervention, Yoki
blurted, on average over four observation periods, 3.25 times. This was a huge difference and it
was very noticeable in his lessons. If one looks at the graph (Page 20), in first four observations,
which was the baseline data, the numbers seemed inconsistent by being high, going low, spiking,
and going low again, however, the numbers were still high in general (11, 8, 15, 8). It was
evident that by the first intervention observation, there was already a big decrease in the amount
of times blurting compared to baseline data. Clearly, from Observation 6 to Observation 8 there
is a steady incline in the target behavior. By Observation 8, Yoki had blurted 0 times! This was a
big day where the general education teacher and special education teacher celebrated it by giving
prizes to Yoki. After analyzing the data, the evaluator concurred with the original hypothesis that
the cause of blurting is due to both a need for attention and overstimulation. The student reacted
well when he was given positive praise from his teacher for writing on the Post-it note and was
able to write or doodle on his Post-it when he became over stimulated. Both potential causes

were addressed during the intervention, so there is no solid evidence that one caused the blurting
more than the other. But the target behavior decreased, whether it was due to positive attention or
the chance to write or doodle on a Post-it note.
When it came to his decreasing behavior goal, he would have ideally blurted about 5
times on average over the intervention observations. However, he exceeded this goal and blurted
3.25 times on average over four observation periods. However, when it came to the replacement
behavior goal, the evaluator did not collect data to make a statement backed by evidence. The
evaluator focused on decreasing the problem behavior and did not have enough time to keep
track of the amount of time the student raised his hand or wrote on his Post-it notes. The
evaluator indirectly observed the student using the Post-it notes and raising them up more instead
of blurting, however, did not receive a numerical value for how many times he would per
observation. This would be better addressed in future FBAs.
As the intervention was carried out, there was not much in the environment that affected
the behavior. The evaluator carried out the intervention as planned and continued observing only
during whole group lessons. The only change that could have affected data was once the
intervention was explained and modeled to Yoki, he was then aware that the evaluator was
watching him. He would look at the evaluator during the first few minutes of the lesson, and then
seem to forget the evaluator was there, but would remember after group lessons were over. He
would come over to the evaluator and ask how he did that lesson, which would spark a
discussion between him and the evaluator on how he did. Being more aware that he was being
watched could have been contributed to less blurting, however, he always was using his Post-it
notes during lessons observed.

This intervention strategy was very relevant for the student as it taught Yoki the
importance of not blurting during class. Although Yoki did not raise his hand as much as wanted,
he started raising his Post-it note with his answer or comment up, which mirrors the motion of
raising his hand when wanting to say something during a lesson. While the intervention was easy
to implement in class, it was not always followed when the evaluator was out of the classroom.
Yoki would use the Post-it notes in other lessons when the evaluator was not present, but not
always. The general education teacher did express to the evaluator that there was a noticeable
change in blurting when Yoki would use the Post-it note. The long-term effectiveness of this
intervention could be improved if the intervention was pushed more than just in the FBA
evaluation period and used regularly in the classroom.
The general education thought the idea of having the student write down his comments
and answers he could not raise his hand for was great for the student. It fit easily into their
lessons, would not be a huge distraction to the class, and worked well with the students
strengths. She said she appreciated that the student had a way to stimulate himself without
disrupting the class. The teacher would support the use of the Post-its during the whole group
lessons by reminding the student to use it. The teacher also expressed how much she noticed
blurting decreasing even if the evaluator was not in the room. Yoki loved using the Post-its as he
expressed to the evaluator that it was fun to write stuff down. He would also let the evaluator
know when he would need more Post-it notes. He was very satisfied with the intervention and
getting to see the amount of times he blurted go down.
The evaluator had a few recommendations to help improve the effectiveness of the
intervention plan. First, the implementation of the intervention even when the evaluator was not
present would help Yoki continue self-managing when he knows he needs to blurt and to

10

continue the motion of raising the Post-it note to help promote the idea of raising his hand when
he wanted to say something as opposed to blurting. The intervention had been working well for
the student so it should continue to be implemented. The other recommendation the evaluator
would give is to keep giving continued praise to help decrease Yokis target behavior. This could
be praise for using the Post-it notes with verbal praise or clipping up. Bigger rewards could be
put in place for milestones, for example, extra iPad time in the morning if he does not blurt at all
for three consistent lessons or earning a Dojo point for blurting less than two times during a
whole group lesson. These recommendations will further assist the student in decreasing the
target behavior and increase desired behavior.
Overall, the evaluator believes the intervention went really well. The student responded
well, there was a clear decrease in Yokis target behavior, and improved time with Yoki sitting
quietly during whole group instruction. Yoki surpassed his decreasing behavior goal and enjoyed
the strategy. The target behavior is still evident, but it is definitely reduced after this behavioral
intervention plan.

11

References
Breaking the Attention-Seeking Habit: The Power of Random Positive Teacher Attention. (n.d.).
Intervention Central. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from
http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions/challengingstudents/breaking-attention-seeking-habit-power-random-positive
Dart, E. H., Cook, C. R., Collins, T. A., Gresham, F. M., & Chenier, J. S. (2012). Test driving
interventions to increase treatment integrity and student outcomes. School Psychology
Review, 41, 467-481.
Lee, M. (2013). Sensory Integration: Helping Students with Autism Incorporate Sensory
Integration Techniques.

12

Completed Data Collection Forms and Graphs

Competing Behavior Model

13

Direct Observations - ABC

ABC Observation (Reading Time Whole Group Instruction 10:10
a.m. til 10:26 a.m.)
Antecedent
Transition from shared
writing time to next
activity
Teacher said that
another student would
pass his turn to share
Another student
answered the question
to what letters were
silent in the word
bright
Raising hand when he
knew the answer and
wasnt called on
Another student was
called on after Yoki was
called on to explain his
answer
Another word was
introduced and Yoki
wrote it on his
whiteboard
The teacher wrote a
sight word line on the
board and asked the
class to say that word.

Behavior
Yoki asked, What do
you need this for?
while looking at his
white board
Blurted *The students
name* passed!

Consequence
Behavior was ignored

Blurted GH and
started singing a GH
song

The teacher asked the

student not to blurt

Started waving hand

and said, I have to tell
you something!

Behavior was ignored.

Next time the student
raised his hand, the
teacher called on him.
The teacher told him
that it was the other
students turn

Blurted over the other

student giving an
answer
Said, Look! I have
written all the words!
After all the students
said the word all
together, Yoki yelled, I
know that!

Behavior was ignored

The teacher asked if he

was supposed to talk.
Student was asked to
clip down
Behavior was ignored.

ABC Observation (Math Time Whole Group Instruction 12:35 p.m.

til 12:51 p.m.)
Antecedent
Yoki was told to bring a
poster to another
teacher during whole
group discussion.
Teacher says that

Behavior
Student walks into the
classroom with a poster
and says, Theres a
problem, I cant find
Mrs. Kleins class
Student says, I can do

Consequence
Another student is sent
to help him give the
poster to the other
class.
Behavior was ignored.

14

theres going to be
someone else to do it.
Behavior was ignored.
?? (Possibly) Teacher
telling Yoki to sit down.

it! while raising hand

an then walks
Teacher walks over to
the teacher and says, I
can do it.
Says he needs a break
because students are
telling on him.

Students were told to sit

down and not talk while
waiting for the activity
to begin. A different
student was told to clip
down for talking.
Another student
accused Yoki of talking
and said Yoki would
have to clip down, too.
Yoki raised his hand and
gave the correct
answer. The teacher
was re-explaining an
answer that Yoki gave
during the lesson to the
class.
Teacher told him to clip
down.
Teacher told him to clip
down again.

Yelled, Nuh uh! I

wasnt talking! He told
me I had to clip down,
too!

Teacher told him that he

needed to talk to Ms.
Leslie (social worker)
since he was having
trouble blurting and
having meltdowns
today.

Yoki said, I know

where Ms. Leslies office
is! While standing.

The teacher told Yoki to

sit down.
Teacher tells him no one
is going to tell on him
since no one should be
talking during math
right now and to sit
down.
The teacher said she
was telling the other
student to clip down
and told the student
that accused Yoki of
talking that Yoki wasnt
talking.

Yoki said, Yes! I know

all about the numbers!

Teacher told him to clip

down.

Yoki yelled, I need a

break!
Yoki started crying after
clipping down.

Teacher told him to clip

down again.
Teacher told him that he
needed to talk to Ms.
Leslie (social worker)
since he was having
trouble blurting and
having meltdowns
today.
The teacher told him
that he didnt need to
blurt it but to just go
down to her room.

15

16

Direct Behavioral Observation Baseline Data

Observer Name: Emily Quinn
Name: Yoki*
Grade: 2nd
Target Behavior Observed: Blurting
Time: (under each Date/Time section)
Subject: (under each Setting)

Baseline Data Collection Form

Date/Time
Date: 10/20/16
Start Time:
10:02
End Time:
10:17
Total Time:
15:34

Setting
Whole group
English lesson,
students
sharing work
that they have
done, Yoki
sitting at the
carpet
Whole group
Number Corner
lesson, Yoki
sitting at the
carpet

Amount of Times Blurting

XXXXXXXXXXX
11 total

Date: 10/20/16
XXXXXXXX
Start Time:
12:14
8 total
End Time:
12:30
Total Time:
15:28
Date: 10/20/16
Whole group
XXXXXXXXXXX(fit)XXX(end fit)X
Start Time:
math lesson,
1:02
Yoki sitting at
15 total
End Time: 1:23
the carpet
Total Time:
21:12
Date: 10/24/16
Whole group
XXXXXXXX
Start Time:
reading lesson
9:10
and morning
8 total
End Time: 9:26
meeting, Yoki
Total Time:
sitting at the
16:01
carpet
Comments:
October 20
o 1st Observation
Yoki blurted mostly when he knew answers but to also
make comments on student work
nd
o 2 Observation
17

 Yoki blurted when he knew the answers

o 3 Observation
The student threw a fit and blurted three times during the
process
Student got frustrated when he had to clip down for his fit
Yoki repeated a few students answers which
October 24
o Yoki blurted when he knew the answers
rd

On average, the student blurted 10.5 times over the four observation
periods.
**Please note the comment section was added after the observation was taken, so it does not
have as many comments as the Intervention Observations.

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Direct Behavior Observation - Intervention Data

Observer Name: Emily Quinn
Name: Yoki*
Grade: 2nd
Target Behavior Observed: Blurting
Time: (under each Date/Time section)
Subject: (under each Setting)

Intervention Data Collection Form

Date/Time
Date: 10/25/16
Start Time:
9:17
End Time: 9:32
Total Time:
15:00
Date: 10/25/16
Start Time:
12:33
End Time:
12:48
Total Time:
15:02
Date: 10/26/16
Start Time:
12:39
End Time:
12:54
Total Time:
15:01
Date: 10/27/16
Start Time:
9:33
End Time: 9:49
Total Time:
15:07

Setting
Whole group
setting,
morning
meeting with
English lesson,
Yoki is sitting at
the carpet
Whole group
setting, math
lesson, Yoki is
sitting at his
seat, class
transitioned to
sitting at seats
Whole group
setting, math
lesson, Yoki is
sitting at the
carpet and
working with
other students
when directed
Whole group
setting,
morning
meeting and
English lesson,
Yoki is sitting at
his seat, he
later transitions
to the carpet,
then students
are sent to
work at their

Amount of Times Blurting

XXXX
4 total

XXXXXX
6 total

XXX
3 total

0 total

19

desks for
writing

Comments:
10/25/16 (First Observation)
Yoki uses Post-it right away and holds it up instead of saying anything
Student was raising hand and didnt get called on and he started
writing in on the Post-it note, then he held up the Post-it note, but
blurted when the teacher didnt say anything about his Post-it
Teacher read his note: Can I turn down your radio?
Student sits quietly looking down and writing on Post-it notes, holds up
Post-it when he has to say something
He took the Post-it note off of his stack and put it on the teachers
easel when she doesnt see it right away
10/25/16 (Second Observation)
Approached the teacher when he was moving to the carpet and had a
Post-it note
Students moved to desk for the rest of the group lesson
The student is asked to assist the teacher throughout the lesson since
it was learning how to play a game
Student was standing at the desk of the teacher showing people how
to play the game most of the observation
10/26/16
The student was writing on the Post-its whenever he had a question
o Once raised his Post-it when he needed to ask a question
o He tried to share his Post-it notes with another student
The student raised his hand to try to answer questions good because
it shows he knows the right thing to do
o Waited until he is called on to count counted by 100s
When students were blurting about their thoughts on a new math app
they were getting on their iPads, he blurted possible peer pressure
10/27/16
The student is sitting at his desk instead of the carpet during the
lesson
At about 9:37 the student moves to the carpet, 9:39 students are sent
to their desks to work on writing
Student isnt necessarily blurting, but is whispering to self when
working on writing
Student was whispering to table group while working on writing
20

On average, the student blurted 3.25 times over the four observation periods.

21

Data Graph

Observation 1: 11
Observation 2: 8
Observation 3: 15
Observation 4: 8
BASELINE AVERAGE: 10.5
Observation 5: 4
Observation 6: 6
Observation 7: 3
Observation 8: 0
INTERVENTION AVERAGE: 3.25

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