Saturday, May 12, 2018

Important Functional Behavior Assessment Steps To Be Followed

By Harold Olson


Functional Behavioral Assessment, FBA, is designed to identify, evaluate and devise an intervention plan to the behavior of a given individual. It is mostly used for students who behave in an unusual manner. The approach aims at getting to the root cause of the problem and creating an appropriate team to intervene. Functional behavior assessment steps enumerate the who, what, how, why, where and when is the problem at hand.

Students with general learning disability were the original targets in this assessment. It was easy to point out autistic students due to the odd personality they manifested. Being able to identify them early helped a great a deal in addressing both their social and academic issues in a comprehensive manner.

Knowing the exact problem at hand is the very first step in this process. It takes time and objectivity to know that the subject is exposed to different environments including culture, politics and religion among other factors. The assessor therefore needs to combine all these factors to come up with a pattern of behavior.

Secondly, the assessing team gets to collect data in a bid to know more about the problem. Directly observing the individual as they go about their day is one way of collecting data. Close contacts such as teachers and fellow students can also be engaged as it may not be possible to follow up the individual in question all day. Not only does it appear inappropriate but objectivity may also be lost once the subject becomes aware that they are being followed. Common tools used in indirect assessment include questionnaires and interviews. It is more beneficial to utilize both tools as each is unique in its own way.

Thirdly, the FBA team needs to formulate a hypothesis. The hypothesis seeks to explain the occurrence of certain habits by assessing function, skill deficit and performance. For instance, if evaluating an employee at work, one may want to find out if they are satisfied with the pay they get, their relationship with workmates and whether they are having any issues at home. In addition, one needs to find out whether the employee is passionate at their job and whether they have the necessary skills.

The fourth step entails coming up with an intervention plan which aims at modifying or changing the behavior of the individual in entirety. It incorporates people who directly affect the life of the subject. In the employee example, several categories of people need to be brought in to ensure the plan is fully implemented. If the subject is a student, it may involve their teacher, friend, caretaker and sibling among other relevant groups.

The final step in FBA is to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Data collection from close contacts and direct observation are the main tools used in analysis. If the intervention proves fruitless, the team needs to re-evaluate and come up with a different approach.

In summary, FBA is a process that calls for resourcefulness, skill, patience and objectivity while at it. It has five main steps including problem establishment, collecting data, hypothesis formulation, planning for intervention and assessing the effectiveness of the entire procedure. While these may appear all organized, one should be aware of the changing environment during the study and to make appropriate adjustments towards achieving success.




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