Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plans

                The article I chose for this week’s blog is entitled An Effective Approach to Developing Function-Based Interventions in Early Childhood Classrooms.  I chose this article because I recently did a functional behavior analysis (FBA) in a kindergarten classroom.  I was very interested to read about the strategies that this article would suggest.  I will briefly summarize this article, make connections to our classroom work, and give a critique. 

                The article follows a 5 year old boy in a preK class.  He is acting out and very disruptive (hitting, shouting, making loud noises, and not staying in his seat).  His teacher is ready to refer him for special education services.  The article relates how the burnout and job satisfaction rates of early childhood teachers is directly linked to whether teachers have adequate access to help with children who display challenging behaviors.  Many early childhood facilities are not set up to handle, and adequately train, their staff to develop appropriate behavior intervention plans.  The lack of this support leads to teacher turn-over, students who are expelled from the program, and sets up children for peer rejection and school failure.

                “Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and function-based interventions have been recognized as effective practices for identifying and treating problem behavior in early childhood environments” (Wood, B.K. & Ferro, J.B., 2014).  The article clearly states the differences between interventions which address why the behavior occurs versus what the behavior looks like.  It is the reasons behind the behavior that need to be understood in order to make the proper intervention plan to change the behavior.

 “The purpose of this article is to provide examples and a step-by-step description of an effective and practical approach for conducting an FBA and developing function-based interventions using the Decision Model developed by Umbreit and colleagues.  The Decision Model (Figure 1) systematically guides practitioners through a process in which they collect FBA data and identify why the challenging behavior occurs (Step 1), ask and answer key questions that lead to the selection of an intervention method (Step 2), and develop intervention strategies that correspond to the FBA data and method selected (Step 3).” (Wood, B.K. & Ferro, J.B., 2014)

                The article goes on to list the steps it takes to develop an appropriate behavior intervention strategy with more in-depth examples and description.  The article also lists several charts, graphs, and checklists that teachers can use to help evaluate the challenging behavior, and lead them in the right direction to change.  It gives links to further assistance that is directly related to early childhood educators.  It ends with a solid description of how the educator should collect data so that interventions can be evaluated and measured for change.  If the interventions cannot be measured, there will be no way to prove whether the behavior intervention is effective in changing the challenging behaviors.  The implementation of the interventions should be monitored so that the plan can be maintained in the future and adjustments made when necessary. 

                This article is extremely helpful and very practical.  I think that most teachers would be able to read through this article and begin implementing the strategies within their own classes.  The materials covered in this article relate directly to the strategies presented in class.  They actually correlate well with the assessment class that we are currently taking.  I would recommend this to my classmates and colleagues.  This is a must read for any teacher who deals with challenging behaviors, has a child in need of identification for a behavioral intervention, or even a parent who is interested in behavioral changes for their child.  It is very understandable and practical.  I plan to refer back to this article often.  It is going in my toolbox.   

Reference:

Wood, B.D. & Ferro, J.B. (2014).  An effective approach to developing function-based interventions in early childhood classrooms. Young Exceptional Children, 17(1), 3-20.  http://yec.sagepub.com TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE