Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)
A Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is a sequential process that is used to detect the purpose or function of a certain behavior, mainly in teaching contexts. It is a vital step to find the right interventions by recognizing the true reasons for the behaviors that interfere with learning or social interactions.
The basic goal of an FBA is to uncover the specific reasons that make a student suffer from a particular behavior. According to the identified behavior function, teachers and medical doctors get the chance to make interventions that are designed for specific needs of the child. For instance, if a pupil misbehaves in class because of the desire to get attention, one instructive method could be delivering praise for the right actions that also draw attention to it.
The different elements that usually make up the FBA process are: stating the problem behavior tying to the definition, observing and particularly interviewing for data collection, analyzing data for the finding of triggers and consequences, presenting the hypothetical function of the behavior. For example, a teacher can note a student's behavior in various activities to find out during which the student misbehaves and what takes place immediately before and after the behavior.
The information acquired from an FBA directs the development of interventions that are more likely to be effective. For instance, if the evaluation shows that a pupil tends to involve in unruly behavior to avoid’ difficult tasks, the intervention could be changing the tasks to be more manageable or providing breaks to reduce frustration.In this way,]’ the’s[ it which is—that wherein the intervention thus helps that way]—with the original reason rather than dealing with the case just treatment of the behavior.
An FBA is a team process that often includes the people that are: teachers, school psychologists, behavior specialists, and the student's parents sometimes. Each professional gives a different perspective and possesses a different expertise which makes our understanding of the action much more complete. For example, a teacher can mention some factors affecting a class, while a psychologist can note some behavioral patterns and recommend some assessment forms.