Katy Emerick

EDUG 781
Fall 2013
Functional Behavior Assessment
1. Consider the misbehavior of one of your students. In clearly
observable terms, identify the target behavior.
o One of the students in my preschool class throws toys in
the air. It is dangerous depending on what toy it is and how
and where he throws it. It is showing other students a bad
behavior. A goal of mine is to try to not have this student
throw toys in the classroom at all.
2. How would you take a baseline of the existing behavior? Would
you look at frequency, duration or latency? Would you use a
check sheet or graph? How long would your baseline last?
o To take a baseline of the existing behavior, I would observe
the behavior over a certain amount of time. I would look at
frequency, duration and latency. I think it would be
important to know how often the behavior occurs, how long
it lasts and the time in between the target behavior to
come up with the best intervention plan. I would use a
check sheet to check or tally the total number of times the
behavior occurs during a specific time period. My baseline
would last two weeks and I would specifically observe the
student at different times throughout the day during this 2week period.

3. Carefully describe the student behavior in reference to its

antecedents and consequences. (A-B-C) What is the function of
the students challenging behavior? What purpose does it serve
for the student?
o The student throws things in the classroom. The student
does not think or realize that throwing toys is not safe and
not what we do with toys. Object permanence is the
understanding that objects exist even when they cannot be
seen. The student is 2 years old seems to have not
achieved the concept of object permanence. He has been
talked to many times that it is not safe and classroom
items are not treated this way, but he still does the
behavior anyway. The student does not have a very high
attention span, so I think his behavior comes from being
easily distracted.
4. Come up with a hypothesis and develop an intervention plan.
How would you modify the already existing contingencies that
set up the challenging behavior?
o The child is very easily distracted and has had a hard time
adjusting to our daily schedule. At home he is allowed to
do whatever he wants when he wants, so it makes coming
to school and following a routine difficult for him. About 6
weeks ago, his mother had another baby. We have a wall in
the classroom that is magnetic and the children decorated
magnets that had a printed of them on it. We asked his

mother to bring in a picture of his baby brother so he could

make a magnet of it and hang it with his picture. She
brought in a picture and he decorated it. Now when we
seem him not doing anything or running and throwing
things in the room, we redirect him and tell him to find the
picture of his brother. When he gets the picture, we tell him
to have his brother help clean up the toy he threw, sit
down with him during circle time or anything else when the
target behavior can be expected. So far, this plan has
helped eliminate the behavior part of the time.

5. How and when would you evaluate your success?

o I would evaluate my success by observing the student after
an intervention plan is in place and measuring the
frequency of the behavior.

Childs Name- CL
Date- 10/22/13
Target Behavior- Throwing things in the air
Environment- Preschool Classroom at Project Explore
Valhalla
Observation Time- 9:30-9:50 am (Free Play and
Movement)

A-B-C Chart
Time

Antecedent

Behavior

Conseque
nce
G sees the book
and gets upset
that his favorite
book broke.
Teacher tells CL
to be gentle
with things in
our classroom.
E and B get
upset because
they were
playing with the
toys in the
kitchen area. CL
is directed to a
new activity
with the
teacher.
CL is directed
by teacher to
help clean up
blocks and put
them back on

9:32am

CL put tabletop toy

away.

CL runs to book
area and throws
book in air and
the cover of the
book breaks off.

9:38
am

E and B are playing in

the kitchen area.

CL comes over
and starts to
throw kitchen
items up in the
air and behind
him.

9:44
am

F and P are cleaning

up blocks and putting
them on the shelf to
get ready for
movement.

CL runs to block
area. CL starts
taking blocks
and throwing
them off the

9:47
am

E is doing movement
with a scarf.

shelf.

the shelf so
movement can
start.

CL grabs scarf
from E and
throws it on the
floor. E starts to
cry.

Teacher asks CL
to give scarf
back to E and
then directed
towards another
area of the
room to do
movement.