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Functional Behavior Assessment

Student-centered functional behavior assessment profile (refer to appendix A)

Student’s name: Jayden Low Age: 6 years old

Diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Class teacher: Ang Cai Wen

Class profile: Students with moderate ASD, teacher-student ratio of 1:2

Adaptive behavior: Jayden is able to follow and carry out 2-step direction within

contextual cues independently and has emerging expressive

communication. Currently, he is able to follow his individual

schedule and cooperates during transition with occasional

exceptions due to the change in schedule or unplanned

activities. Jayden is also independent in carrying out his arrival

and dismissal routines. He is able to feed and dress himself but

is undergoing toilet training at the moment and therefore

requires assistance with the routine. He has developed work

habits (work with teacher, work on own) and is able to

participate in small group activities (4 students) for at least 10-

15 minutes. Jayden has emerging peer awareness and with

teacher’s facilitation, he is able to respond appropriately to

peers’ social behavior such as greeting and sharing of

materials.

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Classroom climate

To have a good classroom climate is to have in place an operational and successful

classroom management practices, ensuring that the students understand the

classroom requirements and are receptive to classwide support (Bambara, Janney &

Snell, 2015). The classroom climate of Jayden’s classroom is at a satisfactory level

where the physical space is well defined and structured for each activity and

students are constantly supervised and monitored, ensuring an active engagement

in activities/ routines. Jayden is able to carry out the daily classroom routines that

are consistently reinforced. However, an area of improvement will be on the rules

and regulations of the class, which has to be better thought through and

standardized to help the students meet the expectations.

Academics and communication

Jayden has great perseverance towards certain matters and is able to solve common

problem using more than one approach. He loves to identify words around him by

pointing to them and reading them out loud. He also loves numbers and is able to

give the correct answer when asked to identify a number. His enthusiasm towards

reading and numbers has resulted in him excelling in tasks involving words and

numbers such as spelling and counting. However, it also causes disturbance to the

class as he may not listen to and follow the group instructions given.

Jayden’s primary mode of communication is through AAC, gestures and verbal

means. As his speech is often incoherent, he uses a lot of gestures to capture the

communicative partner’s attention. Jayden is very good with his picture

communication system where he can scan and locate for the item that he wants and

request for it. He is often upset when he is unable to get what he wants or to put his

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idea across and hence, he will be provided with a demonstration on how he can seek

for help (help visual/ saying “Help me”).

Medical, health and sensory concerns

Jayden does not present any health concerns and is not under any form of

medication. However, he is hypersensitive to certain noises/ loud noises and

therefore is often seen with his hands covering his ears when watching music videos.

It is also observed that he jumps up and down when excited and lies on the floor

whenever he is upset or frustrated.

Quality of life

Jayden has a strong, positive and supportive family who are constantly exposing him

to activities at home and in the community. For instance, the family goes out for

meals together and makes visits to the park/ beach/ swimming pool/ playground or

attractions in Singapore over the weekends. Jayden’s mother is the main caregiver in

terms of educating and disciplining him. She exposes him to different activities and

provides him with opportunities to make choices during free play. This is in

conjunction to Jayden’s engagement in class where he participates actively during

work time and small group time before getting rewarded with free choice time.

However, Jayden’s sister is his main play partner at home and in the community

while he requires teacher’s facilitation in interacting with his peers in school. His

strong interests in reading and numbers have also led to limited social opportunities

with his peers in class.

Target behaviors and past interventions

The target behaviors are Jayden’s screaming, whining or crying and lying on the floor

while covering his ears with his hands. The behavior usually starts off with high-

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pitched screams that range from 2-5 times. It then escalates to either whining or a

loud cry and covering of both ears before he lies on the floor. These behaviors can

last up to 30 minutes if left alone and up to 20 minutes if redirection is successful.

Verbal redirections with accompanying visuals are usually useful in disengaging his

behaviors but is time consuming as compared to providing incentive. Incentive can

be in the form of positive or negative reinforcement. Using a timer or ‘first-then’

board has been proven to be inefficient in preventing or interrupting Jayden’s

behaviors after multiple trials and the former was observed to add on to Jayden’s

distress.

Function of behavior

Indirect assessments (refer to appendix B)

1. Motivation Assessment Scale (Delaney & Durand, 1986)

This questionnaire is used to understand the purpose of the behavior and to

recognize settings whereby the behavior is more likely to happen. The class teacher

and two co-teachers in class were involved in completing the questionnaire.

Overall, the results indicated that Jayden’s display of behavior is to acquire

something of his interest and therefore, when denied access to the wanted activity/

thing, the behavior is more likely to occur. The behavior is also likely to happen when

Jayden is made to complete a task.

2. Problem Behavior Questionnaire

This questionnaire is used to analyze the possible function of the behavior and it was

completed by the class teacher. The results indicated that the main function of

Jayden’s behavior was to escape from the adult. The escalation of the behavior is

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usually observed when he is required to complete a task/ activity as requested by

the teacher. Following an earlier episode, conflict outside of class or change in

schedule or classroom routines, the behavior is also more likely to occur.

Direct assessments (refer to appendix C)

1. Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) Observations & Checklist

The class teacher conducted three in-school observations for about half an hour

each time over three different days. These observations were used to identify and

understand the trigger(s) to Jayden’s behavior, focusing mainly on presenting Jayden

with tasks, denying access to what he wants or when there is a change in his

schedule.

Based on the analysis of the ABC observation and checklists, it is noted that when

there is a change in schedule or following an earlier episode from another activity,

Jayden engages in the problem behavior. Additionally, when presented with a task

that does not involve words/ numbers or when he was denied access to the crayons

due to the incompletion of work, Jayden is once again engaged in the behavior. This

behavior often leads to verbal redirection from the teacher, which in turn allows him

to escape from the demand due to time constraints and to obtain something he

desires instead.

2. Functional Assessment Observation Form (O’Neil, Horner, Albin, Storey &

Sprague, 1990)

This form was used to gather the frequency count of the problem behavior. Jayden

was observed for 3 days and the data showed that there were 18 events where

Jayden displayed the behavior of screaming, whining, crying, lying on the floor or

covering his ears. The perceived functions of the behavior were mainly to avoid the

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activity presented or to obtain his desired item/ activity. The predictors of the events

were usually due to the change in schedule or when there is a demand or request to

complete a task. The most common behavior observed was firstly, lying on the floor,

secondly, covering of ears and thirdly, screaming. Jayden is often given verbal

redirection by the teacher to the task on hand when engaged in the problem

behaviors.

Hypotheses statement

Based on the direct and indirect assessments, the hypothesis regarding the function

of the problem behavior is as followed:

Setting event/s Antecedent Behavior Consequence/

perceived function

Following an When presented Jayden will scream, Jayden’s teacher

earlier episode of with a task that whine or cry and will redirect him to

the problem does not involve lie on the floor the task using

behavior words or numbers with his hands verbal prompts

during work with covering his ears which may lead to

teacher time delaying/ not

completing the

task and therefore,

escaping the task

presented

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Baseline data

Data collection method

The selected data collection method is duration recording. Duration recording is

used to measure how long a behavior occurs. As Jayden tends to escape from the

task presented by staying engaged with the problem behavior, identification of how

long the behavior lasts will give an understanding of how long it takes him to be

redirected to the task on hand. This information will help the teacher in developing

the behavior support plan and think about strategies to reduce the time it takes to

redirect Jayden back to the task.

Data recording form (KIPBS, 2006)

Instructions:

1. Write down the desired behavior and its definition

2. Have a timing instrument (e.g. watch, stopwatch)

3. Indicate the date and time

4. Write down the time the behavior began

5. Write down the time the behavior stopped

6. Calculate the length of time the behavior lasted in minutes

7. Calculate the percentage of time the behavior occurred per day during the

observed session

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Data recording form template:

Behavior:

Behavior definition:

Date Time Time when Time when Length of time

behavior behavior the behavior

began stopped lasted for

Date Total time that Total observation Percentage of

behavior lasted time behavior

occurrence

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Pre-intervention data

Behavior: Refusing to do task

Behavior definition: Behavior begins when Jayden screams, whines, cries or lies on

the floor. Behavior stops when Jayden is sitting at desk, with a task on the desk,

looking at the task and working on it.

Date Time Time when Time when Length of time

behavior behavior the behavior

began stopped lasted for

18/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:34 PM 1:36 PM 2 minutes

18/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:54 PM 2:00 PM 6 minutes

19/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:34 PM 1:55 PM 21 minutes

20/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:30 PM 1:35 PM 5 minutes

20/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:49 PM 1:53 PM 4 minutes

21/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:37 PM 1:39 PM 2 minutes

25/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:57 PM 2:00 PM 3 minutes

26/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:45 PM 2.00 PM 15 minutes

27/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:49 PM 1:55 PM 6 minutes

28/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:32 PM 1:34 PM 2 minutes

28/10/2016 1:30 – 2.00 PM 1:39 PM 1:46 PM 7 minutes

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Date Total time that Total observation Percentage of

behavior lasted time behavior

occurrence

18/10/2016 8 minutes 30 minutes 27%

19/10/2016 21 minutes 30 minutes 70%

20/10/2016 9 minutes 30 minutes 30%

21/10/2016 2 minutes 30 minutes 7%

25/10/2016 3 minutes 30 minutes 10%

26/10/2016 15 minutes 30 minutes 50%

27/10/2016 6 minutes 30 minutes 20%

28/10/2016 9 minutes 30 minutes 30%

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Figure 1.

Problem Behavior Occurrence: Daily

estimates
100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40% Behavior Occurrence

30%

20%

10%

0%

The baseline data was collected over the period of two weeks in school, during work

with teacher time. No data was collected between 22nd October and 24th October, as

there were no lessons. The data collected are then translated into the reported

charts that indicate the daily estimates of percentage of behavior occurrences during

work with teacher. Refer to figure 1.

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References

Bambara, L. M., Janney, R., & Snell, M. E. (2015). Behavior support (3rd ed.). USA:

Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc.

Delaney, M. J., & Durand, M. (1986). Motivation Assessment Scale. Retrieved from

http://images.pcmac.org/Uploads/LauderdaleCounty/LauderdaleCounty/Divi

sions/Forms/MotivationAssessmentScale.pdf

KIPBS. (2006). Duration Recording – Description, procedures, & example. Retrieved

from http://www.kipbs.org/new_kipbs/fsi/files/Obs%20Forms-

Duration%20_3-9-06_.pdf

O’Neill, R. E., Horner, R. H., Albin, R., Storey, K., & Sprague, J. R. (1990). Functional

analysis of problem behavior: A practical assessment and intervention

strategies. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publisher.

Problem behavior questionnaire. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://schools.nyc.gov/documents/d75/related/counseling/PROBLEM%20BE

HAVIOR%20QUESTIONNAIRE.pdf

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Appendix A

1) Classroom Organization and Management Inventory

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2) Step 2A Worksheet

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Appendix B

1.1) Motivation Assessment Scale

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1.2) Motivation Assessment Scale

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1.3) Motivation Assessment Scale

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2) Problem Behavior Questionnaire

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Appendix C

1.1) ABC Observation

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1.2) ABC Observation

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1.3) ABC Observation

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2) ABC Checklist

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3) Functional Assessment Observation Form

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