Allison Gerlach

Professor Romano

Introduction to Special Education

22 November 2018

Functional Behavioral Assessment

Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA) can be extremely effective when working with

students with ADHD. Students with ADHD are often characterized as having disruptive behavior

in the classroom. Many times, teachers are overwhelmed by the persistence of these

misbehaviors and do not know how to effectively manage them. This module was very helpful in

giving practical examples of how to address problem behaviors in the classroom. Even if you are

not a special education teacher, you will undoubtedly have a student in your class that has

ADHD, so it is important to know how to work with them.

A FBA is focused on addressing a problem behavior, finding the cause of it, and

replacing it with positive alternatives. For example, if the student gets out of their seat too often,

teachers will observe the behavior to figure out the motivation behind that behavior. By defining

what the purpose of the problem behavior is, the teacher can find a way to redirect that

motivation in a positive way. So instead of the student walking around to avoid doing their work,

the teacher can allow the student to walk up to her desk to get their worked checked when they

have completed the assignment. This still gives them an outlet to get up out of their seat but it is

in a positive way that allows them to ultimately get their work done. Addressing the cause of the

behavior is important to come up with effective modifications. If the student’s needs are not met,

the problem behavior will continue.