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This training has been updated with a transcript following each video, as some people prefer to learn by reading print or using text to speech.
This 2-part training has information about how to support a child’s behavior at school. When behavior gets in the way of learning, schools are responsible to figure out what the child is trying to communicate and teaching the child what to do instead.
A Brief Overview
- This 2-part training has information about how to support a child’s behavior at school.
- When behavior gets in the way of learning, schools should work to understand what the child is communicating and teach a more workable replacement behavior.
- A Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) helps the school and family identify why behavior is happening, including triggers, antecedents, and patterns.
- Families can request an FBA in writing and contribute important information about what may or may not work for their child.
- A Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) uses FBA information to teach replacement behaviors and support the student with consistent, positive strategies.
- Effective behavior planning is individualized and considers the child’s needs, confidence, regulation, relationships, and sense of safety.
- PAVE’s accessible, fillable worksheet goes with the videos to help with behavior planning.
When a child’s behavior gets in the way of learning, the first step is to understand what is happening and why. This training explains how families and schools can work together through a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) process to identify patterns, teach replacement behaviors, and support the student with strategies that are individualized and positive. For an at-a-glance overview of the FBA process, see The Visual Guide to Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA).
The process of figuring out why a child is acting out is called a Functional Behavioral Assessment—FBA for short. The first video in this 2-part series is about the FBA process.
PAVE’s accessible, fillable worksheet goes with the videos to help with behavior planning.
“Welcome, this is part one of a two-part training to help families and schools support a child’s behavior.
When behavior gets in the way of learning, schools are responsible for figuring out what the child is trying to communicate and teaching the child what to do instead. An evaluation to figure out why a child is acting out is called a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA for short). Information from the FBA is used to develop a Behavior Intervention Plan.
This video is about the FBA.
When does an FBA happen?
Sometimes an FBA beginsbecause a student is consistently removed from class or school because of their behavior. Sometimes the school or an IEP team recommends an FBA. An FBA can also begin because a parent requests one.
If you’re a parent who wants your child evaluated using an FBA, put your request in writing. PAVE provides a sample letter for requesting an FBA. Type “sample letter” into the search bar on our website to find that resource. Our website is wapave.org.
Understanding FBA
To do a Functional Behavioral Assessment, school staff watch a student and the student’s surroundings carefully to come up with ideas about when and why a child’s day may enter troubled waters.
FBA is a hard acronym to remember, so let’s break it down:
- F is for Functional. The function is the why behind behavior.
- B is for Behavioral. Behaviors are observable actions.
- A is for Assessment. The assessment includes thoughtful data collection with observations and analysis.
The purpose of watching behavior is to figure out why a student is acting in certain ways so adult behavior and the environment can change to help the student learn and practice different choices. How adults respond to a student’s unexpected behavior is an important part of the assessment. So is a good look at the environment to see what elements might trigger the behaviors. A student’s behavior can be modified through changes in adult response and changes in the environment.
Here are three words that are part of the FBA process:
- Triggers
- Antecedents
- Hypothesis
Let’s talk about each one.
A trigger is something that regularly clicks a person into a repeating pattern of how they feel, think, or respond. A trigger can be anything: hunger, time of day, a person who is irritating, a color or sound, a challenging request, confusion, overwhelm. The list is truly endless.
The FBA looks for triggers and anything else that might be happening before a behavior escalates. Those are called antecedents. When school staff see what’s coming, they can intervene before a full-blown escalation.
Children use behavior to communicate something they don’t know how to say or explain. Understanding triggers and antecedents can help adults understand what the student may be trying to communicate.
They use this information to build a theory about why things keep going south. That working theory is called a hypothesis. Getting the hypothesis right is like making sure the foundation is stable before you build a house.
The FBA is a process of observation. School staff want to identify behaviors that are getting in the way of school in order to teach a student what to do instead.
Observable vs. subjective behaviors
Target behaviors are actions that you can see and describe. Those descriptions do not include how you feel about the behaviors. They are unbiased descriptions of what you see. Sometimes the teacher’s emotional response to a student’s behavior gets tangled into the FBA process. If there is bias or subjectivity in the way a behavior is described in the FBA, it can be rewritten.
This slide lists behaviors that might be in an FBA. Which ones include bias and are not observable? Make a note of which ones you think we need to get rid of.
- Crumpling up assignments and throwing them
- Behaving in ways that are rude and disrespectful
- Hitting head against the wall
- Blurting inappropriately
- Speaking loudly while the teacher is giving instructions in class
- Putting on hoodie and covering face and arms on top of the desk
- Running outside and leaving school property
- Ignoring teacher
You are correct if you noticed three examples that include bias, adult judgment, instead of observable behaviors. (edited).
Number 2: Behaving in ways that are rude and disrespectful
Deciding whether something is rude or disrespectful is a matter of opinion.
Number 4: Blurting inappropriately
Who decides what to label as blurting? Blurting is a judgmental word.
A better statement is Number 5: speaking loudly while the teacher is giving instructions.
Number 8: Ignoring teacher
Who decides what ignoring looks like? Who can tell whether a child is willfully ignoring the teacher versus sleepy, spacey, distracted, or obsessively solving world problems in their mind? If the problem is that the child is missing instructions or not learning the material that’s being shared by the teacher, well then that needs to be unpacked to support the student. So this one might be better addressed through the student’s special education services instead of being part of the behavior plan. Let’s get rid of that one altogether.
FBA as an evaluation
Remember that the A in FBA stands for assessment. This is a type of evaluation that moves a process forward to get the student more help with their behavior. The FBA is the way to collect data to figure out the best way to provide interventions and supports for the student. Like any educational evaluation, parents sign consent for this process to begin.
It’s best practice to do an FBA at least every year to make sure the child’s development and changes in grade or setting are properly considered. Parents contribute information for the FBA. Outside providers can also provide information and recommendations as part of this process. A team that includes the family uses the FBA to build a Behavior Support Plan.
Example: Developing a hypothesis
Keep in mind that the FBA is looking for an explanation, a hypothesis about what the student might be communicating with their behavior. Here’s a pretend conversation between a teacher and a student to show how a hypothesis might form.
Teacher: Will you please finish your math?
Student: No.
Teacher: What’s the problem?
Student: I hate math.
Teacher: It’s my job to teach you math. What if I help you try to do just one small part of the worksheet? Could we work on that together?
Student: No. Jimmy will see.
Teacher: Why does it matter if Jimmy watches me helping you?
Student: Because Jimmy thinks I’m stupid and I hate being stupid.
Aha. We now have some information about the why. Could the student be avoiding math because of fear about looking incapable in front of a peer? This information could help the team take an individualized approach to the Behavior Support Plan.
Example: Attention-seeking behavior
Here’s one more pretend conversation. Let’s say the team has a working hypothesis that this student is seeking attention.
Teacher: I’m teaching right now. Please stop interrupting me.
Student: I hate this class. I wish you would stop talking. I just want to go to lunch now.
Teacher: It’s my job to teach you math. Please be quiet and follow along.
Student: Hey Jimmy, catch this. (while throwing his math paper wadded up)
Jimmy smiles and catches the paper.
Teacher: You need to leave class now. Please go to the office.
Student: Hey Jimmy, check it out. I’m bouncing. (while making a snorting sound, hitting the wall with his fist, and hopping through the door)
It certainly looks like the student is seeking attention, negative attention from the teacher and positive attention from a peer. But is there something more complex going on?
Let’s say the IEP team learns that Jimmy has been a bully to this student in the past and that this student has IEP services in math due to a learning disability. Let’s say this student shares with a parent that he feels stupid and doesn’t have friends. The IEP team might consider if the child is acting out to overcome a lack of power or to appear bigger in front of his bully. The hypothesis might be customized to account for a student who would rather be a troublemaker than a poor academic performer in front of someone who belittles him.
Interventions could be individualized to account for these details.
Additional Support from PAVE
To see how data from the FBA is used in development of a Behavior Intervention Plan, please watch Part 2 of this video series.
This video is provided by Parent Training and Information, a program of PAVE. Our nonprofit has been helping families in Washington State since 1979. Students, family members, and professionals can get direct assistance by going to our website and clicking Get Support, (edited, formerly called Get Help). We provide language translation options. You can also leave a message by phone: 800-572-7368. If you need help with the accessibility of any of our resources, please let us know.
PAVE is not a legal service organization and cannot give legal advice or represent families. PTI’s funding comes from a U.S. Department of Education grant, but the U.S. government doesn’t review our training materials in order to endorse them.
We’d love to know whether this training was helpful for you. On the page where you found this video, there’s a link to a short survey. Thank you for sharing your feedback. Please contact us at wapave.org for individualized assistance or further training opportunities.”
End of transcript.
A Behavior Intervention Plan—BIP for short—is a working document that the school and family build together and review regularly to make sure the child is supported with positive reinforcement and encouragement for meeting behavioral expectations. The second video in this 2-part series is about BIP development.
“Welcome, this is part one of a two-part training to help families and schools support a child’s behavior.
When behavior gets in the way of learning, schools are responsible for figuring out what the child is trying to communicate and teaching the child what to do instead. An evaluation to figure out why a child is acting out is called a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA for short). Information from the FBA is used to develop a Behavior Intervention Plan.
This video is about the FBA.
When does an FBA happen?
Sometimes an FBA beginsbecause a student is consistently removed from class or school because of their behavior. Sometimes the school or an IEP team recommends an FBA. An FBA can also begin because a parent requests one.
If you’re a parent who wants your child evaluated using an FBA, put your request in writing. PAVE provides a sample letter for requesting an FBA. Type “sample letter” into the search bar on our website to find that resource. Our website is wapave.org.
Understanding FBA
To do a Functional Behavioral Assessment, school staff watch a student and the student’s surroundings carefully to come up with ideas about when and why a child’s day may enter troubled waters.
FBA is a hard acronym to remember, so let’s break it down:
- F is for Functional. The function is the why behind behavior.
- B is for Behavioral. Behaviors are observable actions.
- A is for Assessment. The assessment includes thoughtful data collection with observations and analysis.
The purpose of watching behavior is to figure out why a student is acting in certain ways so adult behavior and the environment can change to help the student learn and practice different choices. How adults respond to a student’s unexpected behavior is an important part of the assessment. So is a good look at the environment to see what elements might trigger the behaviors. A student’s behavior can be modified through changes in adult response and changes in the environment.
Here are three words that are part of the FBA process:
- Triggers
- Antecedents
- Hypothesis
Let’s talk about each one.
A trigger is something that regularly clicks a person into a repeating pattern of how they feel, think, or respond. A trigger can be anything: hunger, time of day, a person who is irritating, a color or sound, a challenging request, confusion, overwhelm. The list is truly endless.
The FBA looks for triggers and anything else that might be happening before a behavior escalates. Those are called antecedents. When school staff see what’s coming, they can intervene before a full-blown escalation.
Children use behavior to communicate something they don’t know how to say or explain. Understanding triggers and antecedents can help adults understand what the student may be trying to communicate.
They use this information to build a theory about why things keep going south. That working theory is called a hypothesis. Getting the hypothesis right is like making sure the foundation is stable before you build a house.
The FBA is a process of observation. School staff want to identify behaviors that are getting in the way of school in order to teach a student what to do instead.
Observable vs. subjective behaviors
Target behaviors are actions that you can see and describe. Those descriptions do not include how you feel about the behaviors. They are unbiased descriptions of what you see. Sometimes the teacher’s emotional response to a student’s behavior gets tangled into the FBA process. If there is bias or subjectivity in the way a behavior is described in the FBA, it can be rewritten.
This slide lists behaviors that might be in an FBA. Which ones include bias and are not observable? Make a note of which ones you think we need to get rid of.
- Crumpling up assignments and throwing them
- Behaving in ways that are rude and disrespectful
- Hitting head against the wall
- Blurting inappropriately
- Speaking loudly while the teacher is giving instructions in class
- Putting on hoodie and covering face and arms on top of the desk
- Running outside and leaving school property
- Ignoring teacher
You are correct if you noticed three examples that include bias, adult judgment, instead of observable behaviors. (edited).
Number 2: Behaving in ways that are rude and disrespectful
Deciding whether something is rude or disrespectful is a matter of opinion.
Number 4: Blurting inappropriately
Who decides what to label as blurting? Blurting is a judgmental word.
A better statement is Number 5: speaking loudly while the teacher is giving instructions.
Number 8: Ignoring teacher
Who decides what ignoring looks like? Who can tell whether a child is willfully ignoring the teacher versus sleepy, spacey, distracted, or obsessively solving world problems in their mind? If the problem is that the child is missing instructions or not learning the material that’s being shared by the teacher, well then that needs to be unpacked to support the student. So this one might be better addressed through the student’s special education services instead of being part of the behavior plan. Let’s get rid of that one altogether.
FBA as an evaluation
Remember that the A in FBA stands for assessment. This is a type of evaluation that moves a process forward to get the student more help with their behavior. The FBA is the way to collect data to figure out the best way to provide interventions and supports for the student. Like any educational evaluation, parents sign consent for this process to begin.
It’s best practice to do an FBA at least every year to make sure the child’s development and changes in grade or setting are properly considered. Parents contribute information for the FBA. Outside providers can also provide information and recommendations as part of this process. A team that includes the family uses the FBA to build a Behavior Support Plan.
Example: Developing a hypothesis
Keep in mind that the FBA is looking for an explanation, a hypothesis about what the student might be communicating with their behavior. Here’s a pretend conversation between a teacher and a student to show how a hypothesis might form.
Teacher: Will you please finish your math?
Student: No.
Teacher: What’s the problem?
Student: I hate math.
Teacher: It’s my job to teach you math. What if I help you try to do just one small part of the worksheet? Could we work on that together?
Student: No. Jimmy will see.
Teacher: Why does it matter if Jimmy watches me helping you?
Student: Because Jimmy thinks I’m stupid and I hate being stupid.
Aha. We now have some information about the why. Could the student be avoiding math because of fear about looking incapable in front of a peer? This information could help the team take an individualized approach to the Behavior Support Plan.
Example: Attention-seeking behavior
Here’s one more pretend conversation. Let’s say the team has a working hypothesis that this student is seeking attention.
Teacher: I’m teaching right now. Please stop interrupting me.
Student: I hate this class. I wish you would stop talking. I just want to go to lunch now.
Teacher: It’s my job to teach you math. Please be quiet and follow along.
Student: Hey Jimmy, catch this. (while throwing his math paper wadded up)
Jimmy smiles and catches the paper.
Teacher: You need to leave class now. Please go to the office.
Student: Hey Jimmy, check it out. I’m bouncing. (while making a snorting sound, hitting the wall with his fist, and hopping through the door)
It certainly looks like the student is seeking attention, negative attention from the teacher and positive attention from a peer. But is there something more complex going on?
Let’s say the IEP team learns that Jimmy has been a bully to this student in the past and that this student has IEP services in math due to a learning disability. Let’s say this student shares with a parent that he feels stupid and doesn’t have friends. The IEP team might consider if the child is acting out to overcome a lack of power or to appear bigger in front of his bully. The hypothesis might be customized to account for a student who would rather be a troublemaker than a poor academic performer in front of someone who belittles him.
Interventions could be individualized to account for these details.
Additional Support from PAVE
To see how data from the FBA is used in development of a Behavior Intervention Plan, please watch Part 2 of this video series.
This video is provided by Parent Training and Information, a program of PAVE. Our nonprofit has been helping families in Washington State since 1979. Students, family members, and professionals can get direct assistance by going to our website and clicking Get Support, (edited, formerly called Get Help). We provide language translation options. You can also leave a message by phone: 800-572-7368. If you need help with the accessibility of any of our resources, please let us know.
PAVE is not a legal service organization and cannot give legal advice or represent families. PTI’s funding comes from a U.S. Department of Education grant, but the U.S. government doesn’t review our training materials in order to endorse them.
We’d love to know whether this training was helpful for you. On the page where you found this video, there’s a link to a short survey. Thank you for sharing your feedback. Please contact us at wapave.org for individualized assistance or further training opportunities.”
End of transcript.
PAVE provides a Sample Letter to Request a Functional Behavioral Assessment to help families formally ask the school to assess their child’s behavior and consider how to thoughtfully build a behavior support plan.
Schools are guided by the state to use best practices when evaluating and serving students with special needs. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is the state educational agency in Washington State. OSPI’s website is k12.wa.us. A page called Model Forms for Services to Students in Special Education has links to downloadable forms schools use to develop IEPs, Section 504 Plans, and more.
Here are links to OSPI’s model forms for:
