Daniela Denis

Fall 2013

Dr. Gloria Wolpert

EDUG 781
Functional Behavioral Assessment

1. Consider the misbehavior of one of your students. In clearly observable terms,

identify the target behavior.
One of the students in my class always gets frustrated when things do not go his
way. He has a short attention span and easily reacts to things even if it does not
have anything to do with him. He then gets frustrated and curses while throwing
things. This is not an acceptable behavior because it can hurt someone and it
shows the other children bad behaviors. I would like to decrease his cursing,
throwing things and increase his attention span.
2. How would you take a baseline of the existing behavior. Would you look at
frequency, duration or latency? Would you use a checksheet or graph? How long
would your baseline last?
I would observe the behavior over a certain amount of time while looking for
frequency, duration and latency. I would observe full lesson periods of 30 minutes
in Math, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. I would use a check sheet
because it would be easier to see the differences. The graph would be a good
overall tool for the check sheet. My baseline would be over a month period and I
would check the schedules for the week to see if there was a pattern. Having a
week long process wouldnt allow me to see changes in behavior.

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?
The student is nine years old and is diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder.
When things dont go the students way, he tends to act out and sometimes the
student does not take the consequences seriously. The function of the challenging
behavior is instead of using his words, he gets angry and starts throwing things.
His problem solving for frustration is getting physical. I believe his behavior
comes from things he is uninterested in such as specific lessons in class.
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?
As a staff we came up with a safety plan for the student to help him succeed in
our school. He is always hitting, throwing things and cursing at people and things.
I believe if we monitor the students success and downfalls for the month we will
be able to know what makes him frustrated. Our student is allowed to lie down in
the back if he feels frustrated so he can gather his thoughts and come back to the
lesson. We believe this is the students safe place. By figuring out what makes
the student frustrated, we will be able to redirect the behavior before it comes. We
also remind the student of what listening means and when a teacher asks him to
do something he must follow it.
5. How and when would you evaluate your success?
I would evaluate my success by looking at the data that I came up with during the
month. At the end of the month I would evaluate the student and check for patterns

throughout the course of time. This would be beneficial to us teachers because then
we could determine what helped and what didnt.

Functional Behavioral Chart

Childs Name: Student A
Target Behavior: Cursing and Throwing
Environment: School Classroom and Playground
Observation Time:
Start: 1:58p.m

Date: October 7th, 2013

Stop: 2:30p.m

Time

Antecedents

Behaviors

Consequences

1:58 p.m.

Student A does not

want to come inside for
inside recess.

He walks away from the

play area and yells
stupid while standing
by the door.

Student A is talked to and

receives a warning.
Student A is reminded he
is not allowed to leave the
playground without
permission.

2:07 p.m.

Student A wants to get

on the computer while
other students are
currently on.

Student A curses and

kicks a chair that a
student is sitting in.

2:14 p.m.

Student B and Student

C are playing UNO and
wont let Student A
play.

Student A throws the

UNO cards in the air.

Student A is told that he

could have hurt one of the
students and that it is not
his time to get on the
computer. Student A
redirects himself to
another activity.
Student A is told to pick
up the UNO cards.
Student A sits in time out
for two minutes and
apologizes to Student B
and Student C.

Student A wont get off

the computer.

Student A hits the

monitor and computer
keys and tries to flip over
the computer table.

2:30 p.m.

According to Student As
safety plan, he is to be
sent to an office for hitting
and attempting to destroy
school property.