Functional Behavior Assessment & Behavior Intervention

Name: Kyle H.
Birthday: 2/15/2000
Grade Level: 7
th

Date: 10/23/2013
Assessment conducted by: Kaci Philpot

1.0 REFERRAL AND INDENTIFYING INFORMATION:
1.1 Family background: Kyle lives at home with his biological mother and his
maternal grandmother. Kyles has an unstable relationship with his father;
however the lines of communication are open. Kyles mother is a nurse and
his grandmother works at Park Hill Elementary as a kindergarten teacher.
1.2 Student strengths: Kyle is a kind, social, and makes friends easily. He has a
desire to be a good student and learn and accepts help from others willingly.
Kyles is compassionate and shows remorse when adults express
disappointment and when he hurts the feelings of his peers. Kyle remembers
his math facts and his math computation skills are appropriate for his grade
level. Kyle follows graphic organizers and concrete processes with little to no
prompting if use is pre-taught.
1.3 Special education identification information: Kyle was initially identified as
having a speech/language disability when he was 6 years old. He currently
identified as having a Specific Learning Disability in the areas of reading
fluency and comprehension.
1.4 Rationale for functional behavior assessment: Kyle was referred to the
behavior team for an FBA because his off-task behavior is significantly
affecting his learning. Kyle often does not turn in his assignments, and when
he does, the assignments are typically incomplete or late. Many of the
assignments in 7
th
grade are in-class assignments and Kyles off-task
behavior during work-time prevents him from finishing. Because of this, Kyle
is failing all of his classes and even has grades as low as 9%.
1.5 Medications: Kyle is not currently on any medications, nor does he have any
diagnosis that could be treated with medication. However, the student
exhibits a lack of impulse control and has difficulty remaining on task even if
his intentions are to do so. Kyle was born with fluid in his lungs and
bronchitis and remained in the hospital for three days. Other than that he has
not had any other significant illnesses or injuries. Kyle has passed all hearing
and vision screenings.

2.0 DATA SOURCES:
2.1 IEP Review: Kyle was referred for an evaluation for special education
services by his mother when he was 6 years old. Her concern was Kyles
speech. Kyle was demonstrating difficulties with articulation. Assessments
confirmed mothers concern and he was identified as speech and language
due to moderate articulation difficulties. Sometime between 4th grade and
6th grade, Kyles identification was changed to specific learning disability in
the area of reading fluency and comprehension and he currently reads at the
fourth grade level. Classroom observations from his 6th grade annual IEP
described Kyle as spending as much time distracting others and trying to
draw attention to himself, as he did staying on task. By sixth grade he had
met all speech/language goals. Between the ages of six and 8, Kyle did not
exhibit disruptive/social off-task behavior. This behavior surfaced in fifth
grade when his school transitions into the middle school upstairs with
multiple teachers.
2.2 ABC Observations: (See Appendices 2.a. and 2.b.)
2.3 Scatter Plot Recording Form: On October 18, Kyle exhibited off task
behavior an average of 2 times per class period. (See Appendix 2.c.)

3.0 TARGET PROBLEM BEHAVIOR(S):
3.1 Behavior Category: Off-task behavior
3.2 Behavior Definition: The behavior will be operationally defined as any time
Kyle is not participating in class work when he is supposed to be working, as
evidenced by getting out of his seat, talking to peers, engaging in off-topic
conversation, making inappropriate comments, and engaging adults by
shouting across the room as opposed to raising his hand.

4.0 BASELINE DATA:
4.1 Target behavior baseline table:
Date: 10/18/13
# of Events 4
Hours Observed 2.75
(See Appendices 2.a., 2.b. and 2.c.)
**NOTE: Baseline data was taken soon after the student was made
aware of his failing grades and his behavior significantly improved.
Therefore, this baseline data is not accurate and the team feels that
the student will soon revert back if he does not receive intervention
for the behavior.

5.0 FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT DATA:
5.1 Summary of Behavior Frequency: Typically, Kyle exhibits off-task behavior
an average of seven times per class period, based on classroom
observations prior to progress reports and IEP review.
5.2 Possible Setting Events: Kyles behavior mostly occurs prior to transitioning
between classes or activities, independent work time, and during large group
activities such as teacher lecture, student presentations, and videos. His
need to seek attention from others could relate to his father being absent
and his mothers busy schedule. Kyle may feel that he does not receive
enough attention at home so school may be the setting in which he can fulfill
his need.
5.3 Antecedent: The antecedents to the behavior include attention of the class
on one stimulus (teacher, peer presentation, video, visual, etc.) or when an
adult or peers attention shifts from Kyle to another person or task.
5.4 Consequences: The consequences of Kyles behavior include either positive
or negative attention from peers or adults. These consequences look like:
Off-topic, defensive verbal back and forth between students during
instruction or class activity.
Verbal teacher engagement such as asking the student to sit down,
stop talking, or pulling the student aside for conversation of
behavior expectations.
Peer commenting.
Non-verbal teacher engagement such as pointing to the Kyles
seat, expressive eye-contact, or increase in teacher proximity.
5.5 Environment where the behavior is likely to occur:
Teacher Instruction.
Independent work time.
Transition between activities such as after lunch, passing period, or
change in classroom task/activity.
5.6 Environment where the behavior is not likely to occur:
Small group activities.
Resource room.
When working 1-1 with an adult.
5.7 Current strategies that have been used to control the behavior:
Verbal redirection: This strategy works temporarily for Kyle. If a
teacher asks him to sit in his seat he complies but soon leaves his
seat again. When adults ask Kyle to be quiet, he complies at times,
but he often responds back to engage the adult in conversation.
Refocus in Resource Room: This strategy works often however,
Kyles IEP calls for 80% of his time in the general education
classroom. If this strategy were to be used every time he gets off-
task, the school would be out of compliance according to his IEP.
Teacher increases proximity when the behavior is occurring: This
strategy works well to immediately end the behavior however; the
teacher would have to keep the proximity in order for Kyle to remain
on-task.
5.8 Function of the behavior: According to the ABC observation, teacher
interview, and IEP review, the function of Kyles behavior is to gain attention
from peers and adults.
5.9 Hypothesis: When Kyle is not receiving attention from others, he engages in
off-task behavior which results in negative social interaction, class disruption,
and teacher reprimand, serving the students purpose of gaining attention.
5.10 Competing pathways (See Appendix 5.a.)
5.11 Proposed intervention for the behavior:
Setting and antecedent strategies: In order to fulfill Kyles need for
attention from adults, with the help of his general education
teachers, Kyle will be engaged in positive conversation unrelated to
school by his general education teachers. In order to fulfill his need
for attention during lessons, teachers will provide Kyle more
opportunities to share his thoughts or answers when he raises his
hand politely. To fulfill Kyles function of receiving attention from
peers, his general education teachers will provide think-pair-share
like breaks during lessons and video presentations.
Instructional strategies: Kyle will be explicitly taught how to gain
teachers attention appropriately by raising his hand or walking up
to the teacher during work-time. The special education teacher will
practice this skill with Kyle through role-playing activities. Due to the
impulsive nature of Kyles behavior, the special education teacher
will coach Kyle how to self-monitor his on and off-task behavior
using a frequency tally chart when prompted by the teacher non-
verbally.
Replacement behaviors: The replacement behaviors for Kyles
attention seeking behavior include engaging teachers appropriately
through raising his hand and approaching the teacher during work
time and engaging peers through organized opportunities provided
by the general education teachers.
Monitoring the behavior plan: The behavior plan will be monitored
by weekly check-ins, progress monitoring, and student made data.
The weekly check-ins will be with both the student and teachers
and will be conducted by Kyles case-manager. The target
behaviors will be progress monitored by the case-manager using
the data methods used for base-line data, every three weeks to
evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions. The student-made
data from the self-monitoring strategy will collected from the student
every Friday.
Evaluation: In order to ensure that the plan is being implemented as
designed (with fidelity), teachers and staff will be trained prior to
implementation on the students self-monitoring strategy and
antecedent interventions. The student will also be trained on
strategies he will use and what on-task behavior looks like. A staff-
member from the behavior team will be responsible for weekly, 10-
minute observations in each general education classroom to ensure
that teachers are implementing intervention strategies.