SPED 775 Functional Behavior Assessment

Britany Lousberg
University of Kansas

Table of Contents
FBA Student Information....3
Identifying the Problem: Defining Target and Replacement Behaviors..6
Baseline Data...8
Determining the Function of Behavior.10
Hypothesized Function..12
Behavioral Objective.13
Finding Analysis........14
References..18
Appendix A: Baseline Data Collection Tables..19
Table 1: ABCR Data Observation 1..20
Table 2: Baseline Data Collection 1......21
Table 3: Baseline Data Collection 2..22
Table 4: Baseline Data Collection 3..23
Table 5: Baseline Data Collection 4..24
Table 6: Scatterplot of Baseline Data by Activity 25
Appendix B: Motivation Assessment Scale (Durand & Crimmins, 1992)29

Student Information
Description of Student. Austin H. is an eighth grade student who is currently attending
The Joshua School, Boulder Campus. He is an energetic and friendly 14 year old boy who enjoys
constructing things with his hands and sharing his creations with others. He is a dedicated worker
and strives on knowing the rules and expectations of his surroundings. Austin enjoys being given
options to do work and knows when he does work, he can choose to do an activity that is student
driven. Austin does struggle with changes that occur to his schedule unless he is primed for them.
He was diagnosed when he was 8 with PDD-NOS. Since this diagnosis, his parents have been in
a constant struggle with the school district to find the right programming or placement to help
him. Finally, in February of 2015, Austin was placed at The Joshua School-Boulder, which is a
treatment facility, to help him be more successful in school as well as decrease his problem
behaviors.
Student Selection. During observation he was on task for a max of 10 minutes. He
requested bathroom, drink, snacks, or would talk about an idea, memory, etc. Breaks in attentions
ranged from a few seconds to a few minutes. He gets easily distracted from other peers and likes
to share information about anything but what he is currently working on. When he is doing
something he is not particularly into, he will try to avoid it at all costs. He will dig in his desk,
get up and try and talk to other teachers and peers, exit the room without permission, or try and
get a snack (elopement). When he is redirected to his desk, he needs to be prompted to get to
work and stay on task. He struggles when he has to be corrected and hates being asked to redo a
problem. He has done a very nice job of not having any meltdowns or problem behaviors from
having to re-work a problem with a teacher but does not self correct unless you help him. When
he is done with his work, he will say he needs a break and will usually ask to play on the

computer or will get a snack from his lunch box. Parents reported the most success with giving
him space/time to calm down when upset and has access to food and drinks all day (grazes) at
home. The entire team feels that it is most important to help Austin with his elopement behavior
through this FBA.
Student Strenghts: Austin has many strengths. He states in the student interview (A.
Hudson, personal communication, March 10, 2015) that his favorite subject is math. He is great
with his hands and loves to work with legos and small engines. He does a great job with
structured routines but with his familys busy life, it can be hard to get this accomplished at
home. He loves being helpful especially in the kitchen and his mom would like to see this
carryover into a more healthy goal/routine for him. He is very sociable but he tends to only
talk about things he is really interested in or is perseverating on. He wants to have friends but
struggles with the communication piece.
Student Needs: Austin struggles with functional communication to share his feelings and
emotions thus when he is upset or feeling anxious with new staff and environments, he will elope
from the location or task to evade his feelings. All observations and interviews between the
student, parents, and staff confirm this. Both classroom teacher and supporting staff shared that
Austin will get overwhelmed by new staff-subs, and thus begins to shut down. He will become
very quiet and then will get up from his seat and leave or has even crawled away from his seat.
When regular staff re-affirm that his feelings of anxiousness or overwhelm are valid and can
verbally de-escalate him, he typically is able to come back into the room and share his feelings
about new staff or change and staff can accommodate his needs.

In addition, Austin is behind in his academic work, for the last 5 years have been a
constant struggle to manage his behaviors. He is currently working at a second grade reading,
writing, and math level.

Identifying the Problem: Defining Target and Replacement Behavior

Collect Observational Data:
See Appendix A for Observational Data recorded on
ABCR Data Collection Sheets.
Target Behavior:
Elopement
Operational Definition:

Elopement is considered to be any actual instance to

Austin leaving the area he is expected to be in without
first obtaining permission from staff

Examples of Behavior:

Examples include Austin leaving the classroom without

permission during group, getting up to go to the
bathroom during a work session without asking or
Austin running out of the gym after verbally
threatening a staff member

Non-examples of Behavior:

Non-examples include Austin getting up to attend

group after being asked to do so, Austin asking to go to
the bathroom and getting permission before leaving the
room or Austin running away from a teacher while
playing a game of tag.

Replacement Behavior:

To do work

Operational Definition:

Work is defined as Austin completing one closed-ended

task with all electronics and other items on his
reinforcer menu below put away for the entire duration
of the activity presented to him. Austin must provide
correct, correct with current prompt level, or an
appropriate guess in order for the task to be considered
completed. Austin must remain in the designated work
area.

Examples of Behavior:

Austin completing a worksheet and writing down the

correct responses (if he provides incorrect responses,
the teacher should use least-to-most prompting to help
him find the correct answer) or Austin asking to
verbally provide responses to a worksheet and
providing correct answers.

Non-examples of Behavior:

Austin responding to all questions with, Fart or

Austin leaving the classroom without permission
during a work session.

Rationale. The reason for choosing elopement behavior is that Austin is eloping from
situations that make him feel anxious, overwhelmed or scared when he is working with new staff or
new tasks. When eloping, Austin is seeking attention or escaping from a non-preferred situation or a
demand. Staff has seen that when his elopement is not managed appropriately, more problem behaviors
may arise such as aggression, property destruction, verbal threats, and eliminating. When he is
engaging in this initial antecedent, if not managed correctly, students and staff can become targets and
thus their safety and academic success is jeopardized. The rules board is a variation of a level
system that requires Austin to complete work sessions and engage in appropriate
behavior before earning his reinforcers. Using the rules board, Austin will be
allowed to earn reinforcement breaks when he engages in his replacement
behavior. This also allows him to work on expressing his feelings and engage in
better social emotional skills to help get his wants and needs met. This increases
the overall well being of the classroom and increases the success of the classroom
as a whole.

Baseline Data
Data Recording System. We implemented a rules board (level system) with Austin. The
way this system worked was every half hour and hour, Austin was awarded a check mark on his
gas gage when he stayed in the green and yellow levels. This was done when he did not engage
in elopement (along with his other challenging behaviors) and did his teacher directed work.
Warnings bumped him down to yellow but he was still eligible to earn his check mark. Then on
the hour and half hour, he was given 12 minutes of reinforcement if he stayed in his allowed
zones and then went back into a teacher directed task. He also reset every 30 minutes regardless
of the zone he was in.
Total Duration. This reporting period, data was collected for a month starting April 6th
until May 6th (Appendix B).
Baseline. Austin eloped from the classroom and other designated work areas with staff 1.6
times over 4 consecutive school days (Figure 1. Graph of target behavior by frequency each
day).
Baseline Products. Please see Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, and Table 6 for the data collected
during the baseline observations. Please keep in mind that each table is a total count for the week
and then an average. Please see Table 7 for a Scatterplot of the data.
Baseline Graph. Please see Figure 1 for the Baseline Data Graph.

Figure 1. Observations of Target Behavior. This figure illustrates the baseline observations of
the target behavior graphed.

Determining the Function of the Behavior: Motivation Assessment Scales

Please see Appendix A for the Motivation Assessment Scale (Durand & Crimmins, 1992)

Tangibles Attention Activities

Sensory

Outcome of Function Matrix (adapted fromUmbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, & Lane, 2007)
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement

2/4

(Access Something)
While engaging in property
destruction, Austin has a
tendency to hit things very
hard and throw himself into
things. He is not a huge

3/4

3/4

3/4

(Avoid Something)

2/14
3/4

Austin uses his escape to also

gain attention from other
students and preferred
teachers. He will elope from
work touses
be silly
and make
Austin
tangibles
to avoid
work and to perseverate on.
His reinforcement can be a
deterrent and he gets stuck on
knowing when he can get it

Austin uses avoidance to get

out of any task in which he
does not feel he is going to
be successful. Austins
parents notice that any time

3/4

3/4

He can also use tangibles to

avoid doing his work as well.
He will use a snack break as
a means to avoid doing
spelling and reading.

Outcome of the Function Matrix: Hypothesized Function. After examining the data,
reviewing the interviews, and observing Austin, it has been hypothesized that his behaviors are
escape maintained and avoidance of non-preferred tasks. He engages in these behaviors to escape
and avoid teacher directives that he finds to be arduous or too difficult for him. His old school
did not want to believe that he had autism so they did everything they could to keep his problem
behaviors under control without implementing a behavior plan. This caused Austin to have a
decreased trust in his staff and therefore he struggled with his academic work. He would do
anything he could to get away from this location.
Over the last few weeks, given Austin the time to adapt to our school and staff, he has
tested his boundaries when it comes to problem behaviors. He has engaged in elopement,
aggression, property destruction, and verbal threats to see where we draw the line. Since we were
getting to know him, we have taken ABC data for 3 weeks to see what behaviors he engages in
as well a what he struggles with. The data shows that being denied access to items he is
perseverating on tends to increase his behaviors. When he is able to be verbally de-escalated,
then he is more prone to decrease his behaviors independently. When verbal de-escalation does
not work, this is when we see an increase and intensity of his behavior.
Based on observation, it has been made pretty apparent that he is trying to gain attention
from staff when he elopes for he in constantly looking back over his shoulder to see where we
are when we are following him. He will also chase staff away from him (like a game of tag)
when staff get too close. When you ignore his elopement, within reason, he has a tendency to
come back to his chair and wait for you to work with him. The other function of his elopement is
to escape work he does not want to do. This was made evident in observation as well when he
would get up from writing and spelling. After talking to Austin, he said that his tremor makes

writing very difficult for him. So we have discussed typing his assignments instead of writing
them out.
Behavioral Objective. Austin will decrease his elopements from a baseline average of
17% of school block activity to 100% of school activity blacks as measures by collecting TIME
data across 4 consecutive school days.

FBA Analysis and Findings

During the course of the past month, Grays Peak staff and myself, began the Functional
Behavior Assessment (Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, &Lane, 2007) process on Austin, an 8th grade
male student in our classroom. Austin has exhibited behaviors that interrupt his learning as well
as the other students in the classroom. After sitting down with the rest of the staff in his room and
meeting with the specialists of The Joshua School, it was determined that the target behavior of
Austins FBA would be elopement. Elopement is defined as any actual instance to Austin
leaving the area he is expected to be in without first obtaining permission from staff. Observed
and reported examples of this include getting up and walking away from his designated work
area to talk to another staff member or student about something other than what he is working on
or crawling on the ground like a cat.
Working with our school BCBA, it was determined that time interval collection would be
the best way to document his success. Not only does Austin elope from his work, he can get
antsy when he has to work for a long period of time. Having Austin self monitor his behaviors
also gave him a huge self-esteem boost. He now watches the clock like a hawk with 1-2 minutes
left in the hour or until the half hour.
With all the changes that my classroom has gone through over the last month, it has always
been really hard on my students, as especially hard on Austin who doesnt enjoy when we have
to have substitutes come into the classroom. We have always speculated that most of Austins
elopements stem from wanting to get out of work for he either views it as too hard or easy or
difficulty accepting denied access to something of perceived importance. Here in the last month,
with two teachers being out and leaving and multiple substitutes coming in, we have seen that
when we ask a sub to work with Austin, he becomes an increased flight risk. Dave and myself

have been working with him for long enough to see that when he starts to go quiet or making
animal noises, we need to go over and problem solve with him. He typically is getting
overwhelmed with all the changes going on in the classroom and just wants to work with familiar
staff that knows his behavior plan and how to run his programming with the most fidelity.
Since we know what his biggest trigger or antecedent area is, we try to prep him the day
before if we know who the sub is going to be. We also have each new sub start the morning
doing rapport building with him. This gives him a little more knowledge of who is working with
and they can come to a common ground. He likes being able to explain his rule board. Giving
him more independence and showing him that he can be successful is a great skill for him to
continue to build on.
Since implementing this system, for not only his elopements, but also for his other problem
behaviors of verbal threats, aggressions, and property destruction, we have seen a massive
decrease in behaviors. He has earned 18 days of green/yellow behaviors. The last 10 days have
been all green days meaning that he has had zero problem behaviors at all. He is rocking his
Behavior Intervention Plan and his parents couldnt be happier. Things as home have become a
lot better. He does have a tendency to hold in all his anxiety or unpredictable problems from
school and can unleash it at home, however, he is much easier to get back on track. Due to his
success at school, his mother is also starting to implement a home system in similar fashion to
keep the moment rolling. It has shown small gains in only 2 short weeks.
In Austins case, I think the biggest thing I can gleam from his experience with him, is that
when you put the right interventions in place, you can see huge success in a kiddo who was
thought to be only a behavior problem.

Behavior Intervention Plan

Intervention Description: We will be implementing a Rules Board with Austin. This program
will allow him to know what is expected of him as well as see when he is going to get reinforced.
He will be given three different zones/levels to be in during a 30 minute block. If he does not
elope from work, as defined above, he stays in the green zone/level and will earn his
reinforcement on everyone hour and half hour. Say that Austin gets up from his work area and
elopes to get something within the room but comes back to his desk with only one prompt to get
back to work, then he moves to the yellow zone/level and can still be reinforced every half hour
and hour. Now say that Austin elopes from the work area and does not come back to the work
area and instead elopes out of the room, he has already moved down to yellow for the first
elopement and then into red for the second elopement, leaving the classroom. During this time,
he would move to red and would not be eligible to earn his half hour or hour reinforcement. He
would need to complete another teacher work season in order to get it back. With this program as
well, he does reset back to green every half hour and hour however, when he is in red, he can not
get a reinforcement break until he completes a full 30 min work session.
Reinforcement: Austin will be given a 12 minute reinforcement break every half hour and hour
as long as he stays in green and yellow for his behavior. His reinforcements can include but not
limited to making jello, computer-bubble blast game, burger shop-iPad, DS game, origami,
making a snack, reading comic books, sharing with friends/staff his collections (okayed by staff
to be appropriate time), and playing with legos. At the end of the day, if Austin has stayed out of
the red zone/level and has stayed with his teacher throughout the day, then he is eligible for a
treat. Austin can pick ONE item, costingno more than $2, including tax (teacher only tells
Austin, in the event of a toy, that it must cost less than $X). Unspent money is not banked or
rolled over.
DataCollection:Datawillbecollectedin30minuteintervals.Hedoesnotengageinelopement
orcanberedirectedtotheareainwhichhedoeselopefromwithonewarning,hecanearnhis
reinforcementafterhisinterval.Hewillthenselfreporthowhedidonhisgasgageworksheet
andfillintheappropriatecoloredsquare.Thisdatawillbetakeeveryday.
Fading:OnceAustinhasbeensuccessfulfor2monthswithstayingwithinhisrules,wewill
increasehisworktimeto45minutes.WewillknowthisneedstooccurwhenAustinischoosing
todomoreworkandskiphisreinforcementbreakswithconsistency.

Results:

Findings:Overthelastmonth,wehaveseenadrasticdropinAustinsbehaviors.Evenwith
staffchangesandstudentsleaving,Austinhasdoneafabulousdropexpressinghisfrustrations
andconcerns,eventellinguswhenheneedsspaceorneedstoleavetheclassroomtobesafefor
himselfandothers.Icanonlyhypothesizethatwewillseeasmallbehaviorburstwhenwe
changehisworktoreinforcementratio,butwesawthatwhenwefirststartingputtingthisplan
intoplaceaswell.Ifwecontinuetobeopenwithhimaboutwhatwearedoingandhowgreathe
isdoing,alongwithfindingreinforcementthatismeaningfulenoughforhim,Ithinkhewill
continuetobesuccessfulinourprogram.

References
Durand, M., & Crimmins, D. B. (1992). The motivation assessment scale administration guide.
Topeka, KS: Monaco and Associates.
Hudson, A. Personal communication, March 10, 2015.
Umbreit, J., Ferro, J., Liaupsin, C. J., & Lane, K. L. (2007). Functional behavior assessment and
function-based intervention: An effective, practical approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Press.

AppendixA

BaselineDataCollectionTables
Table1:ABCRDataObservation1
Table2:BaselineDataCollection1
Table3:BaselineDataCollection2
Table4:BaselineDataCollection3
Table5:BaselineDataCollection4
Table6:ScatterplotofBaselineDatabyActivity

Table1
ABCRDataCollectionforAustin

AH Behavior Data Sheet Staff Initials: BL

Elopement *(E) i s considered to be any actual instance of Austin leaving the area he is expected
to be in without first obtaining permission from staff. Examples include student leaving the
classroom without permission during group, getting up to go to the bathroom during a work
session without asking or Austin running out of the gym after verbally threatening a staff
member. Non-examples include Austin getting up to attend group after being asked to do so,
Austin asking to go to the bathroom and getting permission before leaving the room or Austin
running away from a teacher while playing a game of tag.

Frequency recording. Mark every act or attempt that meets definition with a tally. Mark
interval with a 0 if the behavior does not occur

Table 2
Baseline Data Collection Week 1
Date

4/6

4/7

4/8

4/9

4/10

Time
8:50-9:30

9:30-10

10-10:30

10:30-11

11:30-12

12-12:30

12:30-1

1-1:30

1:30-2

2-2:30

2:30-3:10

Totals

12

AH Behavior Data Sheet Staff Initials: BL

Elopement *(E) i s considered to be any actual instance of Austin leaving the area he is expected
to be in without first obtaining permission from staff. Examples include student leaving the
classroom without permission during group, getting up to go to the bathroom during a work
session without asking or Austin running out of the gym after verbally threatening a staff
member. Non-examples include Austin getting up to attend group after being asked to do so,
Austin asking to go to the bathroom and getting permission before leaving the room or Austin
running away from a teacher while playing a game of tag.

Frequency recording. Mark every act or attempt that meets definition with a tally. Mark
interval with a 0 if the behavior does not occur

Table 3
Baseline Data Collection Week 2

Date

4/13

4/14

4/15

4/16

4/17

8:50-9:30

9:30-10

10-10:30

10:30-11

11:30-12

12-12:30

12:30-1

1-1:30

1:30-2

2-2:30

2:30-3:10

Totals

Time

AH Behavior Data Sheet Staff Initials: BL

Elopement *(E) i s considered to be any actual instance of Austin leaving the area he is expected
to be in without first obtaining permission from staff. Examples include student leaving the
classroom without permission during group, getting up to go to the bathroom during a work
session without asking or Austin running out of the gym after verbally threatening a staff
member. Non-examples include Austin getting up to attend group after being asked to do so,
Austin asking to go to the bathroom and getting permission before leaving the room or Austin
running away from a teacher while playing a game of tag.

Table 4

Frequency recording. Mark every act or attempt that meets definition with a tally. Mark
interval with a 0 if the behavior does not occur

Baseline Data Collection Week 3

Date

4/20

Time

4/21

4/22

4/23

4/24

ABS

8:50-9:30

9:30-10

10-10:30

10:30-11

11:30-12

12-12:30

12:30-1

1-1:30

1:30-2

2-2:30

2:30-3:10

Totals

AH Behavior Data Sheet Staff Initials: BL

Elopement *(E) i s considered to be any actual instance of Austin leaving the area he is expected
to be in without first obtaining permission from staff. Examples include student leaving the
classroom without permission during group, getting up to go to the bathroom during a work
session without asking or Austin running out of the gym after verbally threatening a staff
member. Non-examples include Austin getting up to attend group after being asked to do so,
Austin asking to go to the bathroom and getting permission before leaving the room or Austin
running away from a teacher while playing a game of tag.

Table 5

Frequency recording. Mark every act or attempt that meets definition with a tally. Mark
interval with a 0 if the behavior does not occur

Baseline Data Collection Week 4

Date

4/27

Time

4/28

4/29

4/30

5/1

ABS

8:50-9:30

9:30-10

10-10:30

10:30-11

11:30-12

12-12:30

12:30-1

1-1:30

1:30-2

2-2:30

2:30-3:10

Totals

Table6
ScatterplotofBaselineData

Appendix B
Motivation Assessment Scale
By V. Mark Durand and Daniel Crimmins
Name: Austin H.

Todays Date 4/8/15

Rater: Jennifer Gamble, K-4 Special Education Teacher

University of Kansas Graduate Student
Behavior Description: Elopement
Setting Description: Classroom work
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
Name:

Enter the name of the individual with the problem behavior.

Rater:

Enter the name of the person filling out the scale or being interviewed.

Behavior Description:
Enter a specific behavior (e.g., hits his head) rather than a more general
description of the individuals behavior (e.g., he gets upset).
Setting Description:
Specify the situation where the behavior is a problem (e.g., at home after dinner,
during lunch, during one-on-one teaching).
INSTRUCTIONS TO RATERS: Rate each of the 16 items on the following two pages by
circling the number that corresponds to about how often the individual engages in the behavior
indicated, in the setting which has been select

ITEM
1. Would the behavior occur continuously, over
and over, if this person was left alone for long
periods of time? (For example, several hours.)

2. Does the behavior occur following a request

to perform a difficult task?

RESPONSE
Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time
3

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Usually

Almost
Always

Alw

Alw

3. Does the behavior seem to occur in response

to your talking to other persons in the room?

4. Does the behavior ever occur to get a toy,

food or activity that this person has been told
that he or she can't have?

5. Would the behavior occur repeatedly, in the

same way, for very long periods of time, if no
one was around? (For example, rocking back
and forth for over an hour.)

6. Does the behavior occur when any request is

made of this person?

7. Does the behavior occur whenever you stop

attending to this person?

8. Does the behavior occur when you take

away a favorite toy, food, or activity?

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Usually

Almost
Always

Usually

Almost
Always

Usually

Almost
Always

Usually

Almost
Always

Usually

Almost
Always

Half the
Time
3

Half the
Time
3

Half the
Time
3

Half the
Time
3

Half the
Time
3

Alw

Alw

Alw

Alw

Alw

Alw

Motivation Assessment Scale

ITEM
9. Does it appear to you that this person enjoys
performing the behavior? (It feels, tastes,
looks, smells, and/or sounds pleasing.)

10. Does this person seem to do the behavior to

upset or annoy you when you are trying to get
him or her to do what you ask?

RESPONSE
Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Alw

Alw

11. Does this person seem to do the behavior

to upset or annoy you when you are not paying
attention to him or her? (For example, if you
are sitting in a separate room, interacting with
another person?

12. Does the behavior stop occurring shortly

after you give this person the toy, food, or
activity he or she has requested?

13. When the behavior is occurring, does this

person seem calm and unaware of anything
else going on around him or her?

14. Does the behavior stop occurring shortly

after (one to five minutes) you stop working or
making demands of this person?

15. Does this person seem to do the behavior

to get you to spend some time with him or her?

16. does this behavior seem to occur when this

person has been told that he or she can't do
something he or she had wanted to do?

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

Never

Almost
Never

Seldom

Half the
Time

Usually

Almost
Always

SCORING
Transfer the numeric Response for each Item to the blanks below. Scores are organized into
columns by type of motivation. Total each column of numbers (Total Score) and calculate the
mean Score (Total Score divided by 4) for each motivation. Determine the Relative Ranking for
each motivation by assigning the number 1 to the motivation with the highest Mean Score, 2
to the motivation with the second-highest Mean Score, and so forth.

Alw

Alw

Alw

Alw

Alw

Alw

Sensory

Escape

Attention

Tangible

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Total Score =
Mean Score =
Relative Ranking=

8
2

13
3

11

10

3
2

MONACO
& ASSOCIATES
Copyright 1992