Functional Assessment Essay

654 Words3 Pages
Functional behavioral assessments can be defined as finding out the purpose of a problematic behavior serves the person engaging in said problematic behavior. Once the purpose of the problematic behavior is discovered an intervention can be implemented that will help in decreasing the problem behavior while in turn increasing appropriate behavior. The main outcomes of a functional assessment are a clear definition or description of the behaviors, predictions as to the times and situations in which the behavior might or might not occur, and identification of what function the behaviors may serve for the individual (Rogers, 1998). Functional behavior assessments focuses on more than just the problem behavior itself, the main focus is on identifying significant, student- specific social, environmental, and cognitive factors that are associated with the occurrence as well as the non-occurrence of specific problem behaviors. . The value of using functional assessment information to develop effective behavioral interventions has been demonstrated, especially with students who have emotional and behavioral disorders yet who have normal cognitive abilities (Hagan, Lewis-Palmer, & Sugai, 1998). Not every student that begins school is ready to learn. Some children cause so much disruption within the class that it distracts other students that are ready and willing to learn to lose focus and not obtain the lesson that they are there to learn. Some students just are not mentally prepared for the classroom whether it be because they struggle with social or self-management skills, or because they have a tough home life, they can because a disruption for others so it is essential for the school system to come up with a way to diffuse the maladaptive behavior. Many studies are conducted to test the validity of functional behavioral assessments. One study sought out to
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