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Brief Functional Behavior Assessment & Behavior Intervention Plan

Rachel Epstein

Rider University
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Child’s Name: ​Aurora D’Onofrio School: ​Montessori Country Day School

Date of Birth: 9/30/2017 Grade: Primary Program (Preschool)

Age: 3 Teacher: ​Mrs. Anthony

Parents: ​Kim & Robert D’Onofrio

Background Information

This student is three years old and has been attending this school for two years. This is a

Montessori school, so students have individualized curriculums and are encouraged to work at

their own pace and interests. According to her parents and teachers, she has not had any

behavior issues prior to the current school year. Given the school closures due to the COVID-19

pandemic, this student was out of school from March 18th, 2020- September 1st, 2020. She

re-entered the school at the beginning of September, when she moved to a new classroom setting

with a new teacher and classmates. Prior to this school year she was in the toddler classroom

with students ages 18 months through 3 years, she did not display any behavior issues in this

classroom. Academically and developmentally this student meets all curriculum benchmarks.

This child lives with her mom, dad, and baby sister. She also has a full time nanny who drops

and picks her up from school each day and cares for her at home until her parents finish working

in the evenings. During the school closure, she was at home with her parents and nanny full time

and did not participate in any online learning options.

Problem Behavior

This student is having behavioral issues at school this year. Her teacher has noted that

this student has been showing defiance when the teacher administers an instruction, most often

during a time of transition from recess back to the classroom. This looks like the student running

away from the teacher or her classmates when it is time to line up and head back to the
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classroom. This behavior has been in existence since the beginning of this current school year,

when the child moved to a new classroom setting.

An example of her behavior is running out of the school gymnasium when the teacher is

calling students to line up to head back to the classroom. This included not listening to the

teacher’s instruction to clean up materials, line up, and put her jacket on, as well as running out

of the gymnasium and hiding in another room down the hallway. Another example is running

away from the teacher on the playground when the class is called to line up and return to the

classroom. A non-example of the behavior is when the child is playing with other children on

the playground or in the gym and is running away from the group while engaged in play or if she

runs to grab her coat or lunch box when the teacher instructs the class to gather their belongings.

This behavior is particularly problematic as it poses a safety issue when the student runs

away as she can unintentionally bump into another student or shelving, harming herself or others.

Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when teachers are trying to keep students socially

distanced, the teacher would like to improve this child’s problem behavior of running away.

Problem Routines

The antecedent for the problem behavior is the teacher delivers an instruction to the class

that playtime is over and it is time to clean up and head back to the classroom. The behavior

occurs when the teacher delivers the instruction, and the child runs away in defiance of the

transition to the classroom. Immediately after the problem behavior, the teacher shouts the

student’s name to get her attention. She then attends to the student by either running after her to

bring her back or holding her hand to keep her close. At times, classmates may call out her

name, laugh, or run after her as well. It often takes a few minutes to get the student back to the

group and takes the teacher’s attention away from the rest of the students. Once the teacher has
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retrieved the student she has to hold her hand in order to prevent her from bolting away again.

The student is often unhappy about the situation and will pout or cry for a few minutes once they

get back into the classroom.

Functional Assessment Hypothesis

When the teacher gives an instruction related to ending recess time and the child

returning to work in the classroom, the student often acts in defiance of the instruction by not

listening to the teacher and running away. When the child runs away, the teacher yells out for

the student and attends to her immediately in order to get her back to the group. I believe this

behavior is multifunctional. The student is avoiding getting back to her classwork by running

away from the teacher when it is time to transition back to the classroom. Additionally, this

behavior is reinforced with immediate attention from the teacher when she yells the student’s

name and runs after her to get her back with the class. Being out of school for six months during

the pandemic and readjusting to sharing teacher attention with an entire classroom of students

when she has been used to having 1-1 attention at home has made transitions particularly

difficult for this student. It is also possible that transitioning back to school work after months at

home without virtual learning has made the course material difficult for the student to grasp,

prompting her to behave in a way that helps her to escape classwork.

Competing Pathways Analysis

Setting Event Antecedent Strategies Behavior Teaching Consequence Strategies

Teacher can give the Go to the student before Teacher will model how the The student gets to be a
student extra attention the instruction is given to student can be a teacher teacher helper, a fun
during recess time such give a warning that recess helper by showing her how activity for the student that
as playing with her, will end soon and the to call the student names to serves the attention
asking her questions, teacher needs a special line up, calling student function and also distracts
and remaining close by. helper to line up the names together, and then the student from the task
classmates. having the student call the avoidance function.
Consider the work the names herself.
student is receiving in Teacher can hold If the student is able to
the classroom. Is the student’s hand while In the classroom the teacher transition to class without
current classwork too calling all students to line will show the student how running away from the
difficult or too simple, up. to ring a bell or chime to get teacher, the student can
leading to avoidance classmates’ attention before engage in a fun activity in
and defiant behavior Student can be the line giving an instruction. the classroom instead of an
when it is time to return leader or assist the academic work, which
to classwork? teacher in calling names meets the task avoidance
to line up. function.
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Antecedent Manipulation

In order to ensure that the student is receiving the appropriate leveled work in the

classroom, the teacher should consider the student’s current individualized curriculum and

ensure that the work she receives is appropriate for her abilities. The teacher should also take

into account that the student was out of school during school closures for 6 months and did not

participate in any virtual learning, so it is possible that her academic abilities are not the same as

they would be if she had been in school normally during that time. Ensuring that the work is

appropriate for the student’s abilities and not too difficult or easy will help to rule out if that is a

reason she is attempting to escape returning to the classroom from recess. Additionally the

teacher can give the student a warning before making the announcement to the class that it is

time to line up and ask her to be a teacher’s helper. The teacher can also hold the child’s hand

during this time so they can work together to call students to line up. Holding the student’s hand

before making the announcement that recess is over will prevent the student from running away.

These strategies will address the attention function of the student’s behavior before the behavior

presents.

Teaching

The replacement behavior for this student will be the student serving as a teacher’s helper

during the transition from recess back to the classroom. The teacher will show the student how

to be a teacher’s helper by working together to call other students to clean up recess materials

and line up to head back to the classroom. This will allow the student to get attention from the

teacher and her classmates and serve as a class leader by assisting the teacher. This replacement

will meet the student’s desire for teacher attention, making her less likely to bolt from the teacher

during a transition, and will allow her to receive positive praise from her teacher and classmates
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rather than negative attention. It will also serve as a task avoidance distraction by engaging her

in a new activity. To teach the student new adaptive skills, contingent upon if she was able to

follow the teacher’s instructions during the transition back to the classroom, the teacher will give

the student a choice of her preferred desirable activities once back in the classroom. This will

make the transition into the classroom more pleasant for the student than returning to an

academic task and reinforce her proper transition to the classroom.

Consequences

A reductive consequence to make the problem behavior ineffective is to not allow the

student to join in recess in the afternoon if she engages in the problem behavior during the

morning recess. Instead, she may sit with a teacher or administrator in the office or classroom.

This would be an extreme consequence since the student is young and playtime is important to

her social-emotional development, but may be necessary on occasion if the problem behavior is

not decreasing. Another option would be differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior,

meaning the child will be reinforced every time she is a teacher’s helper and transitions to class

without running away. The teacher will praise the student and give lots of attention each time

she engages in the alternative behavior. An instructional consequence to help increase the

student’s desired behavior is to allow her to select a favorite activity of her choice when she

successfully transitions to the classroom, regardless of whatever other behaviors she may exhibit

during recess time. As long as she transitions back to class without running away, she will

receive the reinforcement, making it more likely that she will continue to engage in the desired

behavior. This reinforcement schedule should be dense to begin, and then can be tapered off

when the student has met the intervention goal for a specified period of time.
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In the event that the behavior becomes particularly dangerous, perhaps the child runs

towards the parking lot or collides with another student leading to injury, the following steps

should be taken:

1. The lead classroom teacher will retrieve the student while the assistant teacher manages

the remainder of the students.

2. If an injury has occured, the lead classroom teacher will administer first aid and call the

office for assistance if needed.

3. The student will be sent to the office to meet with the principal and talk about the

dangerous behavior.

4. Parents will be notified immediately of the escalation of her behavior

5. Establish clear criteria for when it is necessary for the child to be picked up from school

early as a result of the problem behavior.

Progress Monitoring & Evaluation

In order to monitor the student’s progress the teacher will collect frequency data on the

number of times the student is defiant during transition time from recess to the classroom by

running away from the teacher. The teacher will keep a dated note card and pen in her pocket

each day so she can make a quick tally if the behavior occurs. This classroom typically has a

recess time twice per day, so the student will always have two opportunities daily to engage in

this behavior. The teacher will collect baseline data for five consecutive school days so that

there are five baseline data points. Once the intervention is implemented, the teacher will collect

intervention data for five consecutive school days. The tentative goal would be to see a 50%

decrease in the problem behavior within the first week of intervention, however we will adjust

the goal as needed based on the baseline data collected.

Reflection

Crafting a functional behavior assessment was a really thought provoking experience for

me in regards to understanding the motivation behind behavior. I have worked with the above

student before and have never known her to have any behavioral issues, so I was surprised when

my former colleague called me to let me know what is going on with this student this school year

and ask for some advice. In the past I would have primarily focused on the behavior in the

moment and the dangers and inconveniences that a student who runs or bolts away poses for the

teachers. With increased attention to behavior principles, I slowed down and expanded the

thought process in order to really consider the factors that are affecting the student’s behavior,

the teacher’s response, and how all of those inputs interact with the school environment,

especially in the COVID-19 school climate. This assessment process changes the focus from the

student’s bad behavior to strategies that can be employed to support the student in engaging in a

more desired behavior, which shifts the perspective.

The student being out of school for a long period of time is a big factor to her recent

development of this behavior issue that the teacher may not have considered. While this student

did not display any behavior issues last year, she has been out of school for a long period of time

and has become accustomed to 1-1 attention from her nanny and parents as well as unstructured

play all day long. She is no longer used to following the classroom routine and sharing adult

attention with many other students. When I focused on the functions of her behavior it made it

clear what strategies her teacher can employ to make improvements to this behavior. The

teacher’s understanding that the function of the student’s misbehavior is to gain teacher attention

and escape a classroom environment that she is no longer used to, will help make the teacher
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more understanding to the student and the methods that can be implemented to manage the

problem behavior.

As a future school psychologist I see the importance of taking the time to map out a

student’s behavior, including the antecedents and consequences, in order to truly understand the

root of the problem. By mapping out this information I was able to design a plan that

specifically targets the function of the behavior and collect meaningful data to inform progress.

If the teacher implements this plan with fidelity, then we would be able to evaluate the data and

see if this intervention was successful, or if modifications to the plan are needed. Since I am

familiar with this student and teacher, I am confident that the above intervention of teaching her

how to be a teacher’s helper during the transition from recess to the classroom will be effective

for her, as she has often loved to assist her teachers and lead her classmates in the past.

Additionally, reinforcing the desired behavior of her transitioning to the classroom without

running away by allowing her to choose a fun activity when she enters the classroom will make

this student excited to get back to class and will make her escape behavior ineffective. I

recognize the importance of forming a strong communication with the teachers I will work with

as a school psychologist and what an asset that will be when it comes to designing and

implementing a plan for a student that perhaps I do not know quite as well.