Recently, my husband and I have been trying—unsuccessfully—to
schedule a CSE meeting to re-evaluate our son’s social skills plan. Also, at the advice of a parent advocate, we
want to schedule a functional behavior assessment to address our son’s anxiety
attacks. Now, the attacks are
consistent—and random.
The latest episode happened at home when my son
viewed a snippet of a man crooning the lyrics to “Bohemian Rhapsody" in the back of a police cruiser.
Scarey—yes—but he has seen far worse with no adverse reaction.
What
is it?
According to the New York State Education Department website, a functional behavior assessment (FBA) is an umbrella term used for the process that identifies problem behavior (e.g. aggression, self-injury, etc.) by a child
that may “impede learning." For
instance, our son makes a hasty exit out of the classroom when certain animated
movies are shown. This action definitely
impedes learning for him and, possibly, other students in the classroom.
In 1997, amendments were made to the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requiring the use of FBA if a student’s
change in placement hinges on these assessments. But the amendments failed to define what
constitutes a valid FBA. My son’s
anxiety attacks do not fall in this category (i.e. they don’t warrant any
changes). And this may affect our
ability to obtain an FBA: the attacks
are somewhat disruptive but not harmful to himself or others.
The FBA process includes four steps: 1) identify the problem behavior; 2) forming a hypothesis or guess on environmental triggers that affect the behavior; 3) testing the hypothesis; and 4) building an intervention plan based on the confirmed hypothesis.
Most importantly, a FBA attempts to narrow down the function
of the behavior. Functions may fall into
several categories such as attention-seeking, self-stimulation or escape. However, a FBA would pinpoint any
particular events that happen before, during and after his reaction.
There are three types of functional behavior
assessments: an indirect assessment
including interviews with all of the adults who interact with the child and analyzing other tools such as ratings scales; a descriptive assessment such as direct observation by the evaluator;
and a functional analysis, a more
detailed evaluation of the particular behavior.
In a functional analysis, certain events within the environment may be manipulated for testing out the hypothesis on the particular behavior. And some research suggests that treatments based on
functional analysis may be more effective in curbing problem behavior compared with other types of behavioral assessments.
Also, some behaviors can be positively, negatively or automatically (independent of social environment) reinforced.
For instance, a child may become aggressive and hit her teacher every Monday afternoon. This results in the child being sent home early these particular days. If
the child prefers free time at home with Grandma instead of being in class then her actions have been reinforced to that event. Accurately nailing down other factors related to this behavior is critical for setting an effective behavioral invention
plan in place.
A behavioral intervention plan is a structured way
to change the environment and prevent the behavior from happening again. Also, it replaces the undesired behavior with
more socially acceptable actions. For instance, the aggressive child might be taught other ways to ask for help or communicate other needs.
Solid research suggests that problem behavior in children with ASD may be socially reinforced too, according to a 2009 study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. For this study, researchers examined 32 cases of children diagnosed with developmental disabilities including autism, Asperger’s syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) that completed functional assessments.
Problem
behavior in children with ASD was mostly linked with social reinforcement such as seeking attention or access to a tangible item (88
percent). In addition, children
diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome or PDD-NOS were less likely to have escape
as a function of problem behavior than children with ASD.
But
the children with Asperger’s or PDD-NOS were more likely to show problem
behavior as a function of restoring a preferred activity than the children with ASD. This suggests that children with ASD may not have socially appropriate ways for accessing this reinforcement.
