A recent Dear Colleague letter from the U.S. Department of Education outlines the importance of conducting Functional Behavioral Assessments in school to promote positive learning environments for students with and without disabilities. Many students with disabilities exhibit behaviors that interfere with their education in some way, either by directly impacting their ability to focus and participate in class, or behaviors that lead to removal or exclusion from the classroom. Historically, schools have responded to problematic behavior through removal or exclusion from the classroom. Recently, however, the Department of Education has encouraged schools to avoid exclusionary practices because of the detrimental impact it has on the long-term educational success of the student.
What is a Functional Behavioral Assessment?
A Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) includes a series of tests designed to understand the function and purpose of a child’s specific, interfering behavior and identify the factors that contribute to that behavior’s occurrence. FBAs are used most frequently to develop intervention programs, supports, and other strategies to curb or eliminate the underlying behavior. In the context of schools, FBAs are typically employed after student discipline to assess whether and what supports should be put in place to prevent the repetition of challenging behavior from a particular student.
FBAs are meant to be tailored to the individual student, and look into the environmental and behavioral factors impacting the student through interviews and observations. The data collected will be used by members of the IEP Team to identify the “triggering antecedents,” or the events leading up to the problem behavior, the interfering behavior, and the consequences of that behavior. The goal of any FBA is to help educators and parents identify the skills that each student needs to develop in order to address the function of the problem behavior.
When is an FBA required under IDEA?
The Functional Behavioral Assessment is such a powerful tool in assessing the needs of a student that Congress incorporated it’s use into the IDEA. When a student with a disability is disciplined for their behavior, and that behavior is determined to be a manifestation of a disability under §1415(k)(1)(E), the IEP Team is required to then conduct an FBA and implement a behavioral intervention plan (BIP) if one has not already been implemented. 20 U.S.C. §1415(k)(1)(F). When an FBA and BIP are already part of the student’s IEP, the Team must review and modify it as necessary to address the behavior.
A student may also receive an FBA when their behavior is not determined to be a manifestation of a disability. If a student is removed from their placement for than ten consecutive days, the local educational agency is required to conduct an FBA and implement a behavior intervention plan. 34 C.F.R. §300.530(d)(1)(ii).
Despite this provision, an FBA can and likely should be part of any educational evaluation for students exhibiting behavior that interferes with their or others’ education. The FBA can be one piece of a district evaluation or an independent evaluation sought by the parents.
FBAs and Parental Consent
Parental consent is, generally, required before an LEA conducts an FBA on a student with a disability. Typically, an FBA will be conducted as part of a larger special education evaluation, whether initial or not, and those evaluations require parental consent. 34 C.F.R. §300.300(a). However, there are circumstances when parental consent for an FBA is not required. When an LEA conducts an FBA for any purpose outside of the IDEA process, that is, when they are not evaluating or re-evaluating a student for special education eligibility, they do not require parental consent to do so.
To read the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague letter for yourself, and explore the resources available, please follow this link: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/idea-files/using-functional-behavioral-assessments-to-create-supportive-learning-environments/