If there's something troubling about your child's behavior and academic performance, don't wait. Have a meeting with your child's teacher to discuss what might be going on. But if puzzling behavior persists, you can request that the school conduct a formal assessment to get to the heart of your child's behavior and any academic challenges, says Thomas McIntyre, Ph.D., professor of special education at Hunter College of City University of New York. One part of this might include a functional assessment to better understand what's driving your child's behavior. "From this diagnostic testing can come suggestions for intervention, modifications, adaptations, and supports," says McIntyre.
What is a functional assessment?
Has your child been cutting up in class? Thumbing her nose at work? Have timeouts and trips to the principal's office failed to produce lasting results? If so, you may have already realized that punishment alone is a little like trimming weeds without pulling up their roots. It addresses the symptom without getting to the cause of the behavior.A functional assessment is a term used to describe an approach to understanding why a child is behaving in a particular way and whether there are specific, often non-academic factors that are contributing to the child’s frustration with learning. This approach relies on a variety of techniques and strategies that help you and your child's teachers understand what's behind any inappropriate behavior — whether a learning disability (LD), conflict with classmates, emotional problem, or a combination of factors like these.
Steven E. Curtis, Ph.D., who is a psychologist and former special education director at Seattle University, says the assessment works like a "movie camera." It allows members of the assessment team to watch what's happening with your child in different environments. Then it's possible to analyze the sequence of events to see what's prompting the behavior. "Although a history can be helpful, the functional assessment focuses on the 'here and now' to figure out what's happening," says Curtis. It helps create a "big picture" about the behavior.
Similar behaviors in different children can have very different causes. That's why the individualized, comprehensive nature of a functional assessment can be so helpful in uncovering information that's unique to your child. If you or your child's teacher jumps to conclusions, however, your solutions may become square pegs in round holes.
If your child attends a school that uses Response to Intervention (RTI), functional assessment may already be part of the plan, says McIntyre. RTI is a federally recognized multi-tiered approach to helping children achieve success that begins with a careful look at the types of instruction and support that are provided to all students in the general education classroom. This approach, together with information gathered by functional assessment, may provide the essential information needed to support your child. However, parents need to understand that not all schools use RTI, so a formal RTI approach may not be an option for addressing your child’s behavior issues.
How does a functional assessment differ from a formal evaluation for LD?
A functional assessment is much more narrowly focused than a comprehensive evaluation for learning disabilities. And, it is not used to determine if your child has a disability as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and therefore might be eligible for special education and related services. The formal LD evaluation process includes a variety of tests to measure your child’s cognitive ability, academic skills, language skills, and social and emotional status — but it does not always focus on the what, when, where, how and why of behavior. A functional assessment may be incorporated into a formal evaluation for learning disabilities if your child’s behavior is an area of concern, but in many instances, it isn’t automatically part of that process.Who participates in a functional assessment?
Tobey Shaw, principal of the Frostig School, a K-12 school in Pasadena, California, for kids with learning disabilities, says that a team approach works best because the many people involved see things from different perspectives. "We ask for input from a variety of sources," says Shaw. "The classroom teacher may see things differently than the physical education teacher, for example, because different skill sets are called for in those different settings."The ideal, she says, is when all members of the team communicate well and work together to figure out what's driving the behavior. "They make the adjustments and work collaboratively and consistently," says Shaw, emphasizing that assessments and plans should not be made in isolation.
A functional assessment team might include:
- General classroom teachers
- Special education instructors
- Parents
- Counselors, therapists and related service providers
- School administrators
- Your child
Although not part of the formal team, your child's peers may also help shed light on your child's troublesome behavior.
What steps are involved in a functional assessment?
The persons responsible for overseeing and conducting an assessment vary from state to state or even from school district to school district. In some cases, a person with specialized training, such as a school psychologist or behavior specialist, may be included to help by gathering information, conducting interviews or administering conduct certain screenings or assessments. The information gathered and the resulting plan will become part of your child's school record. It is important that the team review and evaluate the effectiveness of the plan frequently and modify it as needed.These are some of the steps involved in a functional assessment and plan.
- Define the behavior in concrete terms. It's not enough to say a child is disruptive or impulsive. You and those observing your child need to paint a picture — describing the behavior in an objective, descriptive way. Example: John slams his book on the floor when asked to read in front of the class.
- Collect, compare, and analyze information. This may include both direct and indirect information gathered by different team members. For example, it may involve reviewing your child's records and interviewing those who are familiar with his or her behaviors, asking questions like these:
- Where does the behavior occur?
- Are there places where it does not occur?
- Does the behavior happen often? Rarely?
- Who is present when it happens?
- What usually happens right before the troubling behavior occurs? Right afterward? Is there a more acceptable behavior that could replace the behavior?
Ideally, the collection of information by team members also involves direct and systematic observation. One common method involves recording details about the behavior in an ABC chart. The acronym ABC stands for Antecedent (what happens right before), Behavior, and Consequence (what happens right after). It is also helpful to note how often and where the behavior occurs.
- Come up with best guesses (hypotheses) for the behavior. If behavior is the language of kids, then what is John's behavior saying in the example above? What is the payoff for slamming the book on the floor? If he's having trouble pronouncing words, is he trying to get sent from the room to avoid embarrassment? With specific behaviors, kids are often trying to either get something or avoid or escape something. It's the team's job to figure out what the “it” is.
- Develop, implement, and monitor a plan. After the team has identified the likely reasons for any inappropriate behaviors, you can partner with school personnel to develop strategies for testing your hypotheses and addressing the inappropriate behavior. If your child is receiving special education services, members of the student support (IEP) team should work closely with those who were part of the functional assessment problem-solving process to design and implement interventions that can directly address the problem behavior. (If your child is not eligible for special education services (i.e., does not have an IEP), or does not qualify for a 504 plan the school is still obligated to follow up with activities that address the problem behaviors in a timely and effective manner.
To test the hypotheses, you can try changing something in the environment or alter the sequence of events to see if there is an improvement in the behavior. You, the parent, can change something in the home environment and the teacher can change something in the classroom. For example, it might be helpful to see how John acts when asked to read something to you at home (out of listening range of others) and when the teacher approaches him at his desk and asks him to read aloud to her but not in front of the whole class.
A plan for the teacher may then involve:
- Changing the physical environment
- Modifying the curriculum or instructional strategies or providing supplementary aids and supports
- Changing events that happen before the behavior
- Changing consequences after the behavior
- Teaching acceptable behaviors that serve the same function as the inappropriate behavior your child previously displayed
In developing a plan, it's important that the team find out whether your child has the skills to display the desired behavior, understands the expectations, has the ability to control the behavior, and is motivated to do so. After an assessment that looks at this full spectrum of skills, abilities, and behaviors, you and your child's teacher will have a better idea of the specific types of support your child needs to avoid frustration.
What is the parent’s special role in a functional assessment?
We all crave positive feedback about our children. So if your child's behavior has been less than desirable, it's tough not to become defensive, to not blame yourself or others. "We have to remember that the educators are on the same page of music as we are," says McIntyre. "They might be on a different line or a different note, but we are trying to get onto the same line or the same note. One way parents can do that is by bringing in some examples of what behaviors they're seeing at home."Just as the school can observe and record your child's behavior at school, you can do the same at home. Take the journalist approach, says Curtis, answering questions like who, what, when, and where as they relate to your child's behavior. "You can take random notes like Jane Goodall in the wild," says Curtis. "Write out your child's schedule and what happens at different points in the day." Only record what you see and hear, not your interpretation of the behavior. You can make copies of this chart and fill it in.
Once you've done this, you might reflect back on when the problem started, graphing it over time, says Curtis. Have there been good and bad classes, days, weeks, months, or years? If so, can you make assumptions about what specific changes in your child's environment or development could account for problems with behavior and learning?
But whatever you do, don't jump too quickly to a conclusion, and certainly not to a diagnosis, cautions Curtis. "Most parents want to know immediately what it is — is it dyslexia, ADHD, something else? They want to go there first because they need something to 'hang' the behavior on." But a thorough assessment can help you get a more complete picture about what your child is struggling with. Then you and the school can take the next steps to help. (For more information about next steps, read our "Behaviors Linked with LD: Steering Your Child's Behavior in a Positive Direction" article.)
Additional Resources
- Understanding Your Child's Puzzling Behavior: A Guide for Parents of Children with Behavioral, Social, and Learning Challenges
, by Steven E. Curtis, Ph.D.
- The Behavior Survival Guide for Kids: How to Make Good Choices and Stay Out of Trouble, by Thomas McIntyre
- Addressing Student Problem Behavior (Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice)
- Functional Behavioral Assessment (Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice)
- Functional Behavior Assessment (Utah State University)
Annie Stuart is a freelance writer and editor with nearly 25 years of experience. She specializes in consumer health, parenting, and learning disabilities, among other areas.This article is made possible by a grant from the American Legion Child Welfare Foundation.
