preview

Functional Behavior Assessment Paper

Decent Essays

Introduction and Problem Statement
According to Villalba, Latus, Hamilton, and Kendrick (2005), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates all students in special education classes must be provided with counseling services as part of their right to a free and appropriate education (FAPE). Furthermore, the act mandates those students in special education classes who display inappropriate behavior must have a functional behavior assessment (FBA) on their record, which is developed by a team of school providers, including counselors, and used to create and implement a behavioral intervention plan (BIP).
The authors affirm an FBA requires the use of an interdisciplinary team who are chosen based upon their knowledge of special education procedures, child development, and behavioral modification techniques. While the composition of these teams varies between schools and school districts, they are generally comprised of regular and special education teachers, an administrator, a speech and language pathologist, and a school counselor. However, the authors have personally noted an apparent lack of familiarity of FBA and BIP amongst school counselors, despite the fact they are expected to play an important role …show more content…

The information is presented in a direct manner, lacking unnecessary information, and written in a style which is easy for a range of readers to understand. They provide a thorough description of the development of the instrument, the norm population used, and an example of the survey, thus enabling the study to be replicated. A table of the frequencies and percentages of respondents’ answer, divided by education settings, is included, which enables readers wishing to replicate the study to compare results. Lastly, they are open regarding the limitations of their study and provide suggestions for future research on the

Get Access