Brittany Mayer

EDUG 781
Dr. Wolpert
November 24th, 2013
Functional Behavioral Assessment
Teachers perform functional behavioral assessments to evaluate a childs misbehavior.
This child is in fourth grade in an urban school district. This child has not been completing his
assignments. My target behavior is to increase the completion of his homework and classwork in
a timely manner.
The baseline was taken over a three day period using a checklist. The teacher recorded
how often he completed his tasks. The records were broken up by different subjects as well as
homework. This checklist measured the frequency of the target behavior.
The child returned to school with only his math homework done from the weekend.
When the teacher spoke to the parents they were surprised in their child. The teacher noted that a
possible antecedent could be that there is no one at home helping him with his homework. The
student may be doing this for attention or possibly because he is having difficulties and no one is
there to push him through. The parents also may have not emphasized the importance of
completing homework in a timely manner. Since the child did not complete his homework he
was not able to participate in the class discussions and sat at his seat reading his independent
reading book while the class checked over the homework from the previous night. The child got
a note sent home as well as time taken away from recess. The teacher also reminded the student
that any homework that is not completed is still expected to be made up.
The antecedent for the first misbehavior is that this child is a struggling writer. During
writing period he often shuts down and does not take the time to complete his writing piece.
When the teacher would try to guide him during conferences he wasnt responsive to the
prompts. The student would fiddle with his pencil and would not write anything on the paper.
The teachers policy is if classwork isnt completed, it becomes homework. The student now
needs to complete his writing for homework and got a call home to his parent.
During reading period, the student did not complete the full task. In this situation the
student had attempted to complete the assignment but did not finish. The antecedent for this
misbehavior could be due to his reading level. The student is on a second grade reading level
which could cause him to take longer to complete the reading activity. The student while reading
took a very long time on the page and continued to have to re-read the page due to distraction.
The students responses to the activity were very brief and not written in complete sentences.
The work that was completed was not acceptable for fourth grade standards. The teacher spoke
to the student warning him about the consequences of not completing his work in a timely
manner. The teacher explained that the work he is in not getting done is effecting his grade. The
student lost out on recess time.

The student then acted out during recess. The student pushed another student when he
was allowed to play. The trigger was watching students while he was sitting out for his previous
misbehavior. The student was angry that he needed to sit out. The student is continuously
misbehaving for attention. The student then was asked to sit out for the rest of recess. He was
also threatened that if this type of behavior continues he will spend recess with the principal.
Within a three day period Michael fully completed 6 tasks, all of which being related to
mathematics. The rate of him completing his assignments is (6/24assignments) .25 assignments.
The assignments included both homework and classwork.
If the student get more positive reinforcement as well as some support during reading and
writing periods the target behavior will increase. The teacher will set up an intervention plan in
which he has his own tracker of how often he completes his assignments. Each time the students
completes his assignment the child would get a sticker. When the child fills up his chart he will
get a prize out of the prize bin. The teacher also put in a conscious effort to catch the child
being good and praising him when he is focused on his work. During reading and writing, the
teacher has spent some time conferring and helping the child but has also buddied him up with
one of the other students in the class who writes very well. To make sure he doesnt feel selfconscious, the teacher has him work with that same student to help her in math. The teacher has
also has spoken to the parents to discuss homework and how they need to act as role models at
home by showing the significance of completing homework. The teacher explained what has
been occurring and also suggested if they dont have time to work with him on his homework to
hire a tutor to go over his homework with him.
Teacher modified some of the existing contingencies. If the misbehaviors are still present
she will attempt secluding the student and sending him to another fourth grade classroom in
which he needs to complete his assignment. The teacher will also identify his interests and adjust
the rewards based on the things he enjoys. Teacher is also offering no homework passes to the
students that have exemplar assignments.
The student would be re-evaluated in a month after the modifications have been put in
place. The student would be re-evaluated again using a checklist to observe the frequencies of
the misbehavior to check the success.