What is FBA?
Functional Behavioral Assessment is a procedure of analyzing the behavior patterns of a
student and understanding the reasoning behind their actions. It utilities several different
approaches to recognizing the mentality and logistics behind the particular behavior of
students.
The behavior of an individual serves an essential purpose as it determines their attitude
towards certain things in life. Generally, the family, peers and societal influence impacts the
conduct of an individual. By analyzing the emotional state and perception of an individual,
the actions and attitude of that person can be changed and improved to be better. Functional
Behavior Assessment helps in finding out the reasons behind the conduct of the students and
also provides the necessary solutions to enhance this demeanor.
Why do we need FBA?
The general attitude of a person is responsible for his/ her actions. A good and positive
attitude would always result in positive behavior, which will naturally yield good results in
every sector.
Let us try to understand this through an example. Chloe is a timid and introverted girl in the
classroom. She is socially awkward and prefers to stay low-profile in her own space. She gets
nervous in the company of others and usually has a hard time in social interactions. Chloe is
good in studies and is also talented in arts and crafts. Besides these, Chloe usually avoids
getting involved in several types of social activities like debates, elocution, narration,
dramatics, singing, dancing etc. She has a hard time coping up in the classroom environment
and in she recently broke down during the dramatics audition when the teacher reprimanded
her for speaking inaudibly. So what is causing Chloe to act this way? What are the reasons
behind such behavior of Chloe?
It turns out Chloe is suffering from a significant inferiority complex as she stammers slightly.
She is scared of being a source of ridicule and thus prefers to maintain a distance from other
people. In activities like studying and drawing, she does not need to speak to or interact with
other students and hence can perform well, being in her safe zone.
Now, if this problem of Chloe would have been recognized before-hand, help would have
been provided adequately. Practice and different practical approach of communication could
have been established aiding Chloe to adjust in her social life.
Hence, FBA is necessary to help such students who are facing a life crisis due to specific
reasons.
How to Implement FBA in Schools?
An FBA professional or a behavior psychologist can be employed to carry this task in the
schools. Other than that, teachers, administrators and other faculty members, including some
responsible students, can help in effectively implementing the FBA procedure in the schools.
Parents should also be furnished with its basic ideas and concepts behind FBA to monitor the
behavior of their wards.
Here are a few steps for the implementation of Functional Behavior Assessment:-
1) Explain the Behavior
The FBA team should be very subjective in defining the behavior of the students. Rather
than saying that the student is careless or distraction, you should mention the incidents that
have caused the disturbance or the negative impact. Explain the event along with details and
also offer an alternative solution. Suppose a student does not produce their work on time and
usually implies only half efforts in the conduction of any task. In this case, instead of saying
the student is careless, please point out the mistakes and flaws in their assignments and urge
them to work harder.
2) Gather Information
Once the behavior has been explained and identified, works towards investigating the
possible reasons that led to such actions. Ask the necessary questions like:-
- Under what circumstances such is the behavior prevalent?
- What is the surrounding atmosphere and influence?
- What events lead to these actions?
- What happens before and after the incident?
3) Provide the Solutions
The next step should be of providing the required solutions to minimize the negative
behavior. Individual measures need to be implemented for every student, and a properly
planned approach is necessary to be taken. Counselling, psychological assessments and
guidance are a few ways that can be provided to the students to improvise their thinking
abilities and the general perception.
Conclusion
In the boarding schools, an FBA team can significantly help the students to overcome the
various problems in the absence of parental guidance and support. The faculties should
provide individual attention to the students in a residential school to ensure their positive
growth process. A student forms a distinctive and positive behavior in the boarding school
environment and learns the difference between the positive and negative actions and their
consequences.
FBA should compose an essential part of the education and schooling curriculum as it helps
the students in improvising the over-all personality of the students.
