An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Functional Behavioral Assessment For Students With Emotional Behavioral Disabilities

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is defined as a set of assessment procedures used to identify variables that promote and maintain challenging behavior and based upon this assessment, interventions are selected that alter one or more of these variables (Stichter & Conroy, 2005, pp. 19-20). FBA has received a great deal of attention since the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)l997 amendments, which require the use of FBA for all special education students upon referral of alternative educational placements due to behavior resulting in disciplinary action. There has also been considerable questioning of and need for research in determining the effectiveness of FBA in the school setting. Previous research has focused primarily on students with cognitive or developmental disabilities in controlled settings not students in normal school settings. This paper proposes a study that examines the effectiveness of the use of a model of FBA in school settings with students with emotional and behavioral disabilitie