Is your child displaying behaviors that are impeding his/her learning? Are the behaviors affecting your child's ability to make and maintain friendships with peers? Are you receiving multiple reports of your child misbehaving at school, or are the strategies that are being used not helping to minimize or extinguish the behaviors?It is important to understand that children do not choose to be naughty just to upset teachers and/or peers. The above scenarios make is necessary to find out the function of the undesired behavior/s. It may be time that the school conduct a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA). You, as a parent can request that a FBA be conducted when your child is displaying persistent maladaptive behaviors. Your child's special education team may also recommend that a FBA be conducted.The purpose of the FBA would be to identify the particular behavior/s and the function of those behaviors. Once the behaviors have been identified, the FBA will determine replacement behaviors that will allow your child to learn appropriate ways of expressing his/her needs and or feelings. A functional behavior assessment will be a work in progress as the team working with your child gathers more information on strategies that will help your child.You as the parent will have a very important role in the FBA process. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about FBAs and/or whether conducting one would benefit your child.
