In special education, FBA stands for Functional Behavioral Assessment. It is a process used by educators, psychologists, and other professionals to identify the underlying causes of challenging behavior in students with disabilities. The goal of an FBA is to determine the function or purpose underlying a student’s behavior, which can help a school team develop a plan to teach the child more appropriate replacement behaviors for a setting or provide support for the development of more desirable behaviors.
An FBA is generally understood to be an individualized evaluation of a child in accordance with 34 CFR §300.301 through §300.311 to assist in determining whether the child is, or continues to be a child with a disability. The FBA process is frequently used to determine the nature and extent of the special education and related services that the child needs, including the need for a positive behavior support plan.
The FBA process is a behavior-focused evaluation using a structured process to gather data for a special education IEP. The FBA team collects information on a child’s behavior when that behavior becomes disruptive and negatively impacts their learning. The FBA works to identify the behavior, its cause, and what reinforces it to become a pattern in the classroom. An FBA consists of information-gathering procedures that result in a hypothesis about the function(s) that the behavior is serving for the student.
Not all students with an IEP receive or need an FBA. An FBA is typically only recommended if the child’s behavior is interfering with their ability to access and benefit from their education.
