8.5.5 Behavioral Intervention Tools

Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) are two of the most important tools to help address students’ behavior in school. When these assessments and interventions are conducted by knowledgeable professionals and implemented faithfully by the school, they can help significantly reduce a student’s behavior issues and the associated consequences. While FBAs and BIPs are explicitly required after an MDR, they can and should be used any time that a student is having repeated behavior or disciplinary problems and when behavior is interfering with a child’s learning. Parents and attorneys can request an FBA just like any other evaluation, either as part of a student’s full re-evaluation or as a separate assessment outside the ordinary evaluation process.

An FBA is a scientific, data-driven process used by schools to understand the cause of a student’s behavior and the appropriate ways to address the problematic behavior. The basic premise behind an FBA is that all behaviors have a function for the student. The FBA assessment looks at the events that precede and may predict the student’s problematic behavior and the events and actions that follow and maintain the behavior to understand why the student is engaging in that particular behavior. As an example, where a student constantly disrupts his English class, by observing when the behavior occurs and what directly precedes it, one may find that the student is doing it to avoid work that is too hard for him. When the student is removed from the classroom and does not have to complete the work, the student has successfully escaped it, thereby reinforcing the behavior. However, once the school team is able to understand (or at least hypothesize) why the student is engaging in a certain behavior, the team can put in appropriate supports, services, and interventions to address and correct the behavior; these are typically documented in a BIP. 

An FBA should be conducted by a trained school staff person such as a school psychologist or a behavior analyst, not by the student’s classroom teacher or paraprofessional (although these individuals can and should provide input into the process and help collect the data). The FBA must include systematic behavioral observations of the student as well as input from the student’s teachers, parents, and other professionals who work with the student.

A BIP is designed to support the child to stop engaging in the problematic behaviors targeted by the FBA and to teach the student appropriate replacement behaviors. As the name implies, the primary purpose of a BIP is to identify interventions, not punishments, to help the student. Interventions can be designed to alter the student’s environment, minimize the situations or actions that trigger the behavior, and/or give the student an alternative strategy to use when facing the triggering situation. The plan might identify incentives or rewards individualized for the student for the use of appropriate behavior or provide an opportunity for the student to avoid situations that cause anxiety or distress. Interventions should also include changing the responses of the adults who work with the student. The idea is to help provide information and strategies for the adults working with the student to help the student achieve the goals motivating the problem behavior (as identified in the FBA) so that the student will be less likely to engage in those behaviors.

The student’s BIP should be put into writing and then implemented on a consistent basis. Data should be kept to track whether the BIP is working for the student. After a period of time, the team should get together to review the plan. If there are parts of the plan that are not working, the plan should be revised; any parts that are working should be continued.

Importantly, information from the FBA and BIP should be infused into the student’s IEP. Information from the FBA can be included in the IEP sections related to behavior and evaluations, for example. Likewise, a behavior goal should be created in the IEP to match the BIP and the target behavior(s) towards which the student is working.

Even if the circumstances do not warrant an FBA or BIP, if a child’s behavior is impeding the child’s learning or that of others, the IDEA requires that the IEP team consider—and, when necessary to provide FAPE, include in the IEP—the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports (along with  other strategies) to address that behavior.1  This requirement applies to all students with IEPs, regardless of the child’s specific disability or classification. If a student is receiving repeated disciplinary infractions and removals, this may indicate that the child’s IEP needs to include appropriate behavioral supports. A parent or attorney may want to call an IEP team meeting to discuss what aspects of the child’s IEP related to behavior need to be addressed or revised to ensure FAPE. This may include adding related services such as counseling or school social work services. Adding a one-on-one paraprofessional to assist the student with behavior management is another behavior support that could be considered.

• 1La. Bulletin 1706 § 530(D).