As a practicing independent Behavior Analyst, you have received an email from a staff member
representing a provider of education and/or human services requesting your services. Specifically, this
staff member has asked you to meet with other staff and/or administrators to develop a behavior
intervention plan for a third grade student at a local elementary school. This student is demonstrating
significant problem behaviors in the form of disruptive behaviors in his classroom and in other settings
within the school (lunch, recess, specials, etc.). Disruptive behaviors have been termed “aggressive” and
“non-compliant” by school staff.
Please detail responses to the following:
Specify the referral problem. Be creative and describe the type of provider that has requested your
services, the client, and provide operational definitions for the problem behaviors indicated in the
scenario.
In a script or narrative format, provide information to the members of the “planning” meeting including
the following: Describe the specific purposes of a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and discuss why
conducting the FBA prior to the development of a behavior intervention plan is important. Describe, in specific detail, how Antecedent stimuli and conditions could be potentially
important for the assessment of the target behaviors in the scenario. Please include discussion
of the influence of Discriminative Stimuli and Motivating Operations in triggering the target
behaviors. Describe, in specific detail, how Consequence stimuli and conditions could be potentially
important for the assessment of the target behaviors. Be sure to indicate the influences of
Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, and Automatic Reinforcement in maintaining
the target behaviors. Describe three (3) Indirect Functional Assessment procedures that you may be implementing
during the process of the Functional Behavioral Assessment. Be sure to specify how they will be
used and what the purpose of each tool is. Describe three (3) Direct Descriptive Assessment procedures you may be implementing during
the process of the Functional Behavioral Assessment. Be sure to specify how they will be used
and what the purpose of each tool is. Describe, in specific detail, at least two (2) ethical obligations and/or concerns that would be
necessary to address within the current case scenario. (You may use either or both APA and
BACB guidelines as reference). Tips for developing your responses:
The staff that you are presenting to think that, as a Behavior Analyst, you will be able to develop a
behavior plan on the spot during this meeting that is both easy to administer and effective at modifying
the behavior of the client in question. The staff clearly knows nothing about behavioral assessment processes. It is your job to assist them in understanding the process of Functional Behavioral Assessment
and its necessity before any interventions can be developed and implemented.
Be sure to discuss antecedent stimuli and consequence stimuli based on the function (purpose) that the
target (problem) behavior serves and not the choice of intervention. The goal is to identify variables
that are related to the occurrence of the problem behavior, not to develop an intervention.
Be mindful of making solid choices of the procedures you will be highlighting based on the scenario
presented as well as a rationale for your choices.
Indirect Assessment Tools / Procedures (Unit 6):
The Functional Behavioral Assessment Screening Form
The Behavioral Stream Interview
The Antecedent Variables Assessment Form
The Individual Variables Assessment Form
The Consequence Variables Assessment Form
Directive Descriptive Tools / Procedures (Unit 7):
Task Difficulty Antecedent Analysis Form
The Conditional Probability Record
The Functional Behavioral Assessment Form
Interval Recording Procedures
Task Analysis Recording Procedure
Project Assignment Guidelines Assignment should be a minimum of 3-5 pages not including the title and reference pages. Use APA Format. Utilize the readings and other course material from Units 4-7. If you feel you must find outside resources for assistance, please utilize academically legitimate
resources. (DO NOT use websites and Wiki’s that are not peer-reviewed) DO NOT focus on the use of diagnoses or labels. Be specific and detailed; do not just list items and facts. You may take creative license and add to the scenario by fleshing out the student’s history or
presenting problems if you choose. This assignment consists of a scenario in which you, as an independent Behavior Analyst, have
been contacted by an educational and/or human services provider who is requesting your services to develop a behavior intervention plan for an individual who is receiving their services.
You will have to create a scenario in which you will specify the referral problem (example:
services are being requested to address aggression and disruptive behavior in the classroom
setting by a 13-year-old male student who recently moved from another state and is new to the
school). You will need to describe the provider that requested your services (e.g. Betty Boop,
Licensed Clinical Social Worker with Orange County Public Schools), a description of the client
(e.g.13-year-old Caucasian male whose parents were recently divorced), and provide an
operational definition of the presenting problem behavior(s). Try to be creative in your
development of this scenario.
The main theme of the assignment is that the staff that will be in this meeting thinks that a
behavior plan can be easily developed on the spot during this meeting. It is your goal to provide
information to the members of this meeting about the purpose of Functional Behavioral
Assessment by discussing 3 Indirect Functional Assessment procedures and 3 Direct Descriptive
Functional Behavioral Assessment procedures that you may be implementing to understand the
function of the presenting problems.
