Behavioral Assessment Psychological Assessment What

Behavioral Assessment

Psychological Assessment

What is a behavioral assessment?

Success in school is not merely defined in terms of meeting academic benchmarks: a child must be socially functional as well. A student must be able to sit still in his or her seat, obey a teacher's instructions rather than staring out a window, and be organized enough to take home the right books for homework assignments on a daily basis. Quite often, students with learning disabilities have behavioral problems, such as attention-deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD), that are linked to their academic challenges. However, a child does not have to be below grade level in his or her academics to warrant a behavioral assessment: a child with Asperger's Syndrome may be performing above grade level, but have trouble understanding discussions of feelings in stories, relating to his or her peers, or switching from one task to another.

Functional behavior assessment is part of the process of an individualized education program's (IEP) creation and revision: "Functional behavioral assessment is generally considered to be a problem-solving process for addressing student problem behavior" (Functional behavioral assessment, 2001, CECP). It is not designed to punish a student, but it a part of a collaborative processes between educators, parents, and the child to maximize the benefits he or she can derive from an educational experience.

How is it done? What are its limitations?

The first steps of a behavioral assessment are to describe and verify the seriousness of the problem, refine the initial definition of the behavior, and collect information. In most instances, the child's teacher or teachers will provide the initial description of the behavioral issues. It is essential to demand that the teacher is specific in his or her description. A "team should also take into consideration teacher expectations for student academic performance as well as classroom conduct. It might be that teacher expectations for the student exceed or fall below the student's ability to perform. The resulting behavior problems may stem from a sense of frustration, fear of embarrassment, or boredom" on the part of the child (Method, 2001, CECP). Additionally, cultural differences the teacher may not understand must also be considered: a child that seems quiet and shy and does not look the teacher in the eye, and is therefore being characterized as socially immature may come from a culture where not looking adults in the eye is considered appropriate behavior for children. One frequent criticism of behavioral assessment its reliance upon teacher and peer input who may not understand the assessed child's cultural differences.

Before formally identifying the behavior as problematic, the IEP team should answer such critical questions as if the student's behavior is substantially different from his or her classmates and inhibits their learning ability, if more standard methods of discipline have been successful with the child in the past, if the behavior is threatening and chronic or not, if there is a cultural explanation, and what might occur if no intervention is taken (Method, 2001, CECP).

The second step is to document and track the behavior through direct and indirect observation. This may mean creating a scatterplot (chart or grid) recording single events and their context to determine what situations are most likely to trigger the problematic behaviors (Direct and indirect measures, 2001, CECP). Another direct method to observe student behavior is with an Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) chart. The behavior can be further monitored indirectly through teacher and peer interviews. A combination of direct and indirect methods should be used.

The data is then analyzed through techniques called data triangulation and problem pathway analysis, to correlate behaviors with specific situations in a statistically verifiable fashion. A hypothesis is constructed about the problem behavior, such as "Charles disrupts reading class by swearing at the teacher when he is asked to read aloud. He is most likely to disrupt the class if he has not had breakfast or if there was a problem at the bus stop. Charles stops swearing when he is told to leave the group" (Direct and indirect measures, 2001, CECP). Then, to test the hypothesis, "IEP team members should 'experimentally manipulate' certain variables to see if the team's assumptions regarding the likely function of the behavior are accurate" (Direct and indirect measures, 2001, CECP).

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