Functional Behavioral Assessment of Escape/Avoidance

Functional Behavioral Assessment
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Instructor
Date
Functional Behavioral Assessment
Schools and various institutions conduct functional behavior assessments (FBA) intending to change behavior to better coordinate individuals. Ultimately, the purpose of FBA is to evaluate the most efficient ways to solve and change frequent problematic behavior. To determine the reasons for the occurrence of the behavior, an individual or team defines the behavior, gathers information about its occurrence, and makes intervention plans to implement change. The FBA process entails conducting an interview regarding the behavior, its frequency, and instances of occurrence. A direct observation follows to define the behavior effectively, assess the events and environment of its occurrence, stipulate a hypothesis, establish cues and consequences, and build a support plan. A summary of the process entails proposing a behavior change plan to promote the positive desired behavior. In the assessment, the target behavior to change is escape/avoidance. Escape entails avoiding something in various contexts such as academic demands, certain settings, specific people, and everyday chores. The behavior is targeted because of its continuous negative implications once the concerned parties realize the behavior. The behavior is a learned cognition and originated from peer influence. Environmental influences such as pain alleviation, gaining attention, and impoverished situations cause cheating behavior. Having peers who reap from the behavior puts pressure on us to engage in the behavior. The hypothesis gives track to the cues and consequences of escape. The paper makes a functional behavioral assessment of escape/avoidance, highlighting its cues, consequences, and a change plan to correct the behavior.
The Functional Behavioral Assessment
Observation is the crucial methodology applied in conducting the FBA. The specific behavior under assessment is cheating/avoidance of something. Through observation, I set a one-hour clock alarm daily to assess whether the behavior happened within the hour. Upon conducting the experiment, I realized that the behavior often occurred after completing a task, and I immediately got assigned another one when interrupted from playing my favorite games. I noticed the behavior mostly occurred in the hallways, during lunch sessions, and at the end of recess. Escaping leads to undesirable consequences when a vital session or activity is avoided completely.
However, escaping did not occur during group discussions in the Language classes. Creating the observation cheat sheet summarized the target behavior, its frequency, duration, and severity of the behavior. I conducted a seven-day observation experiment to determine the highlighted elements of the behavior and clearly understand the causes and consequences of the behavior. Interpretation of the observation results led to the development of the change plan for the undesirable behavior. The goal of the change plan is to decrease and limit the undesirable behavior that I possess.
Assessment of Escape behavior upon observation
Frequency: 2 to 3 times daily
Severity: Range from mild to severe situations; Mild condition leads to little disruptive risk to health or property; Moderate state entails property damage and occurrence of minor injuries; the severe state has a significant threat to safety.
Duration: a period of 5 to 30 minutes for each session of escape
Off-task: When not engaging in an assigned activity for over 2 minutes, 5 to 30 minutes of escape precedes.
7-Day Behavior Monitor Sheet

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Behavior

Escaping

Escaping

Avoidance

Escape

Escape

Escape

Escape

Frequency

2

1

3

1

2

3

1

Time of Occurrence

1:00 pm, 5:00 pm

3:00 pm

11am, 1:30 pm, 5pm

2 pm

7 am, 5 pm

11am, 2pm, 4pm

8 am

Duration

5-30mins each

25 mins

10mins, 25mins,15mins, respectively

20mins

15mins, 30...