Addressing the Functional Performance Needs of Students Receiving Special Education Services

Behavior refers to an individual’s observable actions, anything a person does or says (Maag, 2004). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) broadly defines two categories of behaviors: academic and functional. Moreover, this law requires individualized education program (IEP) teams to include, in each student’s IEP, a statement about each student’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance.

Concerning “functional performance,” the United States Department of Education points to how the term is generally understood as referring to “skills or activities that are not considered academic or related to a child’s academic achievement.” The IDEA does not provide a list of curriculum content that is considered functional content. The reason that examples of functional skills are not included in the IDEA is because “the range of functional skills is as varied as the individual needs of children with disabilities” (71 Fed. Reg. at 46661 as reported in PROGRESS Center, n.d.). Instead, outside of the IDEA, it is commonly understood that “routine activities of everyday living” refers to skills and activities such as:

• dressing, eating, going to the bathroom;
• social skills, such as making friends and communicating with others;
• behavior skills, such as knowing how to behave across a range of settings; and
• mobility skills, such as walking, getting around, and going up and down stairs.

In this course, the term school social behavior refers to the skills referred to above as social skills and behavior skills. In a school context, school social behavior refers to behaviors that result in sharing space appropriately with others, such as engaging in appropriate communicative exchanges, establishing and maintaining friendships, and knowing how to behave appropriately across various school-based settings (e.g., classrooms, the cafeteria, and the gymnasium). For instance, appropriate behavior in a general education classroom would include remaining quiet and self-regulating one’s behavior while completing independent seatwork so that the teacher can engage in other tasks, such as conducting small group instruction or working in a 1:1 instructional arrangement with another student.

Concerning school social behaviors, this course emphasizes that appropriate school social behaviors comport with a teacher’s classroom management protocols. Yet, there will be instances where a student does not comply with these protocols. In these instances, schools may conduct an assessment to (a) analyze the functions of student-specific, challenging behaviors and (b) identify appropriate interventions to address them. This process is the focus of the content presented in this module. Specifically, the focus is student-specific behaviors that become the target of a functional behavior assessment (FBA) and individualized behavior modification program. An FBA addresses the function (i.e., reason or purpose) of an inappropriate behavior and ways to teach the student how to perform a proper replacement behavior.

References

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400 et seq.

Maag, J. W. (2004). Behavior management: From theoretical implications to practical applications (2nd ed.). Thomson Wadsworth.

PROGRESS Center. (n.d). The what and why of present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP). Retrieved May 9, 2023 from https://promotingprogress.org/training/what-and-why-present-levels-academic-achievement-and-functional-performance-plaafp

A Primer for Each Part of This Module

The information presented below serves as an introduction to the content presented in this chapter.

• You will view a video from the National Center on Intensive Intervention titled, “Why do we need to focus on behavior?” You are tasked to watch the video to understand why a teacher must teach students appropriate school social behaviors.
• You will work through an online module from The IRIS Center titled “Functional behavior assessment: Identifying the reasons for problem behavior and developing a behavior plan.” The module’s content explains a process followed to first (a) determine the purpose served by a student’s engagement in an inappropriate behavior and then (b) design and implement a plan that will teach the student an appropriate behavior that will replace the inappropriate behavior.

Why do we need to focus on behavior?

Watch this module from the National Center on Intensive Intervention titled “Why do we need to focus on behavior?” to gain an understanding of the reasons why it is necessary for a teacher to teach students appropriate school social behaviors. (Length: 24 minutes, 11 seconds)

Note that you do not have to do any workbook activity, journal activity, etc. that is referred to in the module. However, you should listen to the discussions about these activities since this information will extend your knowledge about the necessity for teacher’s to teach students appropriate school social behaviors.

After working through all of the content in this video, you should be able to

• State the percentage of teachers who leave the classroom within five years of teaching
• List the reasons why a teacher leaves the profession
• Explain how the goal of education, which is student achievement, is described
• Complete the following statement: Student achievement requires good ____________________ and classroom ____________________ skills.
• State what is one of the very best strategies to prevent problem behavior
• Discuss what outcomes effective behavior support leads to
• List the five critical features of effective classroom management
• Discuss the long-term outcomes associated with a “Get Tough” approach to students’ displays of inappropriate school social behaviors
• Explain the PBIS Framework

Functional behavioral assessment: Identifying the reasons for problem behavior and developing a behavior plan

Work through all of the content presented in The IRIS Center’s online module Functional Behavioral Assessment: Identifying the Reasons for Problem Behavior and Developing a Behavior Plan. 

This IRIS Center module explores the basic principles of behavior and the importance of discovering the reasons that students engage in problem behavior. The steps to conducting a functional behavioral assessment and developing a behavior plan are described (Estimated completion time: 2 hours). 

After working through all of the content in this online module, you should be able to

• Explain the following types of consequences: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction
• Discuss which of the types of consequences are most commonly recommended for use in a classroom and which are not
• Complete the following sentences: An FBA is used to ____________________. It helps teachers to understand ____________________.
• Complete the following sentence: Nearly all behaviors occur in order either to ____________________.
• Discuss what occurs in the fourth step in the FBA process: designing a function-based intervention
• Explain the meaning of implementation fidelity

No Cost Resources Pertaining to This Topic

Each item below is a no cost resource that presents information pertaining to some aspect of this chapter’s focus, which is addressing the functional performance needs of students receiving special education services. To access a resource, use the link provided.

The what and why of present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP)  From The PROGRESS Center, this course is intended to (a) explain the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s (IDEA) definition of present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP) statements, (b) explain the critical role of the present levels statement in the development of a high-quality individualized education program (IEP), (c) identify tips for developing present levels statements that promote progress, and (d) identify resources to learn more about PLAAFP statements.

Why do we Need to Focus on Behavior? The presenter in this video from the National Center on Intensive Intervention explains why it is important to focus on behavior. The video describes the traditional understanding of how to approach behavior in school and the classroom.

SOS: Helping Students Become Independent Learners. This online module is made available by The IRIS Center. According to the Center, this module describes how teachers can help students stay on task by learning to regulate their behavior. The four strategies discussed are self-monitoring, self-instruction, goal-setting, and self-reinforcement (Estimated completion time: 1.5 hours).

Functional Behavioral Assessment: Identifying the Reasons for Problem Behavior and Developing a Behavior Plan This IRIS Center module explores the basic principles of behavior and the importance of discovering the reasons that students engage in problem behavior. The steps to conducting a functional behavioral assessment and developing a behavior plan are also described (Estimated completion time: 2 hours).