PRESCHOOLERS WITH ADHD
FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT
Functional Behavioural Assessment (FBA) is a process of gathering and analyzing information in an effort to ascertain the purpose(s) or reason(s) behind challenging behaviors displayed by individuals. Through FBA, educators learn to recognize and identify what function an exhibited behavior may be serving for a child. Functional assessment strategies include (i) descriptive analyses, (ii) indirect assessments, and (iii) functional analyses (Miltenberger, 2008; see Figure 1).
A meta-analysis review conducted by Hurl, Wightman, Virues-Ortega, and Haynes (2016) has found pre-intervention FBA to be significantly more effective in reducing problem behavior as compared to non-FBA based interventions. Understanding the factors that maintain problem behaviours, along with setting events that cue or prompt these behaviours, is a crucial step to developing individualized intervention for an individual (DuPaul, Eckert, & McGoey, 1997). Once the function of a child’s behaviour is determined, a behaviour intervention plan can be designed to effectively target the problem behaviour.
The four main functions that maintain behaviours are Attention Seeking, Escape/Avoidance, obtaining Tangible Objects, and obtaining Automatic Reinforcement (DuPaul & Ervin, 1996; see Figure 2).
