Series VI - Part III - Direct and Indirect Measures of Student Behavior
FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT
Series VI - Part III Direct and Indirect Measures of Student Behavior
Functional behavioral assessment can be a time-consuming process, one that usually is best accomplished in stages. The functional behavioral assessment process may begin with a series of initial direct and indirect observations (e.g., using a scatterplot) and/or discussions with adults or students who have witnessed the behavior (e.g., functional interviews). An examination of the information from these observations and interviews may suggest specific times and settings in which to conduct more thorough observations (e.g., during a specific academic subject or class period). These subsequent observations would lead the IEP team to develop an hypothesis statement regarding the factors that are most predictive of the student’s behavior (e.g., a science lesson that requires lengthy silent reading of technical material). Both direct and indirect measures of student behavior are described more thoroughly in this section.
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