The Basic FBA to BIP Training Series provides a practical way to train multiple staff members in schools to effectively conduct Functional Behavior Assessments and lead development, implementation and evaluation of Behavior Intervention Plans.
In many schools, time and resources are often used inefficiently as teams meet to discuss challenging students without a framework for guiding intervention planning. This can often result in the selection of interventions that are ineffective and, in some cases, serve to make problem behavior worse. A primary reason for this is a general lack of expertise related to FBA/BSP in schools.
In current practice, district-level behavior specialists or outside experts conduct FBA/BSP to address the needs of only those students with disabilities exhibiting serious and/or pervasive challenging behaviors that have been resistant to various intervention efforts. As a result, school personnel often perceive FBA and the provision of function-based support as a formal, laborious process that is used as a “last resort” for students with the most intensive needs and is not feasible for use by “typical” school personnel.
A survey of 527 school counselors found over 85% did not learn about FBA in their university preparation program and over 70% reported no formal training in FBA (Villalba, Latus, Hamilton & Kendrick, 2005). In a national survey of over 330 school psychologists (Nusz, 2008) 60% reported “little emphasis” on FBA in their graduate training program and only 65% reported receiving inservice training from their school district; independent reading was the most frequently reported source of training by 70% of respondents.
Limited expertise and capacity in schools to support students with challenging behavior leads to an overreliance on a small number of district-level specialists or external experts to address the behavioral needs of all students. The “external expert” model of behavior support has many challenges. The external specialist is likely to have limited knowledge of the school culture, context, resources, and staff members. Limited contextual knowledge can reduce the efficiency of the FBA/BSP process, and can negatively impact “contextual fit” of interventions or the extent to which interventions are appropriately matched to the implementation context and implementer preferences, which results in reduced implementation fidelity of BSPs (Benazzi, Horner & Good, 2006). A second concern is the limited accessibility and availability of external specialists. Overwhelmed district specialists often have insufficient time to provide initial training and ongoing prompting and feedback to support effective plan implementation. External specialists are also not readily available to address questions and challenges as they arise in the school. Unfortunately, when dealing with students with challenging behavior, limited responsiveness can quickly lead to dismissing a plan as ineffective or giving up on the plan.
Possibly the most significant challenge of limited local expertise, and an overwhelmed district behavior specialist is the resulting delays in behavioral support. Limited resources and capacity often result in delayed access to behaviors supports for the student and staff involved. Delayed interventions and supports can contribute greatly to teacher stress, and reduced willingness to implement interventions and tolerance for having the student remain in the classroom. Each of these challenges contribute greatly to limiting the effectiveness and efficiency of the FBA/BSP process, as well as the long-term sustainability of such practices and processes in schools.