Trial Based Functional Analysis in Classroom Settings: An Evaluation of Effectiveness and Exploration of Implications for Implementation

Abstract

Challenging behaviors are disruptive, harmful, and persistent and have significant adverse implications for individuals and those close to them. Functional assessment strategies lead to effective, proactive interventions. Despite decades of research supporting the use of functional assessment and relevant intervention, there remains a research to practice gap related to working with challenging behaviors in educational contexts. Trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) is an experimental functional assessment method that is particularly well suited for use in classroom settings, and can be implemented with fidelity by school personnel with varying backgrounds and expertise. The purpose of this mixed-methods research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the TBFA in public school classrooms, while exploring the effect of participation in implementation on educators’ perspectives on working with challenging behavior. Results found that the TBFA was effective in identifying the function of challenging behavior for three students, and suggest that educators developed agency in their work with challenging behaviors as they participated in the implementation of the TBFA and subsequent functionally relevant intervention.