Functional Assessment Report
Client Name: Kaitlyn O’Malley (Name has been changed to protect confidentiality)
Evaluator: Kristin Szpakowski-Classroom teacher
Dates of Evaluation: 3/20/15 & 3/23/15
Location of Evaluation: ABA classroom in preschool setting
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION:
Kaitlyn is a 4 year 8 month old girl who attends the afternoon session at a local
preschool. She is a student in the ABA classroom and has a diagnosis of Autism
Spectrum Disorder. She lives at home, in an apartment, with her mother. She
attends a day care facility in the mornings before coming to preschool. She also sees
her father and grandmother on a regular basis. Kaitlyn also receives speech and
language therapy and occupational therapy during her time in the ABA classroom.
TARGET BEHAVIOR:
Kaitlyn will pick up items in her environment and strike them repeatedly against the
floor, shelves or table. A “tap” will consist of a period when she first taps that toy
until she stops, and remains quiet for 10 seconds, or the item is removed from her
grasp, or she picks up a new item.
INDIRECT ASSESSMENT:
Kaitlyn’s classroom teacher and a paraprofessional who both work with Kaitlyn
every day independently completed the Functional Assessment Screening Tool
(FAST). The FAST is “designed to identify a number of factors what may influence
the occurrence of problem behaviors”. In both of the FAST assessments, it was
reported that Kaitlyn engages in this tapping behavior to receive some type of
attention from the adults around her. In one case 5 out of 8 of the social
reinforcement: attention questions were answered yes, and in the other case 4 out
of 8. This would suggest that Kaitlyn engages in the tapping behavior, in order to
receive the attention of adults within her classroom. Automatic reinforcement in
the form of tactile stimulation was also high on both of the reports. It is unclear
which sensory system is being stimulated by the tapping. There are certain items
that Kaitlyn will tap, but we are not sure if she likes the feel of the item, or the sound
that specific item makes when being tapped.
CONSEQUENCE ANALYSIS:
B-CAF RESULTS TABLEIncident
Date
1
3/20/15
2
People
Present
Classroom
teacher
Location
Activity
Consequence(s)
Play
Area
Free play
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
area
paraprofessional
Free play
8A-Kaitlyn was
tapping a
triangle block. I
did not respond
to the behavior.
4Aparaprofessional
walked over to
Kaitlyn
1BParaprofessional
said “no tapping”
3
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
Area
Paraprofessional
Free play
4
3/20
3/20
Play
area
Play
area
Free play
5
Classroom
teacher
Classroom
teacher,
Paraprofessional
6
3/20
Classroom
teacher
Play
area
Free play
7
3/20
Classroom
teacher
Play
area
Free play
8
3/20
Classroom
Play
Free play
Free play
8A- Kaitlyn was
tapping a
triangle block.
We did not
respond to the
behavior.
1B- I said “no
tapping”
1BParaprofessional
said “time to
work”
8A-Kaitlyn was
tapping a puzzle
piece. I did not
respond to the
behavior.
8A-Kaitlyn was
tapping a puzzle
piece. I did not
respond to the
behavior.
8A-Kaitlyn was
teacher,
area
Paraprofessional
9
3/20
Classroom
1:1
teacher,
Table
Paraprofessional
Discrete
trial table
time
10
3/20
Classroom
1:1
teacher,
Table
Paraprofessional
Discrete
trial table
time
11
3/20
Classroom
1:1
teacher,
Table
Paraprofessional
Discrete
trial table
time
12
3/20
Classroom
1:1
teacher,
Table
Paraprofessional
Discrete
trial table
time
13
3/20
14
3/20
Classroom
teacher,
Paraprofessional
Classroom
teacher,
Paraprofessional
Discrete
trial table
time
Discrete
trial table
time
15
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
area
Paraprofessional
Free playchoice
time
16
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
area
Paraprofessional
Free playchoice
time
17
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
area
Paraprofessional
Free playchoice
time
1:1
Table
1:1
Table
tapping a
triangle block.
We did not
respond to the
behavior.
1BParaprofessional
said “time to
work”
1BParaprofessional
said “no tapping”
after
2A -looking into
Kaitlyn’s eyes
1BParaprofessional
said “All done
tapping”
1BParaprofessional
said “time to
work”
1BParaprofessional
said “no tapping”
1Bparaprofessional
said “all done
tapping”
8A- Kaitlyn was
tapping a block.
We did not
respond to the
behavior.
5A-Kaitlyan was
tapping a block. I
removed the
block from the
play area.
5A- Kaitlyn was
tapping a puzzle
piece. I removed
the puzzle piece
from the play
18
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
area
Paraprofessional
Free playchoice
time
19
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
area
Paraprofessional
Free playchoice
time
20
3/20
Classroom
Play
teacher,
area
Paraprofessional
Free playchoice
time
B-CAF Results Chart:
Graph One: Tapping Behavior Consequences
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
area.
5A-Kaitlyn was
tapping a lacing
letter W. A
paraprofessional
removed the W
from the play
area.
5A- I removed a
yellow block
from play area
when Kaitlyn
was tapping it.
1BParaprofessional
said “It is time
for circle”
Graph Two: Tapping Behavioral Consequences
No Attention
30%
Attention Only
50%
Escape Only
20%
FUNTIONAL HYPOTHESIS:
Based on the data shown in the bar graph, Kaitlyn usually receives attention of some
type following her tapping behavior. This tapping behavior has been observed both
in the play area, and at the 1:1 table time, with a variety of materials. When Kaitlyn
is observed tapping, usually a paraprofessional gives her a short command or
direction such as “no tapping”. All data was observed and collected during two
different school days, so this behavior is happening quite frequently each day.
The data in the second chart shows that the consequence that follows an episode of
tapping would be attention from an adult. These interactions are usually short
directions, “time to work” or short reprimands, such as “stop tapping”. The next
largest section of the graph shows that many times following a “tapping” episode,
Kaitlyn did not receive any attention. Yet, she still continues to engage in this
behavior. This may suggest that she is receiving some type of sensory
reinforcement for engaging in the tapping behavior. She will often pick only certain
items to tap, and at times, picks up a new item, bangs it onto something only once,
and puts it down. Only items where the tapping is a repetitive motion are counted
in this analysis. It is unclear which sense the item is appealing to, whether it is the
sound of the item, the feeling of the banging, or both. The items are never soft items,
which may indicate that it has something to do with the sound of the repetitive
tapping.
TRIAL BASED ASSESSMENT:
Based on the data collected from both the FAST and the B-CAF, the three
maintaining variables that were tested are escape, attention and no attention. For
12 sessions, each element was randomly selected and the percentage of intervals
with behavior was observed.
Functional Analysis of Behavior
100
% Intervals With Behavior
90
80
70
Attention
60
Escape
50
No Attention
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Session
8
9
10
11
12
This graph supports the hypothesis that Kaitlyn is displaying the tapping behavior
in order to receive adult attention. There were rates of behavior during the escape
and no attention phases between 32% and 15%, but majority of the sessions during
the attention phases were between 75% and 90%.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. First, there should be a functional communication system put into the
classroom to provide Kaitlyn a way to ask for attention from the adults
around her. She is verbal, however most verbalizations consist of delayed
echolalia or occur after a teacher model. Since most of the tapping
occurrences happened in the free play area, or at the table, communication
boards should be introduced there first. Kaitlyn can be prompted to use a
vocabulary board, with text, photos or icons, to ask for attention, such as
squeezes, singing or tickles from the adults around her. When she is asking
for these social activities, she will receive praise for using her words, and
gain access to the activity.
2. When/If Kaitlyn does engage in the tapping behavior, adults will be asked to
ignore this behavior. This will include not speaking to her, moving towards
her, or asking her to stop. Once she stops on her own, they will remove the
item that she was tapping from her proximity.
3. During free play activities, and at the work table, adults working with Kaitlyn
will be reinforcing her when she is actively engaged in the proper use of toys,
without tapping them. They will praise her for using items appropriately
such as stacking blocks, or building with them, and NOT tapping them. They
will reinforce incompatible behaviors with the materials. During this initial
stage of learning functionality of items, adults will reinforce Kaitlyn for every
episode of appropriate playing. For example, if Kaitlyn is in the play area,
and starts stacking a triangle block on top of a square block, then the
paraprofessional may say “WOW, I really like your block tower Kaitlyn!” and
give her a gentle pat on the shoulder.