How can educators determine why students are engaging in these behaviors?
Page 7: Hypothesis Statements
After conducting indirect and descriptive assessments, the FBA team analyzes the resulting data by looking for patterns that point to the target behavior’s underlying purpose. This insight informs a hypothesis statement—a summary that outlines the pattern of antecedents and consequences relevant to a student’s target behavior and that suggests the likely function of the behavior.
To make sense of the comprehensive data gathered during the FBA, teams should follow a systematic process.
- Identify skill deficits: Examine the data for evidence of skill deficits (e.g., deficits in academic, communication, executive functioning, social skills). Ensure these are addressed through instruction or intervention.
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executive functions
in glossary
- Summarize the context: Examine the data for patterns regarding when and where the target behavior is most likely to occur.
- Identify any relevant setting events: Examine the data for evidence of any prior events or conditions that make the behavior more likely.
- Evaluate patterns in antecedents: Examine what typically happens immediately before the target behavior occurs. Using this information, identify one or more antecedents that appear to trigger the behavior.
- Evaluate patterns in consequences: Examine what tends to change (e.g., what is accessed or escaped) in the environment due to the target behavior. Using this information, identify one or more consequences that seem to reinforce the behavior.
- Hypothesize the function: Articulate which of the four functions of behavior (i.e., attention, items or activities, escape, automatic) seems to be maintaining the target behavior.
Using the summarized information, the team can formulate a complete hypothesis statement describing the full context of the target behavior and its likely function. Following is a useful template for writing such a statement.
The FBA team should strive to be as objective as possible throughout the FBA process. Sometimes, educators can unintentionally make assumptions about a student’s emotions or motivations when developing a hypothesis statement by including phrases like “because he is embarrassed” or “to get what she wants.” By keeping the focus on the four functions of behavior—attention, items or activities, escape, and automatic—FBA teams can avoid subjective judgments. Teams must also regularly examine potential misperceptions and challenge any assumptions or preconceptions that could influence their interpretation of the student’s behavior.
In this interview, Mary-Austin Modic discusses formulating a hypothesis statement when the data from different sources align as well as considerations for when the data from all sources do not align. Next, Bettie Ray Butler provides examples of how to analyze FBA data through a culturally responsive lens and discusses strategies for involving families in this process.
Bettie Ray Butler, PhD
Professor of Urban Education
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
(time: 2:40)
Transcript: Mary-Austin Modic, BCBA, LBA
The hypothesis statement is after looking at all of the data, talking to everybody as a team—it’s why we think the student is engaging in the behavior. It is data driven. We’ve done the observations. We’ve been objective.
For example, the student file shows that he’s always struggled in math. His psych eval might also say he qualifies for a learning disability in math. And then I go in and do ABC data and I see this is consistently happening more in math and it’s consistently happening when the student is given an independent-level work that they feel like they can’t do on their own. So, we can just take all of those pieces together and the interviews to see if they align because we’re seeing consistently in the observations it’s math. It’s when they’re presented work. And talking to somebody at home, they have trouble doing homework with them at night, especially math homework. And we’re just looking to see if it all aligns together to support what that function is.
And we’ve now determined Johnny is engaging in tantrum behavior because he is trying to escape the math work that the teacher has given. And the things that support that hypothesis are we know his scores in math are at risk, we know it’s consistently happening when he’s presented with independent work, we know from Johnny himself that math is tough for him (he’s able to identify that). The parents and teachers all agree that that’s a component.
Or sometimes we might need more data. We might need another teacher interview or a more specific questionnaire on the behavior function. An example, we came together as a team and it really looked like attention was the main function for this student. But one of the teachers really thought that access to activities was when the student was denied access, that was a really strong contender as a function of the behavior. So, we went back with both teachers and we did another questionnaire on the function, and it did show that access was at play for this student’s behavior. Attention was also a component, but now we know that the function is also access to activities. So now we can write a more appropriate behavior plan based on this.
Transcript: Bettie Ray Butler, PhD
This is a stage where you want to interpret and analyze the data. And this is, of course, a culturally responsive approach because any time you are interpreting behaviors and analyzing data, it’s important that there is an intentionality behind coconstructing what is taking place. And coconstructing simply means that you are not relying on your own assumptions, or limited information, or observations, or the data that you’ve been privy to only in determining what could potentially be triggering these functions. But you are working with a team of individuals that work very closely with the student and that can provide a lot of varied perspectives as it relates to what may be taking place.
After coconstruction commences, you want to give the student and the parent and families a private moment. Most of the time, people don’t think about that. When they are meeting, there is a space and opportunity for there to be a sharing, for there to be a solicitation of feedback and input. And when you’re working with families and parents, the private moment is critical because that allows them a safe space to process the information that has been presented. And so that is when anyone that is not connected to the family or the student would exit the meeting space to allow for there to be some private discussion about the information that had been shared.
It seems so simple, but it’s so critical to afford that private time. It’s completely effortless. Whether it’s 10, 15, 20 minutes, it’s effortless to give them that time to discuss and to take in everything that’s been shared. And then that creates the optimal space for there to be some coconstruction in next steps.
Lastly, when we analyze and interpret the behavioral data, when we try to understand the function of that behavior, we have to examine contextual factors. What aesthetically suggests that this place is safe for students, namely students from diverse backgrounds? Do they see themselves represented within the curriculum? Is my space inviting? Is it multicultural? These are things that I think can help collectively work to reduce implicit bias in the FBA process.
The primary purpose of an FBA and the resulting hypothesis statement is to inform a function-based intervention—an individualized intervention that applies information about the function of a student’s interfering behavior to teach more effective, efficient, and safe replacement behaviors. At this point, the team shifts from assessing the target behavior to planning how to address it through a behavioral intervention plan, or BIP.
Did You Know?
When an interfering behavior is particularly dangerous, complex, or persistent, a functional analysis might be warranted. During this process, a trained behavior analyst tests the hypothesis generated in the FBA by evoking the interfering behavior under different experimental conditions. Including functional analysis as part of an FBA helps teams identify and implement more effective interventions. Because specialized training is necessary to conduct functional analyses safely and ethically, this process is beyond the expertise of most educators and requires the involvement of a behavior analyst.
functional analysis
in glossary
Returning to the Challenge
Tasha’s FBA team has collected indirect and descriptive assessment data and is now ready to systematically analyze the data. Remember, the goal of this analysis is to hypothesize the function of Tasha’s target behavior: Tasha engages in verbal or non-verbal activities that deviate from established classroom expectations for a given activity. As the team meets and considers the data, they record information for each step of the analysis in the table.
| Step | Summary |
| 1. Identify skill deficits | Tasha exhibited the target behavior most often during classes and tasks with greater writing demands. A review of Tasha’s academic assessments supports that she has academic skill deficits in writing that will be addressed through MTSS interventions. |
| 2. Summarize the context | Tasha is more likely to demonstrate the target behavior during independent work. |
| 3. Identify any relevant setting events | None identified |
| 4. Evaluate patterns in antecedents | The teacher instructs students to work independently on a written task. |
| 5. Evaluate patterns in consequences | The teacher verbally redirects Tasha a few times before ignoring the behavior, resulting in Tasha not completing the task. When Tasha leaves the classroom, administration is called to have a conversation with her. |
| 6. Hypothesize the function | Escape from challenging academic demands |
Using this information, the team develops the following hypothesis statement:
During independent work, when the teacher instructs students to work independently on a written task, Tasha engages in verbal or non-verbal activities that deviate from established classroom expectations, which results in verbal redirections, the teacher ignoring behavior, incomplete work, and administrator involvement. It is hypothesized that Tasha engages in unrelated activities to escape challenging academic demands.
Activity
Now, let’s look at the data that Isaiah’s team summarized for his target behavior: Isaiah initiates forceful physical contact with inanimate objects.
| Step | Summary |
| 1. Identify skill deficits | Isaiah has a disability that impacts his communication and executive function skills, with recent assessments showing significant delays in verbal expression and difficulty shifting attention. These needs will be addressed in his IEP goals and services. |
| 2. Summarize the context | Isaiah is more likely to demonstrate the target behavior during preferred activities, such as art, writing, and computer time. |
| 3. Identify any relevant setting events | The target behavior is more likely following breaks from school (e.g., weekends, holidays). |
| 4. Evaluate patterns in antecedents | The teacher verbally prompts students to transition to a new activity. |
| 5. Evaluate patterns in consequences | After multiple redirections, Isaiah’s behavior is ignored and he is able to continue the preferred activity. |
| 6. Hypothesize the function | Access to preferred activities |
Using this information, develop a hypothesis statement for Isaiah’s target behavior.
Note: These fields are provided for practice purposes only; your answers will not be available for downloading or printing.
Once you have drafted your statement, compare it to the one developed by Isaiah’s FBA team.
During preferred activities, when a teacher verbally prompts students to transition to a new activity, Isaiah initiates forceful physical contact with inanimate objects, which results in redirections, planned ignoring, and the opportunity to continue the preferred activity. It is hypothesized that Isaiah initiates physical contact in order to access preferred activities. This is more likely to occur when Isaiah has just returned to school from a break.
For additional information about content discussed on this page, view the following IRIS resources. Please note that these resources are not required readings to complete this module. Links to these resources can be found in the Additional Resources tab on the References, Additional Resources, and Credits page.
Behavioral Intervention Plans (Secondary): Developing a Plan to Address Student Behavior This module explores the steps for developing a behavioral intervention plan. It includes identifying appropriate behaviors to replace the interfering behavior, selecting and implementing interventions that address the function of the behavior, monitoring students’ responses to the interventions, and making adjustments based on the data (est. completion time: 2 hours). |
