Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA) and Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIP)- Legal Mandates

Legally, FBAs are mandated before or not later than 10 school days after either:

a.   1. first  removing a special education student for more than 10 school days in a school year or

b.   2. commencing a removal that constitutes a change of placement.

If the district did not conduct a functional behavioral assessment and implement a behavioral intervention plan for such child before the behavior that resulted in the suspension:

a.   1. The case manager shall convene an IEP meeting to develop an assessment plan to address that behavior; or

2. If the child already has a behavioral intervention plan, the IEP Team shall review the plan and modify it, as necessary, to address the behavior. 

In addition, FBAs should be considered as part of an initial or reevaluation whenever behavior is a reason for the referral of the student or the student's behavior is impacting negatively on the referred student's learning &/or the learning of others. Clearly, in order to develop an effective BIP, if the student is classified, the IEP team needs to consider the causes of the challenging behavior.

 The attached hyperlinked resources will provide step by step guidance on conducting a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and developing a behavioral intervention plan (BIP).

PREVENTING AND ADDRESSING CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR

Revised on October 15, 2005