Abstract
Functional assessments, how they are conducted, and their relevance to selecting effective interventions are discussed. Functional assessments can help the school psychologist determine the purpose of the student’s behavior. Once the purpose is determined, more relevant and effective reinforcement approaches to behavior change can be selected than when interventions are arbitrarily chosen. When functional assessments are used, the emphasis changes from what can be done to the student to stop the problem behavior to what changes can be made in the school and/or home environments to enable students to achieve their potential.
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Mayer, G.R. Why Must Behavior Intervention Plans Be Based on Functional Assessments?. Contemp School Psychol 1, 29–34 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03341090
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03341090