The effects of team-based functional assessment on the behavior of students in classroom settings

We examined the impact of functional assessment interventions on both the a ppropriate and challenging behaviors of groups of students within preschool classrooms for children with special needs and for children at risk. We al so examined the effectiveness of a training model to teach school-based tea ms to conduct functional assessment The results indicated that school-based teams were able to conduct functional assessment during intervention and m aintained functional assessment sk ills during follow-up observations In ad dition, the functional assessment procedures resulted in a decrease in chal lenging behavior and nonengagement and an increase in active engagement and peer interaction for groups of students within classroom settings. The lev els of appropriate and challenging behavior observed during intervention an d maintenance within at-risk and special education classrooms were similar to those observed in early childhood control classrooms.