Classroom behavioral interventions: Do teachers consider the function of the behavior?

Teachers and school psychologists are often involved in designing classroom behavioral interventions. Functional behavioral assessment, mandated under certain circumstances by IDEA (1997), is considered a best practices appro ach in designing behavioral interventions. A functional assessment can resu lt in an intervention tailored to a specific student's needs. The purpose o f this study was to determine whether teachers considered the function of a behavior when determining a classroom intervention. A sample of 209 Kentuc ky teachers were given scenarios of students exhibiting problematic behavio rs. Information was provided so that the function of the behavior was appar ent. The results found that few teachers considered the behavioral function when deciding upon an intervention. Few differences were found between reg ular and special education teachers. Implications for school psychologists are discussed. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.