Functional Assessment of Classroom Variables for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders - Behavioral Disorders 2018, Vol. 43(2) - Abstract, Methods, and Findings

Oct 15, 2026

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Functional assessment and functional analysis support students with severe emotional disturbance by linking classroom events to desirable and undesirable target behaviors. Five elementary students participated in a comprehensive process using interviews, record reviews, and direct observations to generate individualized hypotheses about environmental-behavior relationships. Functional analyses then tested each hypothesis through direct manipulations during regularly occurring classroom activities, showing meaningful effects of classroom variables on individual behavior. Results emphasize improved methods for understanding student responding and benefits for educational and behavioral support programs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

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Editors’ Note

Abstract

Functional assessment and functional analysis overview

Study procedures and data sources

Functional analyses and tested hypotheses

Implications for educational and behavioral support

Supporting literature and definitions

Republication of “Functional Analysis of Classroom Variables for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders” Behavioral Disorders 2018, Vol. 43(2) 322–336 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2017 Reprints and permissions: [sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav](sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav)[ ](sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav)[DOI: 10.1177/0198742917753157](DOI: 10.1177/0198742917753157)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/0198742917753157)[journals.sagepub.com/home/bhd](journals.sagepub.com/home/bhd) Glen Dunlap 1, Lee Kern2, Maria dePerczel 1, Shelley Clarke 1, Diane Wilson 1, Karen E. Childs 1, Ronnie White 1, and George D. Falk3 Editors’ Note This is the third in a series of three classic article reprints celebrating the rich history of impactful scholarship published in Behavioral Disorders in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. For each classic article in the series, original authors provide an accompanying commentary discussing the original manuscript, its implications, and developments in the area since publication of the article (see Algozzine, 2017*, and Elliott, 2017**, for commentaries on the classic articles from the 1970s and 1980s, respectively). In this issue, we reprint the classic article by Dunlap and colleagues (1993) on the then emerging practice of functional assessment for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The paper describes a comprehensive functional assessment process that became a model for research, policy, and practice. We thank the two lead authors of this paper, Glen Dunlap and Lee Kern, for their insightful commentary, which provides a context and implications for the original study, and discusses future directions in this area. *Algozzine, B. (2017). Toward an acceptable definition of emotional disturbance: Waiting for the change. Behavioral Disorders, 42, 136-144. **Elliott, S. N. (2017). The social validity of “Acceptability of behavioral interventions used in classrooms”: Inferences from longitudinal evidence. Behavioral Disorders, 43, 269-273. Abstract Functional assessment and functional analysis are processes that have been applied successfully in work with people who have developmental disabilities, but they have been used rarely with students who experience emotional or behavioral disorders. In the present study, five students in elementary school programs for severe emotional disturbance participated in a comprehensive functional assessment process designed to yield a useful understanding of their desirable and undesirable behaviors. Interviews, record reviews, and direct classroom observations led to the development of individualized hypotheses regarding relationships between classroom events and the occurrence of target behaviors. Subsequently, direct manipulations (i.e., functional analyses) were conducted to test each of the hypotheses in the context of regularlyoccurring classroom activities. These analyses demonstrate important influences that certain classroom variables can exert over individual student’s behavior. The process and results are discussed with regard to the need for improved methods for understanding student responding, and the benefits that functional assessment can offer programs of educational and behavioral support. Over the past decade, procedures for managing desirable and undesirable behaviors have been refined through the development of individualized functional strategies of assessment and analysis. A growing literature has shown that careful pre-intervention assessments can lead to proactive positive programs that are effective in reducing problematic responding and that avoid reliance on punitive interactions (e.g., Carr, Robinson, & Palumbo, 1990) . A number of authors have underscored the importance of the assessment process and have stated that the effectiveness of positive interventions can be dependent upon the validity of these pre-intervention assessment data (Carr et al., 1990; Horner et al., 1990) . Indeed, the processes

FAQs

What is the purpose of functional assessment in this work?

It aims to identify functional relationships between environmental events and whether a target behavior occurs or does not occur, producing clear hypotheses about environment–behavior connections.

How were students’ individualized hypotheses developed?

Interviews, record reviews, and direct classroom observations were used to develop individualized hypotheses about relationships between classroom events and the occurrence of target behaviors.

What did the functional analyses do?

Direct manipulations (functional analyses) tested each hypothesis within regularly occurring classroom activities to determine important influences of classroom variables on students’ behavior.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ben