Functional behavior assessment (FBA)
Direct observation, interviews, and data on what happens before and after the behavior. The question is not how bad the behavior is. It is what the behavior accomplishes, and under which conditions it appears.
Evaluations
Behavior Assessment and Behavior Plans
When a behavior keeps happening, it is working for your child in some way. A functional behavior assessment identifies what the behavior is accomplishing: escape, attention, sensory relief, control over something unpredictable. A behavior plan then changes the conditions that keep producing it.
What this is
What this assessment is.
Behavior is communication. The assessment works out what is being communicated.
Behavior intervention plan (BIP)
A written plan a school team can implement: what changes in the environment and the instruction, what your child is taught to do instead, how staff respond in the moment, and how progress is measured.
Environment and instruction first
Most plans fail because they add consequences to a demand the child cannot yet meet. We start with what to change in the setting, the task, and the teaching, and build the response protocol on top of that.
What this page is not
This is not therapy and it is not a discipline plan. Nothing here is about making a child comply. It is assessment, and a written plan built for the school setting, with the parts that carry over at home.
Who it’s for
Who this is for.
By the time most parents call, the phone calls from school have a rhythm to them and the word “choices” has been used about a child who is not choosing any of this. It doesn’t have to be this hard. What is usually missing is an accurate read of what the behavior is for.
It may fit when:
- Your child is being sent out of class, and the referrals are accumulating.
- Suspensions have started, or you are being asked to pick your child up early.
- The IEP (Individualized Education Program) has a behavior goal and no plan behind it.
- There is a behavior plan in place and it is essentially a list of consequences.
- Behavior looks like refusal at school and exhaustion at home.
- Your child has an autism, ADHD, or anxiety profile and the behavior is being read as defiance.
- A manifestation determination meeting has been scheduled: the meeting that decides whether the behavior was a manifestation of your child’s disability.
What to expect
- 1
Tell me what’s happening
Start with the free 15‑minute consultation. You describe what is happening at school and what the school has tried, and I tell you whether a behavior assessment is the right service right now.
- 2
Records and baseline
With your consent, I review discipline and attendance records, incident data, the IEP or 504 plan, prior behavior assessments and plans, and any evaluation already on file.
- 3
Observation and interviews
Observation across settings and times of day, interviews with you, with school staff, and with your child where that is appropriate, and analysis of what precedes and follows the behavior.
- 4
The plan, in writing
A written plan naming the function of the behavior, replacement skills, environment and instruction changes, staff response steps, and the data the team will collect. Then a session to prepare you.
Our approach
Behavior serves a function. A child who bolts from the room at 10:40 every morning is telling you something specific about 10:40, and no consequence system will out‑argue that message. The assessment identifies the function, the setting events, and the skills that are not yet in place. The plan then changes the conditions rather than escalating the response. Assessment of learning and behavior is squarely inside what a Licensed Educational Psychologist does, and it is some of the most concrete work in this practice, because you can see whether it worked.
Independent means independent. We don’t soft‑pedal findings for the district and we don’t inflate them for the family. In behavior work that cuts in a direction parents do not always expect: sometimes the data shows the plan is sound and the implementation is inconsistent, and sometimes it shows a plan that was never going to work. Either way you get the finding, because a plan written on a wrong function fails all year and takes your child’s school experience with it.
The other thing worth saying plainly: the staff in that room usually want the behavior to change as much as you do. What is generally missing is not effort. It is an accurate function and a plan specific enough to follow on a hard Tuesday. When the plan is written that way, the tone of the meetings changes too. So does the amount of your week that is spent waiting for the phone to ring.
Who you’ll work with
Marcia Miller, Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP #3015), Nationally Certified School Psychologist.
You’ll work directly with the person who observes your child, and that same person writes the plan and prepares you for the meeting where it is adopted. Twenty‑plus years as a Licensed Educational Psychologist, twenty‑one years in school psychology, ten‑plus years leading special education departments and building programs, and ten‑plus years teaching graduate‑level assessment. I have written behavior plans from inside districts and reviewed them from outside, which is why I know what a team will actually carry out on a busy campus.
Logistics
- Observation and in‑person assessment: Fresno, Madera, Merced, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito Counties.
- Records review, interviews, and the plan review session can be conducted by secure video anywhere in California.
- Crescent cannot serve families outside California.
- School observation is arranged with the district and requires your written consent.
- Meeting attendance: when Crescent is retained for it, I can attend the meeting where the plan is discussed and speak to the assessment data and the plan itself. I do not attend as your representative.
- Keep the details off the public form. Reports, evaluations, discipline records, health information, and your child’s full story should not go through the contact form. Tell us what’s happening in a sentence or two and we will set up a secure way to send the rest.
- Call or text: (559) 287‑8351
Fees
Fees and insurance.
Crescent is a private‑pay practice. Cost is discussed with you before anything is scheduled, starting with the free 15‑minute consultation.
Scope is worked out on the consultation call. After that call you receive a Good Faith Estimate in writing that names the areas to be assessed and what the work involves, before anything is scheduled.
Common questions
What is a functional behavior assessment?
A structured assessment of what a behavior is accomplishing for a child. It gathers observation, interviews, and data on what happens before and after the behavior, and produces a stated function: escape, access, attention, sensory, or control. The plan is built on that function.
Can I ask my district to conduct an FBA?
Yes. You can request one in writing; the district decides whether to assess and must respond in writing. If the district conducts an FBA and you disagree with it, you have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at district expense. The district can grant that request, or deny it and file for due process to defend its own assessment.
Is a behavior plan the same as a discipline plan?
No. A discipline plan describes what happens after. A behavior intervention plan changes what happens before. It works on the environment, the demand, the instruction, and the skills being taught, so that the behavior has less work to do.
Does this mean rewards and consequences?
Reinforcement can be part of a plan, but a plan built only on rewards and consequences tends to stall, because it does not address why the behavior is happening. The useful part is usually the change to the setting and the teaching.
My child is being suspended. Can this help?
An accurate assessment and a plan tied to the actual function is what a team needs in order to respond differently, and it is what the record needs when eligibility, placement, or a manifestation determination is being discussed. It is worth starting the conversation early rather than after the pattern is set.
Do you provide the behavior services yourself, at home or at school?
Crescent conducts the assessment and writes the plan. Implementation belongs with the school team and the people who are with your child every day. Where you want support putting the home‑side pieces in place, that is parent consultation.
Related pages
- Related evaluations: Social and emotional assessment (ERMHS) · Psychoeducational assessments · IEEs
- Related services: Parent coaching · Special education consultation · Counseling
- Related concerns: Autism · ADHD · Anxiety · Dyslexia
- About / contact: About · Contact
Start with a conversation
Restore your peace.
You do not have to carry this by yourself. Tell us what’s happening, and let’s figure it out together.
Prefer to talk? Call or text (559) 287‑8351.
Marcia Lynn Miller, LEP #3015 · Independent practice
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