CHAPTER 10

EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL, AND

BEHAVIORAL EDUCATION
ASSESSMENT
 CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
• Describe the purpose of a functional behavioral assessment
• Compare and contrast event recording, latency recording, and duration
recording
• Name the three types of interval recordings and when they are used
• Explain a sociogram and its purpose
INTRODUCTION TO EMOTIONAL,
SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL
ASSESSMENT
Assessing students’ emotional and social behavior and
character involves various types of evaluation procedures,
including observation, interviews, self-reports, environmental
assessments, behavior rating scales, functional behavioral
assessments, and sociograms.
An inability to learn on a consistent basis that cannot be
explained by intellectual capability, hearing or visual status,
or physical health anomalies
An inability or unwillingness to develop or maintain
satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers, teachers,
parents, or other adults
Extreme overreaction to minimally stressful situations over
a prolonged period of time
A general pervasive mood of sadness or depression
A tendency toward somatic complaints, pains, or excessive
fears associated with home, school, or social situations.
SECTION 1:
EMOTIONAL AND
BEHAVIORAL
DISORDERS
 EBD is a condition in which certain responses of students
are so different from generally accepted, age appropriate,
ethnic, or cultural norms that they adversely affect the
students’ performance in such areas as self-care, social
relationships, personal adjustments, academic progress,
class behavior, and work adjustment
 THE INDICATORS OF EBDS IN
STUDENTS INCLUDE THE
FOLLOWING:
1. Acting and reacting aggressively toward others
2. Physically abusing others
3. Purposefully destroying the property of others
4. Bullying, threatening, or intimidating others
5. Readily blaming others for their own misdeeds
6. Showing little or no empathy for the feelings or well-being of
others
 THERE ARE THREE MAIN
STEPS IN THE ASSESSMENT
PROCESS:
1. Gather relevant information about the student in both the social and
instructional environment
2. Assimilate the data to create an overall picture of the concerns
3. Develop short- and long-term goals and strategies for intervention
SECTION 2:
BEHAVIORAL
ANALYSIS
PROCEDURES
 Direct analysis of behavior focuses on the
actions surrounding misbehavior, ineffective
behavior, and inappropriate behavior. It is the
assessment method of choice when behavior is
clearly disruptive or dysfunctional.
Indirect assessment—which provides data
on attitudes and feelings that are not easily
identified during observation—is the
method to use when motivational and other
personal information is needed to shed light
on the problem.
A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR
INCLUDES (GUERIN & MAIER, 1983, PP. 304–305):

 The nature of misbehavior and the circumstances under which it occurs

 The student’s appropriate behavior and when it occurs
 The onset, circumstances, and duration of the problem
 The age level or circumstances under which the behavior might be
appropriate
 Patterns of good behavior and misbehavior
 The quality of a student’s interpersonal relations in various school and
outof-school situations
 The degree of student’s skill mastery level during periods of
appropriate versus inappropriate behavior
 Coping styles and how they are supported or reinforced in the
school setting
 The student’s willingness to participate in change
 Assessment of motivation, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and
abilities
 The student’s role in the class and at school during different
activities
 Home and peer support for misbehavior
Behaviors that may need to be assessed
generally fall into one of the following three
categories (guerin & maier, 1983, p. 305):
SECTION 3:
GENERAL AND
DIRECT
OBSERVATIONS
AND INTERVIEW
PROCEDURES
 This includes structured and unstructured settings
(e.g., the classroom, gym, playground, cafeteria, school
bus); at different times of the day (e.g., before and after
lunch); in different classes (e.g., reading, art, math,
music); and in various situations (e.g., working
independently, in small and large groups).
SECTION 4:
TYPES OF
DIRECT
OBSERVATIONS
 EVENT RECORDING
is a method of direct observation in which the observer
counts the number of times a target behavior occurs. This
type of observation is also known as frequency recording.
When the event recording is directly related to time, it is
known as rate recording (e.g., 12 times per minute, 4 times
per hour). Event recording can be used when the behavior
has a definite beginning and end, also referred to as a
discrete behavior (Alberto & Troutman, 2009).
DURATION RECORDING
is a type of direct measurement used to
record how long a specific behavior lasts.
LATENCY RECORDING
is similar to duration recording in that time
is a critical factor, although the focus is not
on how long the behavior occurred but rather
on how long it took before the student
actually engaged in the targeted behavior.
INTERVAL RECORDING
 ANECDOTAL RECORDS
They are narrative and dated reports used to measure
student progress, to record behaviors, and to analyze
patterns of behavior over time. These records are written by
the teacher based on direct observation and created in as
much detail as possible to describe the behavior and the
incident in which it occurred, including its context and
setting.
 Each entry can be brief but should contain the
date, time, description of the setting, context of the
situation, antecedent, and a summary of the noted
behavior or activity, including what was said or
done by the child or children involved (e.g., the
student being observed while responding to a
comment made by another student).
 INTERVIEWS
Two ways to obtain this information are through informal interviews
and self-report inventories (Pavri, 2001). Interviews should involve
multiple sources. Peers can provide information through informal
questioning, peer ratings, peer nominations, and social ratings. Parents
and other significant adults in the student’s life can provide information
about the student’s social behavior and adjustment in different
situations and settings (e.g., home, school, extracurricular settings).
 QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE USED IN THE
INTERVIEW PROCESS INCLUDE THE
FOLLOWING:
• How long have behavioral problems been evident?

• Is there a relationship between behavior and stressors (e.g,

developmental,environmental, situational)?

• Have previous attempts been made to resolve these problems? If so,

please describe.
SECTION 5:
FUNCTIONAL
BEHAVIORAL
ASSESSMENT
 involves direct observation to analyze students’
behavior in relation to social and physical aspects of
the environment (Janney & Snell, 2008). The
purpose of FBAs is to establish what behavioral
supports are needed for students who exhibit a
range of challenging behaviors, such as physical
and verbal outbursts, property destruction, and
disruptive behavior (e.g., temper tantrums, yelling).
 an FBA can provide additional information
to assist the IEP team in planning more
effective interventions. Information on the
student is gathered from various settings: the
school, the playground, on transportation, in
the community, and at home (Alper, Ryndak,
& Schloss, 2001).
 A FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL
ASSESSMENT SHOULD:
1. Clearly describe the problem behavior(s).
2. Identify the events, times, and situations that predict when the challenging
behaviors will and will not occur across the range of daily routines, including
• what was happening in the environment before the behavior occurred,
• what the actual behavior was, and
• what the student achieved as a result of the behavior.
3. Identify the consequences that maintain the challenging behaviors
(e.g., what the student is “getting out of”the behavior, such as
attention or avoidance).

4. Develop one or more statements or hypotheses describing specific

behaviors and include the types of situations in which the behaviors
occur, as well as the reinforcers that maintain the behaviors in these
situations.

5. Collect directly observed examples that support these

statements(Alliance, 2001).
 HOW TO CONDUCT A
FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT
1. Identify a behavior that needs to increase or decrease. Be sure it is observable
and measureable.
2. Define the problem behavior in concrete terms (e.g., tantrums, hitting others,
throwing objects). Describe why the behavior is problematic.
3. Gather specific information about the behavior of concern.
• What is happening before the behavior occurs?
• What is happening after the behavior occurs?
4. Collect data on possible causes of the behavior.
5. Develop a chart and collect baseline data (on at least 3
occasions).
6. Analyze the data.
7. Summarize the information:
• Environmental factors and/or antecedents that are setting the stage
for or triggering the problem behavior
• Consequences that are reinforcing the problem behavior
• Functions that are being served by the problem behavior
8. Develop a plausible hypothesis for the problem behavior.
CATEGORIES OF
FUNCTIONAL
ASSESSMENT
INFORMATION GATHERING
Gathering information involves talking to the
parents, former and current teachers, the student, and
individuals who know the student well. The
information may be obtained through formal
interviews, questionnaires, or rating scales to identify
which events in an environment are linked to the
specific problem behavior. The questioning should
cover the following issues.
• What challenging behaviors cause the concern?
• What events or physical conditions exist before the behavior occurs
that increase the behavior’s predictability?
• What result appears to motivate or maintain the challenging
behavior?
• What appropriate behaviors could produce the same result?
• What can be learned from previous behavioral support efforts about
strategies that are ineffective, partially effective, or effective for only
a short time?
DIRECT OBSERVATION
The observations can be done by teachers, support
staff, and/or family members. The observer should be
able to observe the student in natural settings and over
an extended period of time in order to observe incidents
of the target behavior, yet not be disruptive to the
student’s normal routine. The observer records when a
problem behavior occurs; the steps to follow include the
following:
• Define the target behavior(s).
• Identify what happened just before the behavior
occurred.
• Record what happened after the behavior occurred
(Taylor, 2009).
• Note—after 10 to 15 instances of observing the
behavior—his or her perceptions regarding the function
of the behavior and whether a pattern exists.
SECTION 6:
SOCIAL SKILLS
ASSESSMENT
 Social skills assessment should occur in the social
environments in which the student functions. Social skills
are acceptable learned behaviors that enable people to
interact with others in ways that elicit positive responses,
and are characterized by such behaviors as sharing,
helping, initiating communications, requesting help from
others, and giving compliments universally (Elliott,
Malecki, & Demaray, 2001). Assessment of social skills
generally includes student observations, interviews, teacher
rating scales, behavioral role-playing, and sociograms.
 SOCIAL SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT
 Social development begins at birth and progresses rapidly during the
preschool years (McClellan & Katz, 2001).
 The manner in which children act toward and are treated by their classmates,
whether cooperative/aggressive, helpful/demanding, and so on, seems to have
a substantial impact on the relationships they develop (Ladd, 2000).
 Adolescents’ school achievement is often directly related to their emotional
adjustment, which includes whether they experience depression, anxiety, peer
rejection, and/or isolation (Anderson, 2002; Kim &
 Adolescents’ school achievement is often directly related to their
emotional adjustment, which includes whether they experience
depression, anxiety, peer rejection, and/or isolation (Anderson,
2002; Kim & Yeh, 2002).
 Higher levels of emotional distress have been directly correlated to
lower school achievement (Cho, Hudley, & Back, 2003).
 Even children who are rejected by most classmates but who have
one close friend feel positively about school over time (Ladd, 2000).
 An important reason for identifying social skills problems is the
growing awareness that early social deficits of children and youth
may lead to significant social problems later in life (Crowley &
Merrell, 2003).
 SOCIOGRAMS
 Sociometric techniques, such as sociograms, have been used extensively to
study peer relationships and interactions (Cillessen, 2009).
 It is the most commonly used method of social skills assessment (Bukowski,
Sippola, Hoza, & Newcomb, 2000).
 . Sociograms are used to assess students’social status by graphically tracking
the manner and frequency of students’social interactions. Specifically,
sociograms track the number and types of overtures (e.g., verbal greeting, a
smile, a touch) a student makes toward other students during a specified time
period.
 . It is necessary to track interactions over an extended period of time in order
to determine whether a pattern exists.
USING THE SOCIOGRAM IS A
THREE-STEP PROCESS
INVOLVING:
(a) peer nomination
(b) sociogram development, and
(c) data analysis.
 The sociogram is developed by representing
the peer nominations pictorially; data analysis
consists of inspecting the sociogram to determine
which students are class leaders, members of
cliques, loners, or outcasts (Rubin, Bukowski, &
Laursen, 2009). The following is an example of
the procedure for developing and analyzing
sociograms.
HOW TO USE A SOCIOGRAM
1. At the same time of day for a period of two weeks, the teacher
spends a few minutes observing the students in class and
checking the level of social development for each student. (See
Figure 10–14.)

2. After the two-week period, the teacher totals the checks for each
student by adding down the column under each category, and then
adding all the totals from left to right to get a grand total.
3. The teacher divides the total number in each social category by
the grand total to get a percentage for that social level.

4. The percentages can then be plotted on an individual social

graph for each student. (See Figures 10–15 and 10–16.) This
information is useful for determining how each child is
functioning socially and whether his or her developmental levels
are age-appropriate (Guerin & Maier, 1983, pp. 41–4