Functional analysis and treatment of problem behavior in early education classrooms.

Four preschoolers kept hitting, screaming, or running out of the room. Teachers wanted to know why.

The researchers ran a full functional analysis right in the classroom. They tested if the kids acted out to get teacher attention, toys, or to escape tasks. No one left the room.

All four kids showed the same pattern. Problem behavior soared when it earned praise, toys, or help from the teacher.

The team then used that data. They taught the kids to ask nicely and gave brief time-out for hitting. Problem behavior dropped fast and good requests grew.

Gerow et al. (2020) took the idea home. Parents ran a 2-hour FA in their living rooms and got the same clear answers. Together the two studies show FA works in both school and home without fancy gear.

Rajaraman et al. (2022) updated the method. They used a shorter Practical FA and still got treatments that worked, even when two observers disagreed on the data. Their paper builds on Prigge et al. (2013) by proving you don’t need a perfect FA to get a good plan.

Older papers like Fox et al. (2001) used checklists instead of live tests. The classroom FA adds real-time proof that direct observation beats questionnaires when behavior happens often.

You can run a full FA during circle time without pulling kids out. Do brief 5-minute test sessions, watch the graph, then teach a replacement skill. Teachers keep teaching, kids stay in class, and problem behavior fades.