Functional Behavior Assessment in Maine: What It Is and How to Request One

Your child is getting sent to the office. Or refusing to enter the classroom. Or hitting, running, screaming — and the school's response is suspensions, reduced school days, or a call for a more restrictive placement. What is often missing from that conversation is the most important question: why is this behavior happening?

A Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is the process for answering that question. Under Maine's MUSER Chapter 101, an FBA is an important tool and a requirement in specific discipline circumstances — and understanding when and how to use it can be the difference between your child getting appropriate support and getting pushed into a more restrictive setting to make the school's day easier.

What a Functional Behavioral Assessment Does

An FBA is a systematic process for identifying the function — the underlying reason — driving a specific behavior. Rather than treating the symptom (the hitting, the refusal, the screaming), a well-conducted FBA identifies what the behavior is communicating or achieving for the child.

Behavior analysts work from the understanding that all behavior serves a function. Common functions include:

• Escape or avoidance — the behavior allows the child to get away from something aversive (a difficult task, sensory overwhelm, a stressful social situation)
• Attention seeking — the behavior reliably produces adult or peer attention
• Access to a preferred item or activity — the behavior results in getting something the child wants
• Automatic or sensory reinforcement — the behavior itself provides sensory input or relief

A well-conducted FBA involves structured observations across multiple settings, interviews with parents and teachers, review of behavioral data, and ABC (Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence) analysis. It is not a brief check-in or a teacher's verbal description of what happens. In Maine, where rural areas have shortages of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), the quality of FBAs can vary considerably.

What Maine Law Requires

Under MUSER IX.3.D, when a child exhibits behavior that impedes their learning or the learning of others, the IEP Team is required to consider positive behavioral interventions and supports. Best practice may warrant an FBA before drafting a Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP), and IDEA creates specific FBA/BIP duties in some discipline situations.

Beyond the general MUSER requirement, IDEA creates specific FBA obligations in the context of discipline:

Manifestation Determination Meetings: When disciplinary removals exceed 10 cumulative school days or otherwise constitute a change of placement, the district must convene a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) within 10 school days of the decision to change placement. If the team finds the behavior was a manifestation of the disability, the district must conduct or update an FBA, develop or revise the BIP, and return or maintain the student's placement as required.

Change of Placement for Disciplinary Reasons: A disciplinary change of placement triggers an MDR; FBA/BIP duties then depend on the manifestation finding and IDEA's discipline rules.

Parents do not have to wait for a disciplinary crisis to request an FBA. Parents can request one in writing, citing MUSER IX.3.D. The IEP Team must consider positive behavioral interventions and supports when behavior impedes learning. If a child's behavior is already disrupting their learning and the school has not conducted a proper FBA, that gap in the IEP is a legitimate advocacy point.

Abbreviated School Days: Maine's Warning Sign

Maine has a specific problem with abbreviated school days being used as a de facto discipline tool. MUSER VI.2.L establishes that children with disabilities are entitled to the same school day as their peers. An abbreviated day can only be initiated by the IEP Team for individual educational or medical needs — not as a behavioral management strategy.

Any abbreviated day lasting more than 10 days is legally considered a change in placement. The U.S. Department of Justice has reached civil rights settlements with Maine SAUs over exactly this practice — using shortened schedules to exclude behaviorally challenging students rather than providing appropriate support.

If your child is being sent home early repeatedly without documented individual educational or medical need and adequate behavioral supports, you can challenge whether the abbreviated day complies with MUSER and FAPE requirements. The Maine DOE's OSSIE (Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education) handles state complaints on FAPE denial, and Disability Rights Maine (DRM) handles systemic civil rights violations.

What a Good FBA Looks Like

An adequate FBA should include:

1. Clear behavioral definition — the target behavior is described in objective, observable, measurable terms (not "is disruptive" but "leaves assigned seat without permission an average of 8 times per 30-minute class period")

2. Data collection across settings — observations in multiple environments (classroom, specials, lunch, transitions) over multiple days, conducted by trained observers

3. Hypothesis statement — a clear, data-supported explanation of the function driving the behavior

4. Identification of setting events and antecedents — what conditions make the behavior more likely (hunger, fatigue, sensory input, specific academic demands, social situations)

5. Review of existing records — health history, prior evaluations, current IEP goal data, disciplinary records

If the school offers a FBA that consists primarily of teacher interviews and anecdotal observations, that is insufficient. If you disagree with the school's FBA findings, you have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation that includes a behavioral component, and under MUSER V.6, the district must either fund it or file for due process within 30 calendar days.

The FBA-to-BIP Connection

An FBA is only useful if it drives a Behavior Intervention Plan. A BIP must:

• Name specific target behaviors (and replacement behaviors the child will learn instead)
• Specify proactive strategies to prevent the triggering antecedents
• Include de-escalation techniques matched to the behavioral function
• Define reinforcement strategies to build the replacement skill
• Assign specific implementation responsibilities to named team members

A BIP that says "teacher will redirect student" without addressing the function is not a plan — it is a placeholder. If the BIP is not working, parents can request a reconvening of the IEP Team to revise it. Stagnation in behavioral data is a signal that either the function was misidentified or the plan is not being implemented with fidelity.

What to Do if Maine Schools Are Short on BCBAs

Aroostook, Penobscot, Oxford, and Washington counties face acute shortages of Board Certified Behavior Analysts. If a school cites workforce scarcity as a reason it cannot conduct a quality FBA, parents can:

• Request that the district contract with a BCBA from another district or a private provider
• Request telehealth-based behavioral consultation as a possible service-delivery option in the individual's IEP
• Seek an independent FBA through the IEE process

A staffing shortage does not by itself eliminate the district's obligation to deliver services in an IEP. Scarcity may explain a delay — it does not eliminate the obligation.

The Maine IEP & 504 Blueprint includes guidance on requesting FBAs under MUSER, evaluating whether an existing BIP is legally sufficient, and documenting behavior data to support your advocacy position. Behavior-related IEP disputes are among the most complicated in Maine special education — having a clear framework for the process matters.

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