Functional Behavior Assessment in Maryland: What COMAR Requires and How to Use the Results

When a child's behavior is disrupting their learning — or the learning of others — Maryland's special education regulations require the IEP team to act. That action takes the form of a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and, based on its findings, a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP). But in practice, many Maryland parents discover that the FBAs schools produce are superficial, the BIPs are generic, and neither actually changes what happens in the classroom.

Understanding what COMAR requires — and what a genuinely useful FBA and BIP look like — is the foundation for holding the school accountable.

What Triggers an FBA in Maryland

Under COMAR 13A.05.01 and aligned IDEA provisions, an FBA is required in two clear circumstances:

1. Behavior impeding learning: If a student exhibits behaviors that impede their own learning or the learning of others, the IEP team must consider using positive behavioral interventions and supports — and if those are warranted, the FBA is how they determine what interventions to use.

2. Disciplinary removal: If a student with a disability faces a disciplinary removal of more than 10 cumulative school days in a school year, or if the removal constitutes a change of placement, the school must conduct or review a functional behavioral assessment and develop a BIP. If a BIP already exists, the team must review and modify it as necessary. This is closely tied to the manifestation determination process — see maryland-manifestation-determination for more on that.

3. Immediate safety events: Maryland law also mandates that if a student is subjected to physical restraint or seclusion, there must be an immediate referral to an IEP team or pupil services team. This often triggers an FBA review even if one hasn't been formally requested.

Parents can — and should — proactively request an FBA in writing if their child's behavioral challenges are not being addressed effectively. Submit the request to the school principal and IEP chairperson, just as you would a request for a special education evaluation. The school is required to respond.

What a Real FBA Actually Involves

A functional behavior assessment is a systematic process for identifying the function — the "why" — behind a specific problem behavior. Behavior is always communication; an FBA is the school's attempt to decode what the child is communicating and under what conditions the behavior occurs.

A genuine FBA is not a one-page checklist. It includes:

Direct observation: A qualified professional (typically a behavior analyst, school psychologist, or special educator with behavioral training) observes the student across multiple settings and multiple days. A single 20-minute observation is insufficient for any complex behavioral profile.

Interviews: Structured interviews with teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, and where appropriate the student, to identify patterns, antecedents (what happens before the behavior), and consequences (what happens after).

Record review: Incident reports, previous behavioral data, disciplinary records, and prior BIPs are examined for historical patterns.

Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) data collection: Direct observational data is recorded using an ABC framework — what happened immediately before the behavior, the behavior itself in specific terms, and what followed. This data identifies the function.

The four most common behavioral functions are: attention (the behavior gets adult or peer attention), escape/avoidance (the behavior removes the student from a demand or aversive situation), access (the behavior gains access to a preferred item or activity), and sensory/automatic (the behavior produces sensory reinforcement independent of social consequences).

If the FBA report you receive doesn't clearly state the identified function — with data supporting that conclusion — it is not a complete FBA. Document that concern in writing before the IEP team proceeds to writing a BIP.

How a Maryland BIP Should Be Written

The Behavior Intervention Plan is built directly from the FBA findings. A BIP that doesn't match the identified behavioral function is not a BIP — it's a punishment schedule dressed up in academic language.

A legally sound and practically effective BIP in a Maryland IEP includes:

The target behavior defined in observable, measurable terms: Not "Student engages in disruptive behavior" but "Student leaves designated workspace without permission, occurring an average of 4 times per day during independent work tasks."

The identified function: Clearly stated based on FBA data — for example, "Behavior appears to serve an escape function, allowing the student to avoid difficult independent reading tasks."

Antecedent interventions: Changes to the environment or instruction before the behavior occurs. If escape is the function, antecedent interventions might include pre-teaching difficult vocabulary, reducing task length, providing a break schedule, or offering advance notice of transitions.

Replacement behavior: The student must be explicitly taught an appropriate behavior that serves the same function. If the child runs to escape demands, teach them to request a break using words, a card, or an AAC device. The replacement behavior must be equally efficient at achieving the function — otherwise the problem behavior will persist.

Consequence strategies: What school staff will do following both the target problem behavior and the replacement behavior. Consequences should differentially reinforce the replacement behavior (meaningful positive reinforcement) while minimizing the reinforcing value of the problem behavior.

Crisis response protocol: For behaviors that pose safety risks, the BIP must specify exactly how staff will respond — including who contacts whom, what de-escalation strategies are used, when restraint or seclusion is permissible (if at all), and when parents are notified.

Data collection plan: The BIP should specify how progress will be measured, by whom, and how often. A BIP without ongoing data collection is impossible to evaluate.

What Maryland Law Says About Restraint and Seclusion

Maryland has specific, strict reporting requirements for the use of physical restraint and seclusion in schools. Every instance of physical restraint or seclusion must be reported to MSDE. The state's guidelines strongly emphasize that BIPs must focus on positive behavioral supports — restraint and seclusion are not behavioral interventions and should not appear as BIP strategies. If a BIP you review includes seclusion as a planned behavioral consequence, push back immediately and request that the team document the evidence base for that approach.

The Problem with Generic BIPs in Maryland Schools

Parent and advocacy communities in Maryland — particularly those dealing with Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) and Baltimore City — have documented a pattern where BIPs are written as generic, boilerplate documents. A BIP that lists "student will be reminded of expectations" as a consequence strategy, with no function-matched replacement behavior and no data collection plan, provides no meaningful protection for the student and no legal accountability for the school.

If the BIP attached to your child's IEP is generic, you have the right to request an IEP amendment meeting to revise it. Bring specific written objections: point to the FBA data, identify the stated function, and ask the team to explain how each BIP strategy maps onto that function.

If the school's FBA was inadequate, you can also request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) that specifically covers behavioral functioning. See maryland-independent-educational-evaluation for how to do this at public expense.

Using the FBA/BIP Process Proactively

The most effective Maryland families don't wait for a behavioral crisis to trigger the FBA process. If your child's IEP lists behavioral goals but has no FBA-based BIP, and behavior is a significant factor in their educational performance, write to the IEP chairperson requesting that the team convene to address the behavioral component. Under COMAR, the IEP team has the authority to meet at any time — annual review dates are minimums, not maximums.

For parents navigating the FBA/BIP process for the first time — including how to challenge an inadequate assessment, request revisions to a non-functional BIP, or use the disciplinary protections that run alongside the FBA requirement — the Maryland IEP & 504 Blueprint covers each step with plain-language COMAR references and scripts for common school-district pushback.

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