Functional Behavior Assessment in Virginia: What Parents Need to Know

Your child has been sent home again. Or suspended. Or they've had another meltdown in the classroom that the school can't explain. The response is usually more punishment, more calls home — but rarely a systematic look at why the behavior is happening. That systematic look is exactly what a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) is designed to provide, and in Virginia, it is your right to request one.

What Is a Functional Behavior Assessment?

An FBA is a data-gathering process designed to identify the root cause — the "function" — of a student's challenging behavior. Behaviors do not occur in a vacuum. They are typically serving a purpose for the child: escaping a demanding task, gaining attention, accessing a preferred item, or responding to sensory overload.

An effective FBA in Virginia involves:

• Direct observation of the student in the settings where the behavior occurs
• Review of school records, incident reports, and prior evaluations
• Interviews with teachers, parents, and (when appropriate) the student
• Analysis of antecedents (what happens immediately before the behavior) and consequences (what happens immediately after)
• Identification of the function the behavior is serving

The output of an FBA is not a disciplinary plan — it is a hypothesis about why the behavior is happening, which then drives the development of a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP).

When Virginia Law Requires an FBA

Virginia's regulations under 8 VAC 20-81 specify situations where schools are legally required to conduct an FBA:

Disciplinary situations: When a student with a disability is removed from their current placement for more than 10 cumulative school days in a school year, or when a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) concludes that the behavior IS a manifestation of the disability, the school must conduct an FBA (if one has not already been conducted) and implement or review a BIP.

IEP development: When a student's behavior is impeding their own learning or the learning of others, the IEP team is required to consider — and often conduct — a functional behavior assessment and develop a BIP with positive behavioral supports.

Change in placement: Before moving a student to a more restrictive setting due to behavioral concerns, best practice (and often regulatory requirement) dictates that the IEP team have current FBA data to guide the decision.

Outside these mandated situations, you can still request an FBA in writing at any time. If your child's behavior is affecting their access to education and you believe the current IEP's behavioral supports are insufficient, a written request for an FBA is appropriate and the school must respond.

How to Request an FBA in Virginia

Write a letter to the special education director that states:

"I am requesting a Functional Behavior Assessment for [child's name]. [Child's name]'s behavior — specifically [describe: aggression, elopement, school refusal, emotional dysregulation] — is impeding [his/her/their] access to their educational program, and I believe a comprehensive FBA is necessary to develop appropriate positive behavioral supports."

Because an FBA is part of a special education evaluation, the school must obtain your written consent before proceeding, and the results must be shared with you. If the FBA is conducted as part of an initial evaluation or reevaluation, the 65-business-day timeline applies.

What Should a Good Virginia FBA Include?

Many Virginia parents receive an FBA that consists of little more than a teacher's narrative summary and a checklist. That is not sufficient. A legally defensible and clinically useful FBA should include:

• ABC data (Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence) collected across multiple settings and multiple observers
• Scatter plot data identifying patterns — time of day, subject matter, transition points where behavior is most frequent
• Structured interviews with all key adults in the child's environment, including parents
• Functional hypothesis statement — a specific, data-driven conclusion about the function of the behavior (e.g., "Johnny engages in task refusal behaviors that function to escape non-preferred writing tasks")
• Consideration of sensory needs, particularly for students with autism or sensory processing differences

If the FBA you receive does not include these elements, you can request an Independent Educational Evaluation of the behavioral assessment at public expense, following the same IEE process available for any school-conducted evaluation you disagree with.

From FBA to Behavior Intervention Plan

The FBA's sole purpose is to drive an effective BIP. A BIP developed without a solid FBA is guesswork. Under Virginia regulations and best practice, the BIP must:

• Address the identified function of the behavior (not just suppress the behavior itself)
• Include antecedent interventions — changes to the environment that prevent the behavior from being triggered
• Specify replacement behaviors — what the student should do instead, that serves the same function
• Define reinforcement strategies — how the student will be rewarded for the replacement behavior
• Identify crisis response procedures that are safe, dignity-preserving, and compliant with Virginia's restraint and seclusion regulations (8 VAC 20-750)

A BIP that consists only of consequences for misbehavior — detention, loss of recess, behavior contracts — without addressing function is unlikely to work and may be legally insufficient.

Virginia's Restraint and Seclusion Regulations

Virginia's 8 VAC 20-750 governs physical restraint and seclusion for students with disabilities. These interventions may never be used as punishment or for staff convenience. If your child's school has used restraint or seclusion:

• You must be notified on the same day
• A written incident report must be generated within two school days
• If used twice in a single school year, the IEP/504 team must convene within 10 days to review the BIP and consider alternatives

If restraint or seclusion is being used repeatedly without a comprehensive FBA and evidence-based BIP, that is a serious compliance concern you can raise through the VDOE state complaint process.

Getting Support

PEATC (Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center) has free resources on behavioral supports and positive behavior intervention strategies in Virginia's schools. The dLCV (disAbility Law Center of Virginia) handles systemic and individual cases involving inappropriate use of restraint and seclusion.

The Virginia IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a guide to requesting and reviewing FBAs and BIPs, along with documentation templates for tracking behavioral incidents and communicating concerns to the school team in writing.

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