Medical diagnosis of childhood-onset bipolar disorder
Read the case scenario on Tommy. Using the information presented on Tommy. complete the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). Make sure your writing is legible.
Using the information presented on Tommy, complete the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA). Make sure your writing is legible.
Case Study I - Tommy (ElementaryiMiddle School)
Background information
Tommy is an l0-year-old boy who enjoys baseball, swimming, and baking. He does not like art
activities or large crowds. Tommy has a good sense of humor but he can be irritable. He is
fearful around new people and may become quiet and more reserved in those situations. His
parents and teachers talk him through exposure to new people. Tommy is highly verbal and
speaks in sentences. Tommy is above grade level in reading. I{e enjoys reading, and his favorite
book is the Percy Jackson Lightning Thief. According to Tommy, he dislikes waiting. Most of
his writing is simple sentences with a lot of grammatical errors and little detail. He also
struggles with math, in which he is approximately 2-grade levels below. He has recently learned
how to pitch left-handed. Tommy has a medical diagnosis of childhood-onset bipolar disorder
and an educational classification of severe emotional and behavioral disorder. He takes
medication for bipolar disorder on a daily basis. He is currently on a new medication. Tommy
has a new baby brother who is 5 months old.
Target Behavior
Tommy has been increasingly disruptive the past few months. He has verbal outbursts and
pushes classroom materials onto the floor after being given an academic task during quiet work
time. His verbal outbursts include yelling that he is not doing the assignment, telling a student to
shut up, using profanity, and calling student's names. His teachers do feel that they spend about
an hour per day dealing with the behavior, and they usually respond to Tommy's behavior by
scolding him or by initiating an office referral.
School Classroom Environment
Tommy attends a regular K-5 public elementary school. Tommy is new to the school. Torrey
is in the 5th grade. There are 19 students in his homeroom classrooms. Tommy has 2 segments in
a resource SPED class with 5 other students. Tommy also has i co-teaching segment for math.
His teacher is very organized and structured. She is loving and understanding with regards to
Tommy's needs.
Previous Interventions
Tommy has attended your school for two months now. Initially, he seemed to acclimate to the
new school well. However, things have gotten more difficult for him lately. Tommy's teacher
set up some rewards for him to earn if he does not engage in disruptive behavior. His
behavior has not improved and it has been difficult for his team to identi$ "why" he is engaging
in the behavior. There is nota consensus among his team that the rewards are the appropriate
intervention for his disruptive behavior. His team agpeed that they should conduct an FBA and
develop a BIP.