Summary: An FBA is how the team figures out why a behavior keeps happening. This page walks you through the four functions of behavior (attention, escape, tangibles, and automatic), the three ways teams gather information (indirect, descriptive, and functional analysis), and where you fit in. As an RBT you usually collect the data and run the plan, not design the analysis, so knowing the language and your boundaries matters for both the exam and the job.
Here's the whole idea in one sentence: behavior happens because it works. An FBA is the structured way the team finds out what it's working to get, or get out of. Once you know the function, the intervention almost designs itself. Skip the function and you're just guessing, and a plan built on a guess usually makes things worse before anyone realizes why.
You won't typically design an FBA as an RBT. That's BCBA territory. But you'll be the one collecting most of the data it runs on, so you need to understand what each piece is for and what the answers mean.
The four functions of behavior
Almost every behavior you'll ever assess boils down to one of four functions. A handy memory hook is SEAT: Sensory, Escape, Attention, Tangible. Learn these cold. The exam tests them constantly, and on the job they're the lens you'll look through every single session.
The thing to hold onto is that function is about the consequence that keeps the behavior going, not what the behavior looks like. Two kids can scream for completely different reasons. Same topography, different function, totally different plan.
That's the free preview of Functional Behavior Assessment. The complete guide, plus all 851 practice questions and 3 full exams, is in the study pack and the book.