Describe
an incident of working with a special child in your classroom.What advice/guidance did you receive from
your teacher or another school professional?
In my 3rd grade classroom there is a child who has behavior problems. He is on an IEP but also has a behavior plan. He frequently talks out of turn, asks questions which was discussed 10 minutes previously, talking with others around the room and getting sidetracked, getting angry/frustrated and ripping his paper, and the biggest issue we are dealing with currently is he gets up and leaves the room during transition time, or will go to the bathroom but ends up missing somewhere around the school.
Just today, he was 20 minutes late for school, because he came in with all the other kids but did not come right to the room. Instead he was walking around the school, etc. After our writing lesson the students were putting their drafts away in their folders and putting them in their window boxes, he walked out of the classroom and was missing when all students were back at their seats. I found him down the hall looking at another class' coat hooks. When we came in from lunch recess he did not return to the class, and again was missing and we found him in the upstairs bathroom by the kindergarten classes (there are two boys bathrooms on the floor we are on). I discussed this issue with my teacher, the chart we had been using is not working well. We had a chart that he would get a check for during each period of the class. We are going to make it more detailed and add more information about the issue on it such as, I entered the school and went right to my classroom, I got my snack and came right back in, I went to bathroom and went right there and came right back quickly, etc. We are discussed with his teacher from last year and she said she had similar issues last year and came to an agreement with him and his parents that if he did come to class and was found wondering the halls he would have to miss his recess. This child picked this on his own because it is something important to him and felt that if he knew he wouldn't get his recess he would be more inclined to think twice and not leave. We have sat down and talked with him and his social worker, and emailed his parents so it is time to have the meeting and see if we go the recess route or what would be good for him. Since he gets very frustrated I was advised when something isn't done right and he get frustrated to let him know that it isn't a big deal and that I'm not worried about it so he shouldn't be worried about it and to keep moving on and it is okay. Talking calmly and making things more positive is very important to working with him. Unfortunately it hasn't worked to well with his struggles of staying in the classroom but hopefully we can come up with a new plan of attack.
Have you tried telling him how worried you all get when he is not where he is suppose to be? That if he needs a walk to tell you and either a teacher or another student can go with him and that it has to be for no longer than ... minutes. Also, ask him why he does this. Missing recess is a punishment which doesn't always work. Perhaps you could think of a way to give him some sort of treat if he doesn't do that for a day....
There is one child in my class that seems to have a particularly difficult time with writing. It is not the penmanship or the fact that this child can not spell, etc. It is the whole process. The first day of journals this child just began to pull his/her hair, pull on his/her face and say " I can't" I tried sitting with the child and talking it out. I asked this child to give me a sentence and I would write it down and he/she could copy it. I then suggested that I would write the sentence for them and they could write the next sentence. The pulling on his/her face just got worse. I asked the teacher what to do. She went to talk to the student and suggested that if he/she didn't write just one sentence, then he/she could stay in from recess with us and work on it. This did not help at all. After much prodding and encouraging we finally got the child to write one sentence. However, the situation has not rectified. This child has transferred to the school so we do not have much background information. From what we understand, the school this child transferred from was VERY strict, so we have been stressing that there is no right or wrong and that mistakes are ok. So far this hasn't made any difference. Sometimes this child will just sit down and write a couple of sentences, but most of the time we have this very strong reaction. The other professionals are having just as much difficulty finding the key. We are really stressing the mistakes are great approach but this child is not buying it. I have even made mistakes and pointed them out myself, but that hasn't seemed to help. Hopefully we will find the key to help this little child.
You might just ask the child what he would rather do than write and let him do it if it fits with school. My guess is that when he feels comfortable writing, he will.
Since the beginning of school there is one child in particular that has on multiple times flat out ignored me, ignored my instruction or screamed his response at me. I have worked very hard on developing a strong relationship with this student. During snack I often times sit at his table getting to know him better, throughout the day I try to catch him displaying the expected behaviors and praising him, I also do my best to give him special tasks in the classroom. Even with all of this the student still on occasion refuses to listen to when I give instructions or screams at me especially when he is being corrected for unexpected behaviors. I have done everything I could think of on my own to work on this issue with this student but had to ask the classroom teacher for help as I truly want this situation to get better for both me and the student. My classroom teacher was very helpful in confirming that I was taking the proper steps to work with this student. She reminded me to keep in mind that this particular student last year wouldn’t even talk to you if you corrected him and instead would bolt out of the room crying or screaming. She reminded me to not take his behavior personally and that he is working on his listening with all teachers and on showing expected behaviors for them. My teacher told me to be consistent with my reinforcement of what behaviors I do and do not want to see so the student is aware of my expectations. She also told me to pick and choose my battles with him as sometimes he would then end up having to be spoken to every minute/hour of the school day. I will continue to work with this student in regards to listening to me by continuing to be consistent, picking my battles and working on the relationship and positive reinforcement. I’m sure that should I continue to do this over time his behavior will change and he will listen to my instructions and without screaming
I think the classroom teacher's comment about trying to not take thia student's behavior toward you personally is important. I have had to try to not a particular student's behavior toward me personally this year as well. I am going to blog about my work with him. It's SO hard though because of course we want all of our students to like us.
Have you tried talking to him and asking why he behaves in this way? I assume he doesn't do this with the teacher. Also, try being stern but kind. And, as you suggested, this could take some patience on your part to see a difference.
We have a very active, funny, kind, hyper, little boy in first grade that can not sit still or control his some actions. He shouts out and gets side tracked almost immediately when we begin a lesson or desk work. He is so sweet and caring and very reasonable- which is why we are so lucky, however, he is constantly interrupting and pushing his limits. Every morning he stops in the kindergarden classroom to greet his teacher from the year before. We agreed to try to find a way for this to work, as we didn't want to crush his spirits. The kindergarden teacher that he visits has agreed to receive a quiet hello every morning. Before he comes into the room he makes his way to her room and greets her. Although for the first week or so he was quite disruptive and extremely loud, we have managed to have more quiet greetings than loud ones. At first we were not sure what to do and were considering having him head directly to class in hopes he would follow the directions, but after checking in with the teacher and after a conversation how to be respectful when greeting a classroom, he has been able to visit regularly. We also had (have) a problem with his entrances into the classroom. He would walk in every morning and scream "I'm here!!". With management every morning (reminders, stepping out and trying again) he has had a successful week so far and has entered without shouting his arrival to the entire class. This particular student also shouts out constantly and attempts to use the bathroom during whole class teaching time. We are hoping that constant reminders to the whole class about what is expected in first grade will remind him that he is not expected to shout out in class. We don't want to single him out but are hoping to lessen this behavior early on. In the past I've worked with students who are on behavior charts for mean, disrespectful, and violent behavior. This is not the case with this student, which is why we are able to manage it with no behavior charts etc. The advice I got about this student is if this occurs when I'm teaching, to continue the lesson and if him or any other student shouts out during the lesson being taught, continue and ignore the shout outs while reminding that in first grade we raise our hands if we have a question or comment. So far we have seen little accomplishments. This particular student tries to follow through with what we are asking of him because he is so willing to try. We are lucky in this sense and will hopefully continue to be lucky throughout first grade!!
I have a third grader who is on an IEP for auditory processing challenges. She is a sweet girl, who loves to share stories. She often needs prompts to keep her focused on her work and needs instruction in several different ways (writing, speaking, reading, etc) for her to understand what needs to be done. I have found when I check-in with her throughout a task, it helps her stay on track. However, when the task is difficult, she is almost always unfocused. She loves to chat with anyone and anything that is near her. This often keeps her distracted from her work. Her attention is one part that prevents her from reaching her full potential. I have been working very closely with her on her second problem: responsibility and ownership. In our class, we have a folder that goes home every night with homework and/or notices. She has forgotten the folder more times than she has brought it to school. This means she is also not completing the daily homework. As we know, the issue of homework is up for discussion, but that is not the point. The purpose of homework and bringing the folder to and from school is a big responsibility for a third grader. In third grade, students take a big step and gain many more responsibilities. The first few times this girl forgot her homework folder, I encouraged her to bring it the following day. Then after a few more missing homework folder days, I asked her to help me find a good strategy that would help her remember her work. She was glad to have support and my attention and together we came up with a plan. Since, we have had three more mini-meetings about different ways to remember her work. I'm not sure if the work is challenging and that is the reason she is not doing it; or if she is just not taking the responsibility to care for her work. I have come up with strategies for both predictions I have formed. Yet, even today, she did not bring her folder to school. I was trying to avoid the next step of calling home, but it may be time for that?
You might be right about the next step - or you might just need to give her more time. I don't think it's ever wrong to call home as long as you can start off by saying something positive about the child.
One of the boys in our classroom struggles a lot with the math concepts we are working on (multiplication with larger numbers and division). Both the classroom teacher and I spend time each week working with him in small groups and 1:1 to help support his learning. I've shown and walked through a number of strategies to solve a problem but none seem to be sticking. Although he is not on an IEP both this year and last year's teacher suspect he does have difficulty processing information.
It's difficult to see this kid feel discouraged and frustrated that he comes up with an answer that is way off base and I'm not sure what his thinking is. I've asked the lead teacher what to do and we will likely be consulting one of the special education teachers to get some pointers for helping our little man. He has a pretty good grasp of addition, subtraction, and his multiplication tables but without a firm foundation in multiplication and division he'll definitely struggle through the rest of 5th grade.
I'll keep you posted as to how we (and he) progress!
Try and get him to do a problem with you and have him tell you exactly what he is thinking and doing. That should give you the information you need. There use to be a math game that did this, but I don't think it exists any more.
We have a little boy in our class who displays a lot of defiant behaviors. He’ll ask to go to the bathroom and we’ll get reports that he is in there wetting the floor and waiting to see if other kids will come in slip on the wet floor. He thinks this is funny. He asks to go to the bathroom a lot, which his mother was not happy to find out about, so to limit the amount of times he is able to use the bathroom in one day my supervising teacher created a bathroom chart for him. She made this with the help of the assistant principal and school counselor, as we have learned that he has a trauma history…this information would’ve been very helpful to have had before the school year actually began. Due to his trauma history, it is best for him to feel in control without actually giving him all the control. With the bathroom chart, he is allowed to go to the bathroom 5 times each day but he can pick when to go. He has trust issues and although he is developing a healthy relationship with my supervising teacher he is taking a while to warm up to me. The day I subbed for my teacher he gave me a note that read- “you’re a stupid teacher but face.” I told him the note made me very sad because I really liked him and would never call him mean names. I told him an apology letter would make me feel better. I got one the next day, only because my supervising teacher got on him about writing it. Believe it or not, he has been warming up to me more since this incident, but I am constantly looking for ways to build a relationship with him.
In my 3rd grade classroom there is a child who has behavior problems. He is on an IEP but also has a behavior plan. He frequently talks out of turn, asks questions which was discussed 10 minutes previously, talking with others around the room and getting sidetracked, getting angry/frustrated and ripping his paper, and the biggest issue we are dealing with currently is he gets up and leaves the room during transition time, or will go to the bathroom but ends up missing somewhere around the school.
ReplyDeleteJust today, he was 20 minutes late for school, because he came in with all the other kids but did not come right to the room. Instead he was walking around the school, etc. After our writing lesson the students were putting their drafts away in their folders and putting them in their window boxes, he walked out of the classroom and was missing when all students were back at their seats. I found him down the hall looking at another class' coat hooks. When we came in from lunch recess he did not return to the class, and again was missing and we found him in the upstairs bathroom by the kindergarten classes (there are two boys bathrooms on the floor we are on). I discussed this issue with my teacher, the chart we had been using is not working well. We had a chart that he would get a check for during each period of the class. We are going to make it more detailed and add more information about the issue on it such as, I entered the school and went right to my classroom, I got my snack and came right back in, I went to bathroom and went right there and came right back quickly, etc. We are discussed with his teacher from last year and she said she had similar issues last year and came to an agreement with him and his parents that if he did come to class and was found wondering the halls he would have to miss his recess. This child picked this on his own because it is something important to him and felt that if he knew he wouldn't get his recess he would be more inclined to think twice and not leave. We have sat down and talked with him and his social worker, and emailed his parents so it is time to have the meeting and see if we go the recess route or what would be good for him. Since he gets very frustrated I was advised when something isn't done right and he get frustrated to let him know that it isn't a big deal and that I'm not worried about it so he shouldn't be worried about it and to keep moving on and it is okay. Talking calmly and making things more positive is very important to working with him. Unfortunately it hasn't worked to well with his struggles of staying in the classroom but hopefully we can come up with a new plan of attack.
Have you tried telling him how worried you all get when he is not where he is suppose to be? That if he needs a walk to tell you and either a teacher or another student can go with him and that it has to be for no longer than ... minutes. Also, ask him why he does this. Missing recess is a punishment which doesn't always work. Perhaps you could think of a way to give him some sort of treat if he doesn't do that for a day....
DeleteFor L-J
ReplyDeleteThere is one child in my class that seems to have a particularly difficult time with writing. It is not the penmanship or the fact that this child can not spell, etc. It is the whole process. The first day of journals this child just began to pull his/her hair, pull on his/her face and say " I can't" I tried sitting with the child and talking it out. I asked this child to give me a sentence and I would write it down and he/she could copy it. I then suggested that I would write the sentence for them and they could write the next sentence. The pulling on his/her face just got worse. I asked the teacher what to do. She went to talk to the student and suggested that if he/she didn't write just one sentence, then he/she could stay in from recess with us and work on it. This did not help at all. After much prodding and encouraging we finally got the child to write one sentence. However, the situation has not rectified. This child has transferred to the school so we do not have much background information. From what we understand, the school this child transferred from was VERY strict, so we have been stressing that there is no right or wrong and that mistakes are ok. So far this hasn't made any difference. Sometimes this child will just sit down and write a couple of sentences, but most of the time we have this very strong reaction. The other professionals are having just as much difficulty finding the key. We are really stressing the mistakes are great approach but this child is not buying it. I have even made mistakes and pointed them out myself, but that hasn't seemed to help. Hopefully we will find the key to help this little child.
You might just ask the child what he would rather do than write and let him do it if it fits with school. My guess is that when he feels comfortable writing, he will.
ReplyDeleteFor Mary
ReplyDeleteSince the beginning of school there is one child in particular that has on multiple times flat out ignored me, ignored my instruction or screamed his response at me. I have worked very hard on developing a strong relationship with this student. During snack I often times sit at his table getting to know him better, throughout the day I try to catch him displaying the expected behaviors and praising him, I also do my best to give him special tasks in the classroom. Even with all of this the student still on occasion refuses to listen to when I give instructions or screams at me especially when he is being corrected for unexpected behaviors. I have done everything I could think of on my own to work on this issue with this student but had to ask the classroom teacher for help as I truly want this situation to get better for both me and the student.
My classroom teacher was very helpful in confirming that I was taking the proper steps to work with this student. She reminded me to keep in mind that this particular student last year wouldn’t even talk to you if you corrected him and instead would bolt out of the room crying or screaming. She reminded me to not take his behavior personally and that he is working on his listening with all teachers and on showing expected behaviors for them. My teacher told me to be consistent with my reinforcement of what behaviors I do and do not want to see so the student is aware of my expectations. She also told me to pick and choose my battles with him as sometimes he would then end up having to be spoken to every minute/hour of the school day.
I will continue to work with this student in regards to listening to me by continuing to be consistent, picking my battles and working on the relationship and positive reinforcement. I’m sure that should I continue to do this over time his behavior will change and he will listen to my instructions and without screaming
I think the classroom teacher's comment about trying to not take thia student's behavior toward you personally is important. I have had to try to not a particular student's behavior toward me personally this year as well. I am going to blog about my work with him. It's SO hard though because of course we want all of our students to like us.
DeleteHave you tried talking to him and asking why he behaves in this way? I assume he doesn't do this with the teacher. Also, try being stern but kind. And, as you suggested, this could take some patience on your part to see a difference.
ReplyDeleteWe have a very active, funny, kind, hyper, little boy in first grade that can not sit still or control his some actions. He shouts out and gets side tracked almost immediately when we begin a lesson or desk work. He is so sweet and caring and very reasonable- which is why we are so lucky, however, he is constantly interrupting and pushing his limits. Every morning he stops in the kindergarden classroom to greet his teacher from the year before. We agreed to try to find a way for this to work, as we didn't want to crush his spirits. The kindergarden teacher that he visits has agreed to receive a quiet hello every morning. Before he comes into the room he makes his way to her room and greets her. Although for the first week or so he was quite disruptive and extremely loud, we have managed to have more quiet greetings than loud ones. At first we were not sure what to do and were considering having him head directly to class in hopes he would follow the directions, but after checking in with the teacher and after a conversation how to be respectful when greeting a classroom, he has been able to visit regularly. We also had (have) a problem with his entrances into the classroom. He would walk in every morning and scream "I'm here!!". With management every morning (reminders, stepping out and trying again) he has had a successful week so far and has entered without shouting his arrival to the entire class.
ReplyDeleteThis particular student also shouts out constantly and attempts to use the bathroom during whole class teaching time. We are hoping that constant reminders to the whole class about what is expected in first grade will remind him that he is not expected to shout out in class. We don't want to single him out but are hoping to lessen this behavior early on.
In the past I've worked with students who are on behavior charts for mean, disrespectful, and violent behavior. This is not the case with this student, which is why we are able to manage it with no behavior charts etc.
The advice I got about this student is if this occurs when I'm teaching, to continue the lesson and if him or any other student shouts out during the lesson being taught, continue and ignore the shout outs while reminding that in first grade we raise our hands if we have a question or comment.
So far we have seen little accomplishments. This particular student tries to follow through with what we are asking of him because he is so willing to try. We are lucky in this sense and will hopefully continue to be lucky throughout first grade!!
oops- I'm embarrassed!! I thought I was editing, but instead published. Sorry for the typos!!!
DeleteSounds like you are doing all the right things - just be patient!
DeleteFor Kristen:
ReplyDeleteI have a third grader who is on an IEP for auditory processing challenges. She is a sweet girl, who loves to share stories. She often needs prompts to keep her focused on her work and needs instruction in several different ways (writing, speaking, reading, etc) for her to understand what needs to be done. I have found when I check-in with her throughout a task, it helps her stay on track. However, when the task is difficult, she is almost always unfocused. She loves to chat with anyone and anything that is near her. This often keeps her distracted from her work. Her attention is one part that prevents her from reaching her full potential.
I have been working very closely with her on her second problem: responsibility and ownership. In our class, we have a folder that goes home every night with homework and/or notices. She has forgotten the folder more times than she has brought it to school. This means she is also not completing the daily homework. As we know, the issue of homework is up for discussion, but that is not the point. The purpose of homework and bringing the folder to and from school is a big responsibility for a third grader. In third grade, students take a big step and gain many more responsibilities. The first few times this girl forgot her homework folder, I encouraged her to bring it the following day. Then after a few more missing homework folder days, I asked her to help me find a good strategy that would help her remember her work. She was glad to have support and my attention and together we came up with a plan. Since, we have had three more mini-meetings about different ways to remember her work. I'm not sure if the work is challenging and that is the reason she is not doing it; or if she is just not taking the responsibility to care for her work. I have come up with strategies for both predictions I have formed. Yet, even today, she did not bring her folder to school. I was trying to avoid the next step of calling home, but it may be time for that?
You might be right about the next step - or you might just need to give her more time. I don't think it's ever wrong to call home as long as you can start off by saying something positive about the child.
DeleteOne of the boys in our classroom struggles a lot with the math concepts we are working on (multiplication with larger numbers and division). Both the classroom teacher and I spend time each week working with him in small groups and 1:1 to help support his learning. I've shown and walked through a number of strategies to solve a problem but none seem to be sticking. Although he is not on an IEP both this year and last year's teacher suspect he does have difficulty processing information.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to see this kid feel discouraged and frustrated that he comes up with an answer that is way off base and I'm not sure what his thinking is. I've asked the lead teacher what to do and we will likely be consulting one of the special education teachers to get some pointers for helping our little man. He has a pretty good grasp of addition, subtraction, and his multiplication tables but without a firm foundation in multiplication and division he'll definitely struggle through the rest of 5th grade.
I'll keep you posted as to how we (and he) progress!
Try and get him to do a problem with you and have him tell you exactly what he is thinking and doing. That should give you the information you need. There use to be a math game that did this, but I don't think it exists any more.
ReplyDeleteWe have a little boy in our class who displays a lot of defiant behaviors. He’ll ask to go to the bathroom and we’ll get reports that he is in there wetting the floor and waiting to see if other kids will come in slip on the wet floor. He thinks this is funny. He asks to go to the bathroom a lot, which his mother was not happy to find out about, so to limit the amount of times he is able to use the bathroom in one day my supervising teacher created a bathroom chart for him. She made this with the help of the assistant principal and school counselor, as we have learned that he has a trauma history…this information would’ve been very helpful to have had before the school year actually began. Due to his trauma history, it is best for him to feel in control without actually giving him all the control. With the bathroom chart, he is allowed to go to the bathroom 5 times each day but he can pick when to go.
ReplyDeleteHe has trust issues and although he is developing a healthy relationship with my supervising teacher he is taking a while to warm up to me. The day I subbed for my teacher he gave me a note that read- “you’re a stupid teacher but face.” I told him the note made me very sad because I really liked him and would never call him mean names. I told him an apology letter would make me feel better. I got one the next day, only because my supervising teacher got on him about writing it. Believe it or not, he has been warming up to me more since this incident, but I am constantly looking for ways to build a relationship with him.