Jerry In The Classroom Case Study Essay

I. Target Behavior

Jerry is distracted easily and looks for any appropriate object to be out of control. In addition to his behavior, his communicating and interacting skills are a major hinder in his education development. Unfortunately, he is unable to speak clearly. He bites his classmates and punches his teacher. Jerry’s outbursts also include yelling, loud laughter, and negative behavior that caused a scene inside in the classroom. Most importantly, Jerry is unable to fully comprehend answer his teacher’s questions.

II. Information about the student

Jerry is 15 years old and about 5 feet 4 inches tall at East side. Jerry presently is in 9th grade class. Since first grade00 x6 0Jerry has been enrolled in special education because he was diagnose with ADHD. He live in a single parent home and he is mother was unable to provide him with the best resources. He is very hyperactive and impulsive. Additionally, he has some learning disabilities, which impairs his ability to communicate and interact with other and his hand writing is that of a third grader. According to his occupational therapist’s evaluation, Jerry suffers from dysgraphia, a condition associated with impaired handwriting.

He come from a single parent household and his primary language spoken at home is Spanish. There is no history of disabilities in his immediate family. His father was deported since he was 10 years old. He is the oldest among three children. His siblings are 12 and 9 years old. Jerry is in a special writing, reading, and mathematics. Jerry’s occupational therapist’s reports noted that he has difficulty spacing word evenly and his writing lacks of cohesiveness. Jerry enjoys playing soccer and his favorite team is F.C Barcelona. He loves listening to music and he is passionate about becoming a police officer.

III. Functional Assessment

I observed the students arriving in class and they are told to seat in groups of four and take out their French textbook. Students sit down and start singing “Paris the city of light how beautiful you are”. Then they were asked to regain their sit; Jerry followed his teacher with ease. Then the teacher read a story on French revolution for about 15 minutes. Jerry seat quietly inspired by the French revolution story and started asking questions. His French teacher stated that Jerry remained sit throughout his class. He incorporated a lot of pictures to motivate his students, and believes that jerry is enjoying connecting pictures to his story. Jerry would prefer all his classes to be in general education classes.

In April 2010, Jerry took the woodcock-Johnson III. He scored as follows: Broad reading 83; Broad Math 93; Broad written language 83; letter-word identification 96; reading fluency 79; passage comprehension 82. The average is 79-103. Jerry also took the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children test (WISC4) in April 2010, his scores are: perceptual reasoning index 86; working memory index 65; Verbal Intelligence 65; processing speed index 85; full scale intelligent quotient 78. Average score is 90-103 In the class, he was seated next to the blackboard ready to start his mathematics lesson. Jerry sat in the first group closed to the teacher desk.

The teacher seeing Jerry move out of his sit and make a nonverbal gesture to let Jerry know it is imperative for him to seat down. Another student move out of his assigned seat and Jerry saw that and started running around. The aide asked him to stop and offered Jerry a chair to seat down. The math lesson continued which each Group of students posted their findings of a big white paper. The teacher chose one student from each group to explain how they solve the problems; unfortunately, he did not chose Jerry to be the presenter of his group and he got up four more times and sat again, after directing.

About six minutes into the lesson Jerry’s aide took him out of the classroom to a specific location where they sat together to work on the assignment. The aide promised Jerry a prize if he did corporate and would have a break to play his favorite soccer video game on the computer. Jerry sat down in the room and completed his class work activity and stand up once. Part of the reason why Jerry is ineffective in classroom settings is due to his multiple responsibilities at home. This includes taking care of his younger siblings while he mother picks up extra hours at work. Although he does not assist them with homework he helps the siblings with bathing, feeding, and other extra curriculum activities. Jerry comes to school and complains about lack of sleep. In reality, I know many students have the same type of problems.

IV. Hypothesis

My hypothesis is that Jerry’s behavior occurs for many reasons on of which is stress related to his father not being around and his mother has to work more to cover up for his father absence. Jerry often said that he missed he Dad and he remembered the good they used to have together. Watching soccer with his father used to be one of his memorable moments because the positive argument they had. Mathematics becomes overwhelming for him and does not like dealing with abstraction. Meanwhile, the target behavior was not observed during French class because the French class does not require Jerry to think deeply and previous knowledge is not require for the next lesson.

However mathematics is a continuous subject most of what Jerry learns from previous grade needs to apply to the lesson. One of the primary replacement behaviors that Jerry needs is the proper resource to assist with his ADHD diagnoses starting with the teacher. Due to Jerry’s hyperactive behavior in the classroom and short attention span, he should be seated away from both windows and doors. He should also be seated closer to the teacher to promote better behavior. Regarding student work, the teacher should give frequent short quizzes versus long tests.

This will enhance Jerry’s test in obtaining higher grades on a quiz then an extensive test. If possible, the teacher should also test the student in a format where he performs the best. If Jerry produces better test/homework results with visual examples rather than lengthy sentences, this should be done. For Jerry’s personal behavior replacement behavior responsibilities, he should be shown how to organize his work. This can start off with having a three-ring binder/notebook that is separated for homework/quiz work/and test work. He should also be taught to color coordinate his classroom subject to assist in staying on track with all his courses.

VI. Interventions/Sample

It is strongly encouraged that prior to any intervention sessions, the teacher should set a date to meet with Jerry’s mom and explain both the pros and cons of Jerry performance in the classroom setting. Both the teacher and Jerry’s mom should come up with realistic solutions in helping Jerry becoming more a more effective student.

Short-term goal should be implemented for Jerry to achieve his long-term goals. This includes the following: •Assist the student to set short term goals and provide opportunities for self-evaluation of progress toward those goals •Teach the student to use an agenda, checklists, advanced organizers and other structural supports to assist in self management •Teach the student to keep track of materials by using strategies such as tying a pencil to the desk, attaching a pen to clothing with a key ring, etc. •Establish specific places for all belongings and reinforce student for putting materials away properly •Color code binder dividers or duo tangs to that they match the subject area texts or support materials; use the same color coding on the student’s schedule •Encourage the student to use a “Lazy Susan” inside the desk or locker to avoid things getting lost in the back •Set up a regular communication system to provide structure and support that is consistent between parents and teachers.

VII. Time line to Review

First of all, Jerry’s plan needs to be review daily. It is an Imperative for everyone involve in jerry’s life to be committed to his progress. As Jerry’s teacher I would keep in touch with his mother daily during the first two months via email or text message if she unable to reach by phone. Then lower my conversation to his mother to weekly basis; depend on Jerry adaptation and how the plan is working. If the plan is not successful I will readdressed it immediately for remedy and also investigate why the plan is not effective. From my perspective, student’s input needs to be considered for Jerry.

With students input there is a greater chance for Jerry to transform positively his behavior. Most of the time, students have the solution for our classroom problem; they need to be included in the process of addressing classroom behavior’s problems. The BIP must not be a tool that devised teachers and students but it must be a united instrument for student and teacher. Good relation between teacher and student improve test score, graduation rate and student success. My job as a teacher is to involve parents, other colleagues, school counselor and administration in our student academic life. Each one of them can bring something different in our student life.

VIII. Critique/reflection

Jerry needs to be held responsible for his action. He must be held accountable. It looks otherwise for now. Jerry disrupts the class whenever he feels like to from what I witnessed inside the classroom that I visited. The BIP can alter Jerry behavior. I believe Jerry can be successful in such plan it would also shows Jerry that the school believes on him and do care for his future. Since I observed Jerry and believe that he can follow direction and procedures, I believe BIP can be successful. One method includes the Positive Reinforcement and Consequence.

This is the basic strategy of employing classroom rules and providing high reinforcements for students to follow these rules. “Positive reinforcement or other consequences should immediately follow the behavior(s) targeted for change. Another great method, I would use for Jerry is “Self Management/Self Monitoring.” This is method gives him responsibility to personally track his performance; many students prefer to feel a sense of independence. This method is designed for students and educators to create success plan where the student is responsible for staying on track with his/her work. In all forms of self-management, the teacher should support the student in engaging the self-management routine properly.