Case 1

Amanda Case
November 21, 2015
Moderate/Severe Secondary Observation

I went to observe Thuy Trans 7th grade Autism Specific Special Day Class at Bell

Intermediate Intermediate school for this Moderate/Severe secondary school observation. This
class consisted of three, seventh grade students with autism spectrum disorder, otherwise known
as ASD. There were two males and one female student enrolled in the class. The two male
students were Vietnamese and both speak Vietnamese as their first language, and English as a
second language. The female student was Hispanic and speaks Spanish, English is also her
second language. All three students speak and understand English, but Mrs. Tran noted that she
helps the students when she can, in their first language. There were four adults in the room at the
time of my observation: the classroom teacher (Mrs. Tran), a behavior interventionist, a
classroom aide, and a one-on-one instructional aide. The one-on-one aide sat beside the female
student as she worked, helping her with fine motor tasks, such as writing, and helped calm her
when she became frustrated: displayed by flapping her arms. The behavior interventionist sat at
the back of the room and said that she only interferes when the students display very extreme
problem behaviors such as throwing items, yelling, or harming themselves. The classroom aide
was also in the back of the room, making a Thanksgivings Day poster.

These students do not transition from class to class for six periods of the day like general

education and Mild/ Moderate special education students typically do in intermediate school.
They stay with Mrs. Tran for Language Arts, Math, History and Science class, however, they are
included in the M/S 7th grade class, for two hours of the day. Mrs. Tran explained that every day
is different, but they are usually with the other class for P.E. and art.

Case 2

Mrs. Trans class was very different than the other M/S classes that I have observed in the

past because it was extremely small. The reason for the small class size is because students in
this class display harmful behaviors that put either others or themselves in danger. While
observing, I only saw a few minor problem behaviors displayed by the students. One female
student was stemming by humming loudly, and rocking back and forth. Another student was
becoming frustrated by the difficult assignment of copying from the board so he stood up,
flapped his arms, began hitting his head, and yelled, Why! loudly. When his behavioral
instructor helped him to calm down, he sat down. Once she started helping him on the task, he
sat still and successfully attempted the work for the second time.

Mrs. Tran explained to me that teaching an Autism Specific class has motivated her to go

back to school and become a behavioral interventionist. She said that teaching this class has
been rewarding in many different ways, but she feels that she can be more helpful to students and
their families if she were to focus on behavior.