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Salisha Shears SPEDE 777 CASE STUDY BACKGROUND INFORMATION DOB: 12/8/07 Gender: Male Grade: 1st Disability: TBA Services Received: At risk services Kyle is currently receiving at risk services consented by his mother. She opted against a referral for evaluation which was suggested by personnel at his previous school. She explained that she felt overwhelmed, intimidated and uncomfortable with the manner in which the concerns, and process was explained. Kyle transferred into PS 112 from a charter school during the middle of his kindergarten year. The educational team at PS 112 suggested at risk services in an effort to monitor, and provide additional support while his family decided whether or not to move forward with an evaluation. In Kyles case, at risk services" means the Special Education Coordinator pushes in to the classroom for observations, the reading and math specialist does the same in order to assess, and work with him on improving skills in those subject areas. The special and general education teachers provide ongoing observations, assessments, and reports on his behaviors, academic strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. The information gathered during this time will later be used to provide additional information to his education team, and family to determine if a referral for evaluation is necessary, and why. The above information was provided by Kyles special education coordinator, special and general education teachers. Kyle has not been evaluated and does not have an official IEP. Below is a list of concerns expressed by his educational team, and direct observations made for this case study as it relates to his developmental domains.

Language: Kyle enjoys conversing with peers, however, teachers are concerned that Kyle may have difficulty trouble using and understanding speech, body language and gestures. His receptive language skills appear to be better than his expressive language skills, and he seems to have trouble recalling language. Cognition: Kyle appears to struggle with staying focused, and paying attention, following directions with more than a step or two, seeing problems from more than one point of view, and understanding abstract ideas such as feelings. Social skills: Kyle engages in play and group activities with his peers, but appear to lack a sense of appropriate social boundaries. He struggles with the concept of turn taking, and does not understand abstract concepts such as others points of view. Motor Skills: Kyle is said to have poor balance and coordination as he often falls when walking, and sometimes sitting in a chair. His gait is described as clumsy, as he staggers from side to side with a wide-base. Behavioral Skills: Kyle engages in repetitive behaviors such as rocking back and forth while sitting on the rug; shows signs of excessive stubbornness, and has the tendency to wander around the classroom; he fidgets with his hands and feet and squirms in his seat, and on the rug; has difficulty remaining seated when required to do so; difficulty sustaining attention and waiting for a turn in tasks, games, or group situations; blurts out answers to questions before the questions have been completed; difficulty following through on instructions and in organizing tasks; and has difficulty listening to others without being distracted or interrupting; OBSERVATION NOTES In observing Kyle across multiple settings and activities over a three day period it was evident that he possesses many strengths and skills. Kyle fluently reads on a C level which

means he currently reads on an expected grade level. He is able to generalize and connect events in stories to his current life. On one occasion he was able to express that he enjoyed going to the park like the kids in the book. Kyle often needed step by step directives to get him through tasks as observed each day. For example, each morning, his teachers would ask the class to come into the classroom, get their homework folder out, and put it in the homework basket, put away their things, and come back to their desks to begin the do now assignment. Kyle would enter the classroom, and sit in his chair while his peers completed the required steps. The teacher then needed to walk him through the steps in order to get the process going. Kyle was also often eager to lend a helping hand to peers, for example, when his desk mate Jayden appeared to struggle with pushing in his chair, he jumped in to help. However, Jayden wanted to independently push in his chair, and expressed so to Kyle. The matter turned into a back and forth struggle with who was going to push in the chair, and ended with Jayden in tears. The teacher explained to Jayden that Kyle was only trying to help. She also explained to Kyle that when someone asks him to stop, or expressed that they do not need help, he has to stop, and listen to them because it hurts their feeling if he doesn't. Kyle often volunteers to be a helper and enjoys his job as a door holder. Kyle often had correct and insightful information to contribute to class discussions which shows that he is processing information, and is able to make connections, however he often calls out, talks out of turn, or engages conversation with whomever is sitting next to him. This often causes his input to be overlooked, and attention is drawn to his calling out. Step by step directives and visual prompts seem to work well with Kyle.

Kyle was often observed falling while walking at a slow pace in the halls and stumbling up and down the steps as the class transitioned from the classroom to other areas of the building. While on the rug, Kyle often rocked back and forth while playing with his hands and feet, erasers on floor, lint in carpet, etc. He had difficulty sustaining attention and waiting for a turn in group situations. He showed signs of excessive stubbornness (ex. teachers would have to ask him numerous times throughout the day to follow class rules), and had the tendency to wander around the classroom. Kyle showed acts of kindness by helping the observer carry her chair, and picked up dropped papers. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES In an effort to decrease calling out and increase hand raising with Kyle, the below goals and objectives were implemented to help shape the desired behavior. Goal Kyle will demonstrate raising his hand to ask permission (for bathroom, water, etc.), and answer questions by raising a hand, waiting to be called on and answering the questions out loud or waiting to be given permission to leave his seat for the bathroom or water fountain. Objectives 1- In a group activity, when asked a question that he may know the answer to, Kyle will respond by raising a hand and waiting to be called on before answering the question out loud with 100% accuracy. 2- Kyle will raise his hand and wait to be called on in order to request permission for bathroom, water, or teacher attention with 100% accuracy.

RATIONAL FOR SELECTED GOALS The above goal and objectives were selected because it is important for Kyle to raise his hands to answer questions, to offer comments, and to signal that he has completed or is ready to begin an activity. It lets his teachers know that he is being attentive and taking in the material presented in class. It also shows that he can engage in turn taking and can be an active participant in the learning process. Teachers have expressed that his behavior is a distraction to both the teachers and the other students in the classroom. His calling out causes teachers to have to stop in the middle of instructional time. This causes the amount of material able to be covered to be reduced, therefore preventing both Kyle and his classmates from covering all of the material that they need to, and to fall behind. Having all students raise their hands is important for classroom management as it allows the teacher to call on different students instead of just allowing the same few to always call out answers in the classroom. Further, it gives more students the opportunity to be involved. Additionally, for student safety, and classroom management reasons, it is also important for Kyle to raise his hand to get teacher attention and permission when leaving his seat for the bathroom, water fountain, or coat closet. It is hypothesized that Kyle receives attention for calling out therefore, hand raising will serve as a replacement behavior as a more appropriate way to seek attention from teachers. INTERVENTION PLAN The intervention strategy used was the use of visual cues/prompting. According to The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, pprompting meets the evidence-based practice criteria with five single-subject design studies, demonstrating its effectiveness in the domains of academic and language/communication in all three age groups (i.e., preschool, elementary, middle/high school). They further went on to explain that

prompting can be used effectively with children and youth with ASD, regardless of cognitive level and/or expressive communicative abilities across the age range. The evidence base shows that prompting is an effective intervention for learners with ASD ranging from 3 to 22 years of age. Below are the steps that was used with Kyle for objective number 1, 1- Simultaneously, while showing a picture prompt of a student quietly seated with a raised hand, the teacher made it clear that students are to raise a quiet hand when wanting to speak during class time. 2- When Kyle forgot to raise his hand, the teacher reminded him of this rule by looking at him and raising the picture prompt again. Below are the steps that was used with Kyle for objective number 2, 1- When Kyle got out of his seat without permission, the teacher asked him to return to his seat, showed him the picture prompt of a student quietly seated with a raised hand and reminded him that he needed to raise his hand and get permission before leaving his seat. Reinforcement When Kyle raised his hand and waited to be called on he was praised for raising his hand and chosen to speak or participate. MONITORING PROGRESS *Please see attached graph for results of intervention. During baseline, Kyle was observed throughout the day during instructional periods, he was involved with the problem behavior (calling out and leaving his seat without permission) at least 12 times throughout the day. During the observations, Kyle blurted out answers to questions being asked by the classroom teacher and would also share stories about topics

unrelated to the topic with the whole class or whomever was seated next to him. Kyle also talked out of turn, which frustrated other class members, and would leave his seat without permission. All teachers were involved with helping Kyle stay on task by having the picture prompt available in all instructional areas, and redirecting him as needed. Kyle also had a picture prompt taped to his desk DATA COLLECTION The observer took anecdotal notes and maintained a behavior log to keep track of when Kyle talked out of turn, shared irrelevant/inappropriate information. Notes were also taken when Kyle got out of his seat during instructional periods without raising his hand to get permission from a teacher. If Kyle raised his hand while simultaneously calling out, it was also marked as off-task behavior. The observer created a log which was documented for each period (ex. during math Kyle called out 3 times, during Science he called out 4 times, Social Studies 3 times and so on). At the end of each day the off task numbers were calculated and was added as a total for that day. ANALYSIS OF INTERVENTION EFFECTIVENESS Kyles behavioral intervention plans was designed to teach him a more socially acceptable behavior to participate and gain teacher attention, and the ability to participate in class. By providing picture prompts to encourage hand raising Kyles calling out decreased, and hand raising increased. Teaching Kyle the appropriate way to replace his problem behavior of calling out, serves the same function (e.g., ways to seek teacher attention through nonverbal signals).

RESULTS

CALLING OUT
16 14 Y AXIS CALLING OUT 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
1

Problem Behavior

Series1 Series2

Baseline
2 3 4

Intervention
5 6 7 8

X AXIS SCHOOL DAYS

GRAPH A

HAND RAISING
6 5 Y AXIS HAND RAISING 4 3 2 1 0
1

On-task behavior

Series1 Series2

Baseline
2 3 4

Intervention
5 6 7 8

X AXIS SCHOOL DAYS

GRAPH Recommendation and future direction In order to improve Kyles intervention plan, a few recommendations should be considered. First, teachers should continue to consistently provide picture prompts to encourage hand raising. However, to ensure that Kyle masters the desired behavior in a natural setting prompts should be gradually faded.

REFERENCES
Disorders, N. P. (n.d.). Evidence-Based Practice: Prompting. Retrieved from National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders: http://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/content/prompting