ED176B HW #2 Audrey Wen
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University of California, Santa Barbara *
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176B
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Communications
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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Uploaded by SuperHumanFang1052
Audrey Wen
Homework #2: Behavioral Case Study 1) Description of Student, Class, & School Student:
I work in Cheryl Takahara’s Kindergarten classroom at Isla Vista Elementary. I chose to observe her student Said because he suffers from a fairly severe language barrier (his first
language is Spanish, he speaks very little English) which interferes with his ability to engage in class and in turn leads to behavioral difficulties. Said struggles to stay seated and pay attention during both group and independent activities, follow directions, and stay on task. Oftentimes during group activities when the class is seated on the floor, Said
gets up and wanders around the classroom multiple times or is unable to stay seated at all.
Additionally, another difficult student in the class, Anthony, likes to specifically distract Said and engage him in problematic behavior.
Strengths
: Said is a very sweet, loving young boy who responds very well to positive reinforcement. He is quite proficient in math and understands the basic concepts of reading in English (mostly word recognition and rhyming). When I have worked with him one-on-one (spoke in Spanish to English), he can be very attentive and diligent and demonstrates a strong desire to learn and please the instructor. When he is encouraged and feels confident in the material, he demonstrates good leadership qualities, sometimes redirecting other students back to the task or making the choice to ignore distracting classmates. He also mentioned that his mother tutors him at home (in Spanish though, his
mother does not know English) to try to help him catch up with the rest of the class academically.
Weaknesses
: does not practice speaking in English/is learning two languages, has difficulty with impulse control/listening to instructions, chooses to engage in poor behavior with other classmates, at times refuses to stay seated or complete the task at hand, has difficulty participating and checks out due to language barrier.
General description of academic and social abilities: given he is still in the process of learning English, it is difficult to provide a completely accurate assessment of Said’s academic abilities; however, he has demonstrated a fairly good understanding of basic math concepts (addition, counting) in Spanish. It is unclear how well he knows numbers in English, but he can count fluently in Spanish. I believe the same level of ability could be applied to his literacy skills with time. Socially, Said often struggles to communicate with others and his peers sometimes grow frustrated or shy away since they cannot understand him. In turn, Said will often respond with the same frustration, purposely pestering his classmates even though they have asked him to stop. His strongest relationship is with another challenged student in the class who also speaks Spanish (Anthony, mentioned above), but a large component of their dynamic is based on their shared desire to act out in class.
If applicable definition of student/s’ disability or risk status: it is too early to distinguish whether Said’s academic struggles could be attributed to a learning disability in addition to his language barrier. However, I believe that his language barrier and lack of self-discipline are the two predominant factors that are currently hindering his ability to succeed.
Audrey Wen
Class:
Mrs. Takahara has made it very clear that this Kindergarten class is very atypical and is one of the most difficult groups of students (behaviorally) that she has seen in her 28 years of teaching. With that said, it is difficult for Mrs. Takahara to have a strong behavior system in place when there are so many students presenting different behavioral
issues for different reasons.
Mrs. Takahara’s main behavioral strategy for the class are dependent contingencies. Each
student’s behavior is tracked in an online point system as well as on the whiteboard. Each
of the student’s names are in a “happy” box on the whiteboard and can be placed outside of this box if they continuously behave in disruptive ways. I have seen this strategy work for some students and not for others. For Said, his desire to please the teacher can sometimes drive him to respond to this type of approach, however due to his language barrier he has trouble following directions and knowing which behaviors will get him back to the “happy” box. Eventually he will just grow complacent since he doesn’t have the tools to communicate and becomes desensitized to the punishment.
With Said, Mrs. Takahara often presents him with a binary choice of where he can be/what he can be doing during class (“you can either be on the floor with the rest of the class or in the ‘break’ corner”), and also uses dependent contingencies as incentive for positive behavior.
Lastly, Mrs. Takahara uses specific praise by calling out students who are modeling good
behavior. She also adds a leadership element to this strategy by electing a “leader of the day” each day who gets to sit on a special place in circle and call on “quiet listeners” to get up first when we are transitioning to a different activity. However, since the class is taught in English, Said usually does not get the opportunity to be participate and be praised as much through this approach. School:
46% of students are economically disadvantaged at Isla Vista Elementary (US News & World Report).
Audrey Wen
2) Functional Behavior Assessment Antecedent
Behavior
Consequence
We are doing a group reading activity where Mrs.
Takahara goes over a short story in their workbook that the students then answer questions on. It is very evident that Said is does not understand what Mrs. Takahara is saying. He is also seated towards the back of the circle furthest away from Mrs. Takahara. Said checks out. He starts to slouch and kick
up the carpet that everyone is sitting on. This starts to bother other students, who get frustrated and tell him to stop. Although I am sitting right next to him and keep correcting his behavior, he does not listen. Eventually he just gets up and starts to
wander around the room. Mrs. Takahara notices Said
out of his place and calls him out. She tells him he can either be seated at the circle or in the “break” corner. Said goes to the break corner and colors/flips through books until the group activity is over and does not learn the short story with the rest of the class.
We are doing individual reading practice (Lexia) on school iPads in table groups. This activity takes place right before snack time and recess. Said needs
help to understand the instructions on the computer program and learn the new vocabulary. Together we were working on his Lexia and he was doing a good job staying focused on the activity even though I could tell it was a bit difficult for him. I
made an effort to praise him for every question he answered correctly and remind him what a good job he was doing, which he
responded well to. However, he started to trip up a bit and lose focus, so he began looking for a way
out. Across the room, he sees his Anthony (his friend who also frequently acts out) get up from his chair.
Said gets up from his chair and starts to wander toward Anthony’s table on the other side of the classroom. Anthony and
Said spot the other and begin to chase each other around the room. I go over to Said, stop him and get down to his level. Another TA goes to address Anthony. I ask Said if he thinks it is appropriate to run in the classroom, and he answers no but blames Anthony for chasing him first. I tell Said that when Anthony does this he should ignore him and a teacher will get Anthony to stop. I then direct Said back to his place and praise him for his cooperation, reminding him what a good job he was doing on his Lexia. He
is able to finish his Lexia and chooses to ignore Anthony for the remainder of the time.
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Audrey Wen
Occurrences of behavior over 3 days
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Hypothesis for function of behavior:
Behavior
: Said is unable to stay seated in his chair and does not listen to instructions, and sometimes distracts other students. Hypothesis
:
I hypothesize that the majority of the time, Said acts out because he is bored in class and cannot understand what is going on. In turn, he cannot follow directions (especially those that involve multiple steps) because he cannot clearly understand them and does not know how to/does not want to ask for help. Additionally, I think that due to his disadvantages in the classroom Said has grown discouraged and has given up trying to engage and make proper behavioral choices. Commentary:
Audrey Wen
After crafting my hypothesis, I observed Said’s patterns of behavior in the classroom. Said struggles the most in group settings where there is no one to clarify what is being said. It is very clear to me that he does not understand most of what is being said in class because after Mrs. Takahara gives instructions for a new activity, he does not have any idea what to do and I have to re-explain it to him in Spanish. This communication disconnect and Said’s ensuing boredom also inhibits his ability to maintain focus in group
settings, which results in him getting up from his place and wandering around the classroom. It is important to emphasize that although Said’s language barrier does serve as a major obstacle in his learning, it is his impulsivity, unwillingness to comply, and lack of motivation that serve as the main drivers of his poor behavior.
For example, part of the behavior system that Mrs. Takahara has implemented for her struggling students involves choosing to go to the “break” corner as an alternative to engaging in disruptive behavior when a student feels overwhelmed. However, Said often takes advantage of this strategy by using the break corner as a way to avoid any task he does not like or cannot understand. In this way, his poor behavior is reinforced as he knows he can simply choose the “break” corner over whatever activity he doesn’t like. It is evident that Said needs other forms of support, encouragement and a stricter structure to help guide him
in the classroom. Said responds very well to praise and one-on-one instruction where he can be praised, understood and ask questions. When I worked with him and one other student on a word problem activity,
Said thrived and even took on a leadership role, encouraging the other student to pay attention during the task. 3) Behavioral Intervention Plan Proactive
Reactive
Increased support in his English learning/clarifying routines and expectations: Doing individual check-ins with Said after a group activity and during individual tasks to make
sure he understands what they are doing and re-
explaining anything he does not understand, first in Spanish if it is complicated and then in English.
Prioritizing and encouraging English communication with him as much as possible and teaching him new English phrases to use to communicate his needs (e.g. “Can I please have some help”, “what does this word mean?”). Maybe even setting up a reward system where Said can celebrate the new English phrases or words that he learns. Specific Praise: Praising Said when he focuses, stays in his seat, finishes a task, or speaks English to ensure that he
feels seen in the classroom and validated by the teacher. If Said continues to get up from his seat and refuses to listen to directions, I will threaten to take away 5 minutes of recess or take away the school fieldtrip. Since Said thrives on praise and enjoys his free time, this strategy will encourage him to display behavior that works towards achieving his goals (sitting in his chair for the whole time earns him recess time) and gets him positive reactions/rewards from the teacher. Commentary:
Audrey Wen
I hypothesized that the main drivers of Said’s behavior are his language barrier and resulting lack
of motivation to engage in class. I think that the proactive strategies I developed could be effective for Said as they will lessen his language difficulties while also building up his confidence. Hopefully, Said’s increased confidence surrounding his academic and English abilities would encourage him to participate more and display positive behavior. Creating a reward system with an end goal (some type of reward) and the opportunity to celebrate his English learning achievements with the class could be incredibly rewarding for Said and greatly increase his motivation to learn. For example, Mrs. Takahara and I could set up a goal with Said to learn and use 10 new English words/phrases by the end of the week. On the whiteboard/some place in the classroom we could create a box where Said can write the words he learns on a sticky note/piece of paper and then be
challenged to remember/use those words. When he learns 10 words, he would receive some type of reward (small prize, badge, whatever he likes). This accomplishment could even be celebrated
with the class during morning announcements where he could share the 10 words he learned. This would give him the opportunity to play an active role in class discussion and the chance to be celebrated by his peers in a special way. (This was actually done with another student when he learned how to spell his name). Said thrives off praise and wants to please the teacher but oftentimes doesn’t know how and is easily discouraged. A system like this could be extremely transformative as it gives him a unique way to gain approval while simultaneously benefitting his
learning.
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