Reference no: EM133267438

Defining Behavior

At least three non-examples that can be included in the definition of Grants problem behavior.

A definition of a possible replacement behavior for Grant. Be sure to include at least one example and one nonexample.

Grant is 13 years old, has a long history of behavior issues, and attends the 8th grade. Grant was referred for special education services by his Kindergarten teacher. In Kindergarten, The Functional Behavior Analysis from his Kindergarten year indicated that his motivations included work avoidance and gaining attention. Grant's Kindergarten intervention plan included breaks outside the classroom, a plan to ignore low-level behaviors, physical restraint when needed, and rewarding good behaviors with play with his favorite teacher. Although Grant's behavior improved some after the initial interventions, he started sleeping in the afternoons at school. On some days, he participated in regular classroom activities for as much as 2 hours but still slept all afternoon in the principal's office. He was placed on shortened days in Kindergarten and has not had a full-day class schedule since then. From his Kindergarten until his 5th-grade year of school, Grant was in the regular classroom for 98% of his day, unless he left due to an outburst or aggression.

By the 1st Grade, due to Grant's shortened days, time spent calming, and time spent sleeping, Grant was behind his peers in reading. His first-grade teacher noticed that Grant responded better to a gentle, nurturing approach. Nevertheless, the gentle approach did not always work, and Grant continued to have outbursts. The teachers continued to send Grant to the special education classroom during core instruction. That year, his special education teacher let others know that she believed Grant was just stubborn, deliberately misbehaving, and was not being pushed hard enough.

In the 2nd grade, Grant continued to fall behind his peers in reading and math, and his behavior during academic tasks continued to escalate in intensity. Sometimes, when asked to complete a non-preferred academic task, he would headbutt his teachers, hit, bite, and kick. His para-educator felt he was intentionally defiant and sometimes would not help him with his academic tasks during classroom time.

During Grant's 3rd grade year, The Challenging Behavior Team was called in, and they recommended that Grant have the constant availability of adult attention and the ability to take breaks on demand. The Team prescribed breaks for Grant every 15 minutes, even if he did not ask for a break. Grant continued to be in the regular classroom nearly full time but continued on a shortened day schedule. He spent about ½ a day a week being restrained or in a time-out room.

In the 4th grade, the IEP team decided to give Grant a reading goal. Grant's reading assessment results varied, with one standardized test placing him in the first percentile and another in the 23rd. A reading fluency test indicated that he read four correct words per minute, while the average 3rd-grade peer read 59 correct words per minute. His third-grade teacher was aware that Grant could be violent when challenged, so she did not push him when he started to show signs of agitation.

In the 5th grade, Grant continued to have outbursts and was aggressive with other students and his teachers. Grant's mother was away from home several times this year for inpatient substance abuse therapy, and at the end of the year, his parents divorced. Grant's parents continue to have an adversarial relationship, and Grant's parents shared 50/50 physical custody. Grant started sleeping for several hours in the mornings. His mother stated this was because his father did not make Grant keep a regular schedule, and Grant often stayed up all night when he was at dad's house. Grant's school attendance became sporadic, and the school sent a note to both parents reminding them of the importance of sending a child to school.

In the 6th grade, Grant was given a math goal. His goal was to write numbers to 100 (peers were writing numbers to the 1000's). He continued to work on his reading goal, which included learning the first 100 Kindergarten level sight words. Observation showed that Grant was responding to his General Education Teacher requests only about 20 percent of the time. Grant continued to use profanities and become more and more aggressive with each redirection. The IEP team overruled parent preference and placed Grant in the Multicategorical Special Education Classroom nearly full time at the start of the year. Grant's mother obtained a Lawyer, and by mid-year, a plan to re-integrate Grant into the regular classroom was started. Grant was placed back into the regular classroom at the end of his 6th-grade year.

In the 7th grade, Grant transitioned to Junior High, and the IEP team placed Grant in the behavior classroom, nearly full time. His most recent standardized tests put him in the 1st percentile in math and reading. Grant attended science in the general education classroom but often refused to participate in that one class. His special education noted that His peers easily influenced Grant. Somedays, Grant, and two other peers would refuse to go to any class and sprint around the school, running the hall and laughing hysterically. Grant often yelled profanity, both in the classroom and when he was out in the hall, and hurled insults at staff when they corrected him. He refused to participate in most academic tasks in the special education classroom and refused to read aloud. When the special education teacher increased academic expectations, Grant would become verbally and physically aggressive, once punching a hole in the wall.