Student Identification
Rajiv is 3 years, 1 month old at the time of the observation. He is in a self contained pre school classroom that serves eight children, with a head teacher and two teacher aides. He is identified as a pre school child with a disability; although the lead teacher and teacher aides believe he is on the autism spectrum. He is receiving occupational therapy twice a week for thirty minutes, physical therapy twice a week for thirty minutes and speech therapy twice a week for thirty minutes.
Rajiv has no functional form of communication, as he has no verbal language and does not use sign language. He is currently on a daily schedule which is the most supportive schedule the classroom has, using objects instead of pictures to help Rajiv navigate through the day. Rajiv did not interact with his peers at all during the observation, and initiated interactions with teachers three times. He often sits in his chair with a furrowed brow not seeming to look at anything in particular.
The observation was done at a self contained school serving children with special needs from ages 2 to 21. On the day of the observation, there were seven children in the class, six boys and one girl, with a female head teacher and two female teacher aides. The classroom is small and has a height chart on the wall as you come in, next to a small carpet with a beanbag on it. There are windows with the shades drawn most of the way, a computer in the corner of the room, and shelving covered with a curtain, making the room even smaller. A word chart with pictures of lunchtime words is next to the computer, and the center of the classroom holds two tables with chairs around them. The classroom also contains an attached bathroom.
Target Behavior
The target behaviors chosen were screaming and out of seat behavior. Screaming is defined as high pitched, sustained vocalizations louder than a typical conversational level. Out of seat behavior is defined as Rajiv having no part of his body touching the seat for at least five consecutive seconds while the rest of the class is sitting. These behaviors were chosen because his teacher told me that these behaviors interfered with his learning and disrupted the classroom.
Interview
I spoke with Rajiv’s head teacher and one of the teacher aide’s about Rajiv’s behaviors, which the head teacher suggested to me as ones that are interfering with his and the other children’s learning. His screaming and out of seat behavior has both distracted and upset some of the other children in the classroom. She believes that he screams because he has no verbal way to communicate. When she began to engage the students, I spoke to one of the teacher aides as to why Rajiv engages in out of seat behavior. She told me that he is “very autistic”, and that he gets up to stimulate himself. The head teacher and another aide added that he has a lot of excess energy to get rid of and that getting out of his seat and jumping up and down calms him down.
Rajiv is 3 years, 1 month old at the time of the observation. He is in a self contained pre school classroom that serves eight children, with a head teacher and two teacher aides. He is identified as a pre school child with a disability; although the lead teacher and teacher aides believe he is on the autism spectrum. He is receiving occupational therapy twice a week for thirty minutes, physical therapy twice a week for thirty minutes and speech therapy twice a week for thirty minutes.
Rajiv has no functional form of communication, as he has no verbal language and does not use sign language. He is currently on a daily schedule which is the most supportive schedule the classroom has, using objects instead of pictures to help Rajiv navigate through the day. Rajiv did not interact with his peers at all during the observation, and initiated interactions with teachers three times. He often sits in his chair with a furrowed brow not seeming to look at anything in particular.
The observation was done at a self contained school serving children with special needs from ages 2 to 21. On the day of the observation, there were seven children in the class, six boys and one girl, with a female head teacher and two female teacher aides. The classroom is small and has a height chart on the wall as you come in, next to a small carpet with a beanbag on it. There are windows with the shades drawn most of the way, a computer in the corner of the room, and shelving covered with a curtain, making the room even smaller. A word chart with pictures of lunchtime words is next to the computer, and the center of the classroom holds two tables with chairs around them. The classroom also contains an attached bathroom.
Target Behavior
The target behaviors chosen were screaming and out of seat behavior. Screaming is defined as high pitched, sustained vocalizations louder than a typical conversational level. Out of seat behavior is defined as Rajiv having no part of his body touching the seat for at least five consecutive seconds while the rest of the class is sitting. These behaviors were chosen because his teacher told me that these behaviors interfered with his learning and disrupted the classroom.
Interview
I spoke with Rajiv’s head teacher and one of the teacher aide’s about Rajiv’s behaviors, which the head teacher suggested to me as ones that are interfering with his and the other children’s learning. His screaming and out of seat behavior has both distracted and upset some of the other children in the classroom. She believes that he screams because he has no verbal way to communicate. When she began to engage the students, I spoke to one of the teacher aides as to why Rajiv engages in out of seat behavior. She told me that he is “very autistic”, and that he gets up to stimulate himself. The head teacher and another aide added that he has a lot of excess energy to get rid of and that getting out of his seat and jumping up and down calms him down.