Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Do you have any insight into the social and academic behavior of this student?
- Surprised that student is labeled ED (Emotional Disorder), seems too far stretched
- Possibly labeled ED for additional adult support
- Had fine motor goals in Kindergarten through 3rd grade IEP, not much on behavioral goals
despite behavior issues in classes
- Had the label of ADHD (other health impairments)
- In third grade, his IEP switched to ED
School Sponsored Event (non-instructional Setting) Notes
How student is involved in event: Browsing/looking at books and other items to buy
Trends seen in the students attendance, grades and behavior throughout their schooling:
- Student has not missed one day of school so far this school year of 6th grade (starting September
2017)
- In 5th grade, student only had 4 absent days for the entire school year (98% attendance)
- 5th grade report card as follows:
- Language Arts and Math = combination of Bs and Cs
- Social Studies = Cs
- Science = range of As through Ds
- Library, Art, Music, P.E. = combination of As and Bs
- 5th grade teachers comments on student
- Capable of performing well when focused
- Needs a lot of prompting and assistance
- Working on controlling anger and less on those around him
- Too interested in gaining other students attention
- As term progressed, student became more defiant
- Needs continuous verbal prompting and visual cues
Discuss any events that may have impacted the way the student approaches his/her work and/or behavior:
- Beginning in kindergarten, the student expressed aggressive physical contact with other students
and teachers, along with insubordination
- Student had numerous referrals for inappropriate bathroom use (i.e. wiping hands on another
students clothing) during his elementary school years
- An official IEP was not drafted/approved until student was in 5th grade
- On the students IEP, he his labeled as having emotional disorders (ED)
New insights into this student may have resulted from a review of his/her cumulative folder that will
inform your instruction:
- This students IEP has only recently been approved and implemented (December 2016),
including.
- Frequent breaks
- Reduced distractions
- Extended time
- Positive reinforcement
- Preferential seating
- The student does not have educational goals on his IEP student is not significantly behind
content wise in any content areas
Research Article # 1
Mulcahy, C. A., Krezmien, M., & Maccini, P. (2014). Teaching Mathematics to Secondary
Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Challenges and Practical Suggestions
Mulcahy, Krezmien and Maccini highlight the most common challenges and offer suggestions
for teachers who have students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) in their
mathematics classrooms, although the same ideas can be applied in other content subject areas.
Students that have EBD tend to have mental health concerns, poor self-regulation, impulsivity,
attention/memory problems and show low levels of academic achievement (p. 70). One
challenge that students with EBD often encounter is that their teachers are not challenging the
students themselves enough, as the teachers may have lower expectations for their performance,
leading to an assumption that teaching students with disabilities requires a slower paced
instruction and fewer assignments (p. 71). Research has shown that teachers of students with
EBD do not always engage students in rigorous academic activities, but rather focus on basic
skills and behavior for students to master. Many teachers of students with EBD also do not feel
adequately prepared to teach these students their content area, leading to these students not
getting their maximum potential academic instruction. One idea that Mulcahy, Krezmien and
Maccini suggest is that teachers promote effective student engagement and relationships in their
classroom from the very first day of the academic year. While engagement is an important key of
a successful classroom for all students, it is especially important for students with EBD, as
teachers can use their knowledge of their students on a personal level as a way to play on the
individual strengths of each student. Teachers can aso use assessments to gauge student
knowledge and skills to determine whether instruction is working and use that information to
make future instructional decisions since students with EBD often possess large gaps in
knowledge and skills (p. 72). Teachers should also strive to use explicit instruction as they teach
foundational skills, as it has been found to be highly effective for teaching students with
disabilities across content areas (p. 74). Teachers should also provide many opportunities for
hands-on activities, manipulatives and integrated technology along with a three-step approach on
helping students take control of their own behavior through self-monitoring and
Zelenka, V. (2017). Universal Interventions for Students with ADHD--and All Students. Kappa
Valerie Zelenka shares supports and strategies through the Universal Design for Learning
(UDL) framework for teachers to use with students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) in their classrooms. Zelenka highlights how it is important that teachers of
students with ADHD are aware of and understand the type of ADHD that the student has:
Once teachers understand the type of ADHD their student has, they can make the best, informed
decision on strategies to implement in their classroom for the student dependent on the type of
ADHD the student has. One strategy to help students with ADHD is to have set classroom
procedures and rules, along with general classroom organization to help minimize student
confusion. Teachers should try to focus on the positive interpretations of rules/procedures rather
than telling students what they are not allowed to do. When it comes to giving instructions,
students with ADHD especially benefit from having directions given in a clear, concise manner.
Teachers can also give the instruction in multiple ways, such as clearly stating the directions as
well as post written or pictorial directions complex instructions may need to be simplified or
repeated (p. 38). When teachers give assignments, they should strive to be adjusted to the
students needs and when possible, give the students options/a choice to choose from multiple
assignments. Teachers should also help their students with ADHD participate in their own
evaluation, creation of an improvement plan, and monitoring of their own behavior and academic
progress [as the] process allows them to take ownership of change and gain pride in
accomplishing improvements (p. 39). One last strategy Zelenka suggests teachers to look into is
using technology in the classroom, as many apps and websites allow easy customization for all
learners, dependent on their skills - a great resource that can be used in a classroom with multiple
The student that I have observed during this child study is a 6th grade male who is
identified as having Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. He has only recently had an
Individualized Education Plan (IEP) approved and implemented for the past year. Before then,
he was identified as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for a large
percentage of his elementary grade years. Currently in 6th grade, the student exhibits extremely
social behavior with both his peers and his teachers. He is outgoing and continuously attempts to
gain the attention of others, even if it is not an appropriate time to do so. The student has a
difficult time focusing on the tasks at hand, as he gets distracted very easily and struggles to
complete and turn in his work. In the classroom, the majority of the interactions I had with this
student was teaching related, asking him to stop talking to other students and focus on
completing his own work. A few times, other school personnel in the classroom or I have had to
repeatedly ask the student to stop calling out answers to the whole class or talking when other
After having the opportunity to meet with the students school counselor, I learned how
the majority of her interactions with the student involve mediations. She is one of the adults that
has to intervene in the situations where the student gets extremely upset with other students and
starts lashing out. His school counselor has to do her best to cool down the student and the
situation before things escalate. I realize that even though I have not witnessed the student at this
level of disruptive behavior in the particular classroom I teach him in, it does not mean that the
student does not have his lashing out moments. The school counselor was also able to give me
more insight into the students behavior in his past elementary school. She explained to me that
she was surprised that the student was labeled as having an Emotional and Behavioral Disorder
and that it seemed too far stretched, in her opinion. As she looked on her computer into the
students virtual records, she noted that he had an unofficial IEP through 3rd grade, where he had
a label of ADHD under other health impairments. This unofficial IEP from Kindergarten
through 3rd grade had the student focusing on fine motor goals with very little information on
behavioral goals, despite the students recorded behavioral issues in his classes at the time.
During 3rd grade, the students label in his IEP switched from ADHD (other health impairments)
to Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. The school counselor felt that they may have done this
so the student would receive much needed additional adult support in the school setting. The
school counselor has told me that having the additional adult support has helped the student
improve on the severity of his behavioral issues in and out of the general education classroom.
I choose to find two research articles on how to help students with ADHD and EBD, as
this student has been labeled as both throughout his school career. In the first article about
teachers helping students with EBD in the mathematics classroom, I was genuinely surprised to
learn how research has shown that teachers do not challenge students with EBD as much
academically as they do with other students and that they are under the impression that teaching
students with EBD requires a slower paced instruction and fewer assignments (Mulcahy,
Krezmien & Maccini, 2014, p. 71). I was also surprised to learn that many of these teachers do
not feel prepared enough to effectively teach their students with EBD. In the article regarding
students with ADHD, I was surprised to learn that there are three different types of ADHD
Teachers need to be aware of what type of ADHD their student(s) have in order to develop and
implement effective instructional strategies for teaching these students. After reading these
articles, I realize how important it is for teachers to understand their students challenges and
have knowledge of effective methods and tools to use to help these students succeed in their
classroom.
In order to better serve the student that I observed, I will personally strive to create
options for as many assignments as I can for the student to choose from, as suggested by
Zelenka. Since I have observed that the student has a tendency to focus more on classwork that
he is interested in, the student may especially benefit from having choices in his assignments. I
will also try to incorporate more online, virtual activities using the student's devices, as he
(along with the majority of his class) enjoy doing activities involving their electronic devices and
tend to have more focus for longer on these types of activities. In addition, I would like to utilize
more formative assessments of how well the student is grasping the content being taught, instead
of waiting until the larger quizzes and unit tests to assess student understanding. In this manner, I
can judge how well the student is focusing and comprehending the material and if he is not, then
I can determine what I need to do as a teacher to help the student relearn the material and be
successful in the class. Throughout this study, I have learned how to discreetly observe and
analyze a student to determine the challenges and potential causes of these challenges a student
may have in my future classroom. I have also gained more insight into tools, strategies and
teaching methods that I should or should not use to help this student better succeed in my
classroom. This child study has not only helped me figure out how to help this particular student,
it has also helped me to understand how to help other students with ADHD, EBD or those that