Sam is a 4th grader who goes to a public school in New Hope. He has a younger brother who is 2 and his mother and father are divorced, which happened when Sam was 8 years old (3rd grade). Now that he is in 4th grade his grades have been decreasing because he is not turning in completed work and is not receiving a passing grade on his tests, possibly because he has no motivation or ambition to do anything in school. His teachers have noticed his bitter and distant attitude, which not only affects him academically, but socially as well. His teachers claim that he was just fine and was engaged in class all through his 3rd grade school year, but once he came back the following year, it was like a different Sam.
Through observations, his teachers have noticed that whenever independent work is given out, he sits at his desk and doodles. When his teachers come up to redirect him he says, “I am working! I’m just thinking right now!” When he turns in his homework, it is rarely done. Many of his teachers have tried one on one time with Sam and tutoring him, however they find out that Sam knows the curriculum and how to apply it, it’s just that he doesn’t want to do it and says it’s stupid. The only time Sam gets some work done is if his teacher is right next to him prompting him every 3 minutes so he won’t get off task and start doodling.
Target behavior is Sam’s lack of engagement within school/class. This can include, not turning in homework/turning in incomplete homework, doodling instead of completing the given task at hand, no engagement in discussions, group work or independently.
The function is Sam wants to avoid school work or engagement in school activities because he feels that school and learning is a waste of time and he becomes completely unmotivated.