Jasmine

Jasmine is a 16 year old 10th grader who has low self estem. This low self esteem has led to problems socially with her peers and others around her. Some of the problems have come from how she has interacted with others in the past, she was in a level 3 EBD room and did not have many good interactions due to her behaviors. She has now become more mainstream but previous interactions have made it hard for her to be accepted.

Seth

Seth is a 4 year old boy who, by the end of winter break, has gone from living with mom through Labor Day weekend, then with Grandma until just after Christmas and is now in the care and custody of his aunt and uncle. He lives with his aunt, uncle, their 3 children and his sister in his aunt and uncles home which is near both mom and grandma. At the time that he and his sister moved there, mom had made several trips to jail or rehab and grandma has visitation but no longer has legal rights to make decisions on academic or medical issues. The current living situation is the most stable of the three that he has been in during the school year, but is not a permanent placement. By the end of the school year, Seth and his sister's social worker will have completed the process of terminating mom's parental rights and finding a permanent placement for Seth and his sister. Seth's father is deceased, his sister has a different father, and his aunt and uncle have stated that they are committed to helping through the end of the school year but are not interested in taking permanent custody of the children.

At school, Seth displays many disruptive and, at times, destructive behaviors. The majority of the disruptive behaviors that Seth displays are during large group times when the whole class is on the rug doing the calendar and listening to a story, during small group times when Seth is working on a specific activity with a teacher and 3 to 4 other peers and during lunch when Seth is sitting at a table with a teacher and up to 7 other peers eating lunch or snack. Occasionally, Seth will display these behaviors during free play time when the students are given up to 30 minutes to choose their choice of play activities in the classroom, during gym time which alternates between free choice of gym toys/activities or a structured large class game, or during playground time. During free play time or playground time, Seth prefers to play alone often spending all of his time painting at the easel or digging in the sandbox.

Disruptive behaviors are defined, for Seth, as being shouting while the teacher is talking, physically touching a child or other person near him when that is not part of the activity he is participating in such as sitting for a story, running around when he should be sitting on the carpet or in a chair and throwing objects when it is not part of the activity such as a gym game. Destructive activities have been defined, for Seth, as damaging property that does not belong to him such as ripping pages out of books or another student's journal, writing on things that are not appropriate such as classroom walls, tables or cubbies, and physically tearing things apart such as books and journals or classroom toys.

I believe that the function of Seth's behaviors is to get attention, either good or bad. When ignored, Seth's behaviors tend to escalate until someone says something to him or makes physical contact with him. He enjoys having a seat near the teacher and will usually work toward a reward of some sort (sticker, trinket, etc.). Seth is being assessed for having Fetal Alcohol Effects, but has not yet been given a label or qualified for ECSE services.