Van Fossan 1

Kathleen Van Fossan

Profs. Vicki Widman and Denise Sokol
June 21, 2016

Educating Children At-Risk

Observation/Assessment Paper
I.

HISTORY
a. B is a 5-year-old Pre-K students with epilepsy and an amazingly sweet
personality. She has been attending Puppy Academy for a year and a half now,
and currently attends the Kitty school, which has a special needs program and
classroom, for speech therapy and behavior therapy. Bs family includes her mom,
her dad, and her one-year-old sister M. B was diagnosed with epilepsy when she
was almost three years old. She will experience several absence seizures
throughout the day. You can tell that B is having an absence seizure because she
will stare into the distance and flutter her eyes. Sometime her hands will move
around in a circular, repetitive pattern, and her mouth with open wide. In addition,
B will occasionally experience a complex absence seizure. For example, while
walking, her eyes will stare into the distance and she will keep walking in the
same direction. In part because of her epilepsy, B also has a cognitive delay.
Based on her physical age, she should be in the Young 5s classroom, but because
of where she is cognitively and behaviorally, she is in the correct grade level. B is
always smiling, has a happy and effervescent personality, and is one of the
sweetest little girls Ive ever met.
b. The setting I observed B in is her Pre-K classroom at Puppy Academy. Bs
teachers includes Miss S and Miss K, with Miss S being her teacher and primary
caregiver. Miss S takes care of B from when shes dropped off at Puppy Academy

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at 9:00am till she waits for the bus at 12:30pm. Miss K is Bs primary caregiver
from her arrival back from the Kitty school at 4:45 till her pick up at 5:30. I
observe B in her classroom during her classs worksheet time (from 10:30 to
11:00) and free play (from 11:00 to 11:30). Also, I observe her while she waited
for the bus at 12:30 at the front desk.
c. Ive known B during the whole year-and-a-half shes attended Puppy Academy. I
was the teachers assistant when she was a student in Miss Ws young preschool
class during the summer of 2014. I was also the teacher assistant in the Pre-K
class over this past summer, where I worked with B again. It was during this past
summer that B and I developed a strong relationship with each other. B is now a
II.

student in Miss Ss Pre-K class, and we still maintain a close relationship.

DESCRIPTION OF CHILD
a. I chose this child not only because the closeness of our relationship, but because
of her recent behavior. When B was my student over the summer, she did not hit
friends, knock over toys, or take toys from friends. This behavior recently
occurred when she moved into Miss Ss Pre-K class. Miss S, in turn, asked me to
help her work with B on these behavioral issues, and I agreed to help her. Through
this project, I want to come up with a behavioral plan and several techniques to
help B learn to communicate her needs more effectively and to learn how to
appropriately get the attention of her teachers and peers.
b. B has a multitude of strengths that impress me. She is one of the happiest children
I have ever had the pleasure to teach. She has the sweetest laugh, the best smile,
and gives the best hugs. In addition, she has impressive cutting skills. One of her
favorite activities includes cutting paper with scissors. She also is a great artist.
She loves painting and mixing different colors with her brush. Shes constantly

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working to expand her vocabulary. When I first met her, she couldnt form words
at all. Then, over the past summer, she learned to say, Yeah, No, and Ok!
Now shes able to form simple sentences, like Hi, Miss Kathleen! and I dont
want to. In turn, B does have a few weaknesses. She has difficulty entering play
or getting attention without using physical means like hitting friends and
knocking over toys. In addition, when she isnt able to communicate her needs
effectively, she tends to stop trying to communicating. For example, if she takes
me to an object and I dont understand why she is taking me there, Ill ask her
some yes-or-no questions to try to figure out her needs. If she gets frustrated,
shell walk away and start playing with something else.
c. This challenging behavior started when she began going to Pre-K this school year.
At the beginning of Puppy Academys, which starts mid-September, she had a
hard time controlling her body at circle time (she kept getting up from the circle
rug and finding toys to play with and spinning in the circle). Then, in midOctober, she began exhibiting the physical behaviors, including hitting, taking
toys out of friends hands, and knocking over toys such as Lego towers and
MagnaTile structures. This behavior still continues now, although with less
III.

frequency and intensity.

TARGET BEHAVIOR
a. The behavior I am focusing on in this assessment is Bs hitting. Every free play
period, B will go around and hit her friends at least two or three times. B will
wander by herself around the classroom during free play and watch her friends
play. She will be especially interested if shes watching friends playing in large
groups around building toys like MagnaTiles, Legos, and wooden blocks. While
the friends are playing with these toys, she will walk up behind them, giggle and

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screech, and hit her friends on their heads and backs with an open hand. The
friends will turn around and yell at her, saying, Stop that, B! Miss S will scold
her from across the room shouting, Dont hit, B! That hurts friends! B usually
smiles, shrugs her shoulders, and will sometimes bounce up and down happily.
Throughout October and the beginning of November, this behavior would happen
about three or four times every day, and almost always during free play. Now, this
behavior has been reduced to two or three days a week, and only two or three
times throughout the day. Hopefully we can work with her to keep reducing the
frequency of this behavior.
b. The antecedent in this situation is the group of friends forming around the
building toys. The moment B sees a large group of friends playing together, her
interest is piqued, and shell walk over and watch them play. Usually after a
minute or so B will start hitting friends. B is particularly interested in building
toys like MagnaTiles, Legos, or wooden blocks, so if her friends are playing with
those, then she is more likely to start hitting. She is also more likely to start hitting
when friends who give strong reactions like Br, L, and D. Quieter friends like Ma
and Do are less likely to get hit by B, even if they are playing with MagnaTiles.
Br tends to scream really loud and push B away when B hits her, so B seems to
target her more than any other student.
c. B is cognitively developing slower than most of her classmates. Even though she
is older than most of the students in her class, her communication skills are just
below that of a three-year-olds skill level. According to her doctor, this cognitive
delay does partly stem from her epilepsy. In turn, her seizures make it difficult for
her to focus on tasks for a long period of time, and she gets tired after she has had

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an absence seizure that lasts longer than a minute or if she has a multitude of
absence seizures in a small period of time. With this, B has been switching
medication. She is transitioning from carbamozepine to ethosuximide, and the
new medicine has made her a little lethargic throughout the day. In addition, B has
a new one-year-old baby sister named M. M is having a hard time sleeping
throughout the night, and will sometime cry during the night. B will wake up
when she hears M cry, and sometimes wont be able to go back to sleep.
Moreover, B does not eat a lot of food throughout the day. The only food she
really likes to eat are Goldfish and fruit snacks. Sometimes she wont eat anything
before morning free play time. Therefore, her cognitive development, her epilepsy
and seizures, her new medication, her new baby sister, and her diet could all be
considered setting events.
d. The consequences to this action are the attention she gets from the friend she is
hitting, the class, and her teacher. B enjoys receiving attention from others, and
hitting friends is one of her ways to tell others that shes bored and wants to play.
Whenever B hits someone, the friend she is hitting usually reacts with a shout or
with tears. Also, the class will usually stop whatever they are doing and focus on
what is happening between B, the student she hit, and Miss S. In turn, Miss S will
react by scolding B across the room. If B hits the student hard, or if the student
reacts by shouting loudly, Miss S will put B in time-out for her behavior. B
doesnt seem upset when shes in time out, and will sometimes smile and sing
while sitting in time-out.
e. Actually, at first I wanted to focus on Bs circle time behavior because it was
behavior both myself and Miss S have observed. In fact, when I first observed B

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in her classroom, I did not see the behavior at all. Then, during my fourth
observation, I left the Pre-K classroom and went to the front desk to print some
coloring pages for my students. As I did, I watched the classroom on our video
camera system. I watched B wander around the classroom and hit two students
that day. I started doing my observations both in her classroom and at the front
desk through the camera system. Once I was able to see Bs behavior for myself, I
decided that helping B control her hands and learn to enter play and communicate
her needs more effectively will improve Bs day exponentially. I want to provide
her with a number of lifelong skills that will benefit her and enrich her entire life.
f. This behavior started happening early in the school year. Miss S noticed that a
few weeks into September that B started to get more physical with friends; she
would hit them in the classroom and on the playground. By early October her
actions were become more forceful; instead of a light slap on a friends back, she
would push their backs or even push their butts. However, by mid-November Bs
physical behavior became less forceful. Through our behavior plan we hope to
continue making this behavior less forceful and, eventually, help make this
behavior go away.
g. B personality when shes participating in this behavior doesnt seem angry or
frustrated. She actually has a smile, and will sometimes giggle and bounce. When
the teacher scolds her, she will always smile and happily say either, Sorry! or
Okay! If she was angry, frustrated, sad, or upset, she would frown and cry, and
her body would shake. This is partly why I believe that Bs behavior comes from
a desire for friendship and attention. The other reason why I believe this behavior
is Bs way of asking for attention is because its the same kind of behavior my

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toddlers engage in. My toddlers are just learning how to communicate their needs
and ask for attention appropriately and effectively, but sometimes they will hit,
throw toys, or steal toys from each other in order to express this need. I believe
IV.

that B is just engaging in the same behavior to communicate the same needs.
HYPOTHESIS
a. When B sees a group of friends playing with her favorite building toys during
free play, B will walk up to one of the friends and hit them either on the back or
on their head with an open hand. The friends will yell at B, the teacher will scold
B for her behavior from across the room, and all of Bs classmates will look at B;
these actions provide B with negative attention. B hits her friend because she
wants to obtain the attention of her peers and her teacher in her classroom.
b. I came up with my hypothesis through several important observations. First, I
noticed that B tends to wander lackadaisically around the classroom during free
play, which indicates to me that she is bored. I also noted that was more likely to
hit friends who were playing with toys that she liked, such as MagnaTiles or
Legos. She would be especially interested if there were three or more friends
playing with these toys altogether. These three observations led me to my
antecedent (the large group of friends and the building toys). Then, I observed
how she was hitting her friends. She would also walk up behind a friend and
either hit them on the back or their heads with an open hand. This allowed me to
describe her behavior in my hypothesis. In addition, I watched how her friends
and teacher reacted to her behavior. Her friends would yell at her, and her teacher
would scold her from across the room. This observation helped me come up with
the consequences of Bs behavior (her friends and teacher yelling at her). Finally,

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as I watched B smile when her friends and teacher yelled at her made me realize
the function of Bs hitting: to obtain the attention of the people in her classroom.
c. I used section C of the function assessment interview form to create the
antecedent of my hypothesis. I used the ABC forms to describe Bs behavior. I
used the motivation assessment scale and my ABC forms to explain the
consequences of Bs behavior. I used sections E and F of the function assessment
interview form to explain the function of Bs behavior. In order to put these
different parts of my hypothesis together, I utilized the support planning chart to
pull my hypothesis together.
d. I chose to use section C of the function assessment interview form to find out the
triggers to Bs behavior because it asked me to describe when B was most likely
and least likely to engage in her physical behavior. I chose to use my ABC forms
to describe how B hits her friends because they were the forms I used to write my
notes down while I was actually watching B hit her friends. I chose to use both
the motivation assessment scale and my ABC forms to not only see how Bs
teacher and friends reacted to Bs behavior, but to discover how their behavior
may provide an unintentional payoff. I chose to use sections E and F of the
function assessment interview form to discover the function of Bs behavior
because they asked me a series of questions that forced me to examine the
payoff to Bs behavior. Finally, I chose the support planning chart to take all
this information I gathered to clarified my observations and put all this
information together to form a solid hypothesis.
e. Through section C of the function assessment interview form, I learned that the
triggers to Bs behavior stemmed from watching large groups of friends
approximately three to four friendsplay with toys that she thoroughly enjoyed,

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including MagnaTiles and Legos. She was more likely to engage in hitting friends
if the friends that were playing with the MagnaTiles or Legos were friends who
would react loudly to her behavior; Br, for example, always screams whenever B
hits her. Through my ABC forms, I learned that B will always walk up behind
someone before hitting them, and will usually hit them on their heads or back. I
also learned that she usually smiles as she hits her friends, telling me that she
wasnt hitting them because she was mad or angry with them. The forms also told
me that she would smile even more if her friends and Miss S yelled at her;
through this, I not only discovered the consequence of Bs behaviorthe negative
attentionbut the function behind hitting her friendsthe desire to obtain any
sort of attention. I further solidified my theory that B hit her friends for attention
by filling out the motivation assessment scale, which told me that Bs behavior
does stem from a need for attention, and that her classmates and teachers
reaction to her behavior was providing the payoff that she was looking for.
Sections E and F of the function assessment form further provided me with the
information that B hits her friends because she is seeking the attention of her
peers and teacher. The support planning chart provided me with my hypothesis; it
allowed me to take all this information that I gathered from the other forms, put it
V.

together on a single chart, and create a hypothesis with it.

BEHAVIOR PLAN
a. There are three important parts to Bs behavior plan. The first part involves
teaching B the American Sign Language (or ASL) signs for yes, no, play,
please, and help. The second part involves writing a scripted story for B
called How B Plays with Friends and reading it to her every day. The third part

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involves implementing a Velcro token system to dissuade her from hitting her
friends for attention.
First, we need to teach the entire class a variety of ASL signs to help B and
her class improve communication amongst one another. I will teach Miss S the
ASL signs for yes, no, play, please, and help. Once Miss S knows these
signs, she will then teach these signs to all her students, including B. Every
morning, at the end of circle time, Miss S and her entire class will go over these
signs together. Miss S will also go over the times in which her class would use
these signs. For example, when she shows the class the sign for yes, she will
say, You could use this sign to say, Yes, you can play with these toys. Then, as
she shows them no, she will say, You can use this sign to say, No, you cannot
play with me right now. As she shows them the sign for please, she will say,
You can use this sign to say, May I please have that toy? As she shows them
the sign for play, she will say, You can use this sign to say, Can I play with
you please? As she shows them the sign for help, she will say, You can use
this sign to say, I need help please! She will have her students do the signs and
repeat the sentences with her. She will also ask them to tell her about any other
situation in which they would use these signs.
The second part of Bs behavior plan involves creating a scripted story that
will be read to B every day. I will make the scripted story on PowerPoint, and I
will use laminating paper, my phone (to take the pictures with), a printer, a threehole punch, and pink yarn.
I will spend a day taking pictures of B, her teacher, and her friends in
order to create this scripted story. Ill open up PowerPoint and make each slide a
page of Bs story. The cover of Bs story will show a picture of B standing in front

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of Puppy Academy with the text, How B Plays with Friends underneath. The
first slide will have a picture of B smiling and the text This is B! written
underneath. The second slide will have another picture of B in front of Puppy
Academy and the text B goes to Puppy Academy! written underneath. The third
slide will have a picture of B with her friends and the text These are Bs friends
written underneath. The fourth slide will have a picture of Bs favorite toys,
MagnaTiles and Legos, and the text These are Bs favorite toys written
underneath. The fifth slide will have a picture of B playing with her friends and
the text B loves playing with her friends! written underneath. The sixth slide
will have a picture of B doing the signs for play and please, and the text If B
wants to play with her friends, she can ask by saying Play, please! written
underneath. The seventh slide will have a picture of Bs friends showing the sign
for yes, and the text If Bs friends say yes, then they can all play together!
written underneath. The eight slide will have a picture of Bs friends showing the
sign for no, and the text But what if Bs friends dont want to play right now?
written underneath. The ninth slide will have a picture of B walking away from
friends and the text B can walk away from friends and find a new toy to play
with written underneath. The tenth slide will have a picture of B in the book
corner and art corner and the text B can also relax in the book corner or art
corner by herself written underneath. The eleventh slide will have a picture of B
showing the sign for play to a different group of friends and the text B can also
ask a different group of friends if they want to play. written underneath. The
twelfth slide will have a picture of B with Miss S, with both of them showing the

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sign for help, and the text If B needs help, she can always go to Miss S for
help written underneath. The thirteenth slide will have a picture of B with
shrugged shoulders and the text What else could B do if her friends dont want to
play with her? written underneath. The fourteenth slide will have a picture of B,
her friends, and Miss S with their thumbs up, and the text, Everyone can have
fun during free play! written underneath.
Once Im done writing out Bs book, I will print it, laminate it, and use the
three-hole puncher to punch out holes. I will use the pink yarn to tie the whole
thing together. I will print two copies- one for Miss Sheena, and one of Miss B. I
will give the story to Miss S. Before her day starts, Miss S and I need to find
someone to watch her students from 10:20 to 10:30 (which is the last ten minutes
of worksheet time). Possible options include the directors Miss A and Miss Sh, the
cook Miss C, or the teacher assistant Mr. C. If these people are not available, she
can work with Miss A or Miss Sh to find another teacher assistant who is
available. While this person is watching her students, Miss S can take B to the
side and read How B Play with her Friends with her. She should make sure to
go over the ASL signs again as they read.
Once theyre done reading the story, Miss S and B should go over the third
major component to Bs behavior plan: the Velcro token strip. I will make B a
token strip out of a paint stick, Velcro, Paw Patrol cut-outs, pink paint, hot glue
gun with hot glue sticks, a strong magnet, an empty Kleenex box, construction
paper, Sharpies, gem stickers, and my small Paw Patrol books. First, I will paint
the paint stick pink. Then, I will add five Velcro tabs to the paint stick after the
stick dries. After that, I would glue the small Paw Patrol characters cut-outs to the

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Velcro taps. Then Ill glue the magnet to the back of the paint stick. Afterwards,
Ill start working on her treasure chest. Ill glue pink construction paper onto the
empty Kleenex box and decorate it with the Sharpies and gem stickers so it looks
like a treasure chest. Ill fill the treasure chest will my small Paw Patrol books,
and give both the chest and Velcro token stick to Miss S.
Miss S will put the token strip on the magnetic easel in her classroom.
After reading the scripted story together, Miss S will show B the token strip and
go over with her how the token strip works. Every time B hits a friend, Miss S
will take a token off the token strip. If Miss S takes off all five tokens from the
token strip, then B cannot play with the MagnaTiles for the rest of the day.
However, if there is at least one token left on the token strip before she leaves for
the bus to the Kitty School, B can choose a book to read from her treasure chest.
She will also choose which teacher she wants to read the story with: Miss S, Miss
K, or Miss Kathleen. All these teachers are available to read this story to B when
she gets off the bus from the Kitty School at 4:45. Once B is able to read stories
with her teachers for at least a month, we can reduce the tokens from five to four.
Then, next month, if she can successfully keep her hands off her friends, well
reduce it from four to three, then three to two, and so on. Eventually we will be
able to remove the token stick until she doesnt need it anymore.
Then, after reading this story and going over the token strip, B will go and
play with her friends for free play. Miss S should make sure to initially help B
find a toy to play with to prevent B from getting bored in the first place. During
playtime, Miss S will keep a close eye on B. If she finds she is unable to do this
by herself, she can ask Miss A, Miss Sh, Miss C, or Mr. C for help. If Miss S sees

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B watcher her friends play with a toy she likes, Miss S will jump in and say, I see
you want to play with your friends. How are you going to ask them if you can
play with them? The plan could include using her signs to ask to play, or saying
the words Play, please? B may come up with another plan altogether, and Miss
S should let her explore that option. Once they come up with a plan together, Miss
S will stay until B implements their plan. If her friends say, Yes, B will play
with them. Miss S and her friends will chees for B, and tell her that she did a great
job. If her friends say, No, Miss S will say, Ok, your friends dont want to play
with you right now. What do you think we should do now? Then she should stay
with B until they come up with a plan together, and then Miss S should watch B
implement this plan. In addition, Miss S can keep stickers in her back pocket and
give B a sticker as soon as she exhibits appropriate behavior (such as using signs,
asking to play, going to a quiet area to calm down, or asking Miss S for help).
If B does hit a friend, Miss S should pay more attention to the friend B
hurt than B herself. She will walk up to the friend B hurt and say, Oh no! You are
hurt! Let me help you! As she hugs the friend that is hurt, she should look at B,
pull out a chair, and say, What a bummer! I need you to sit down in this chair for
me. After comforting the friend that is hurt, Miss S will bring the token strip to
B, take a token off, and say, Okay B, I know you really wanted to play with your
friends. These toys are a lot of fun, arent they? How are we going to ask our
friends if we want to play with them? Once they come up with a plan together,
Miss S will help B find a new toy to play with and then put the token strip back
on the easel.

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b) The people who are involved in this plan are myself, Miss S, Miss K, Miss A,
Miss Sh, Miss C, and Mr. C. If one of the major players are unable to help us with
our plan, we will ask Miss A or Miss Sh to hel us find an available teacher
assistant to help us implement our plan.
c) The reason Im asking Miss S to teach her class ASl sign language is to not
only give B another way to communicate her feelings, but to give her and her
classmates a way to tell each other their thoughts and feelings. It would be like
giving the children a secret code that all the students understand and use to
communicate with each other through. I also chose to create a scripted story to not
only reinforce the importance of communicating with friends through signs and
words, but to replace Bs hitting with other, more appropriate behaviors that also
communicate her need for attention. By giving her options, she will have more
control over her life, can choose which means of communication works best for
her, and can maintain her friendships through positive communication. Finally, I
chose to create a token strip for B to not only reinforce positive behavior, but to
dissuade her from reverting back into her physical behavior. By replacing her
hitting with these new methods of communication, B will be able to positively ask
for attention and toys though nonviolent means.
d) Miss B already talks to B about using gentle hands before dropping her off at
school. Miss S and I will encourage her to continue having these discussions with
B. We will also teach Miss B the same signs Miss S teaches her students every
morning, and ask Miss B to use the same signs at home. I will also give Miss B a

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copy of How B Plays with Friends so that she can read it with B in the morning
before she drops her off at school.
VI. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
a. The different variables in this plan include the token strip, Bs ability and confidence
to use ASL signs, and having another teacher available while Miss S observes Bs
behavior in the classroom.
b. The variable that could cause the biggest problem is making sure a teacher is
available while Miss S observes Bs behavior. Miss S has a Pre-K class that only
contains about 11 students daily, and because all her students are four years old or
older, her ratio is 1-12. However, she could ask Miss K, the other Pre-k teacher, to
combine classes during free play so theres another adult in the room to watch the
students. Miss K usually only has about 8 students, so while this situation may not be
ideal, it would at least give Miss S another pair of eyes in her classroom. One thing
that could go wrong is that B could not care about the treasure chest, or has somehow
lost interest in Paw Patrol. If that happens, the token strip could potentially lose its.
However, we could work with Bs mom to update the treasure chest so it contains
prizes that do capture Bs attention. Also, B may not be able to understand the ASL
signs as well as her fellow students, and this may frustrate her. If she feels frustrated
by her inability to communicate with her peers, she may resort back to hitting friends.
If thats the case, Miss S and I need to take B aside and spend extra time helping her
learn her signs. She could even take time out of her class period to come visit me in
my classroom and join our class in learning how to use signs. We could also make a
PEC system, where B uses pictures to communicate her thoughts and feelings through
pictures, and teach her how to use it to communicate with her peers.

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VII. ATTACHMENTS
a. Functional Assessment Form is included in folder. I included a typed version of my
functional assessment form because I wrote a lot of notes on the original form, and
wanted to make sure my teachers could understand all my chicken scratches.
b. Included in folder.
c. All ABC forms and observation notes are included in folder, and in chronological
order.
d. I also included my support planning chart, my functional behavioral assessment forms

5 (Prevent), 6 (Teach), and 7 (Reinforce), some observation notes I took while in

class, and the three ASQ assessments I tested B with.