Tatiana Barbari

CASE STUDY

Child Name Lucas Pereira D.O.B. 6/6/2010 Age: 4 yrs 9 months

Learning Context
Little Rainbow:
 The centres mission is to ensure that the centre and its educators deliver the high quality care
and programs that it sets out to do.
 Little Rainbow educators believe in ongoing communication and shared partnerships with
families, educators & children and ensure all members of our community have a sense of
trust, respect, and belonging and feel valued in our centre.
 We advocate for the families, educators and children in our centre and the community, where
individual needs and backgrounds from an integral part of daily events and activities.

Program Support Group Members consulted in devising this plan:

Prac Teacher: Tatiana Barbari.
Other Educator in the room: Jenny Lopez.
Teacher Aid: Kathrine Dropini.
Parents: Natalia Pereira and Fernando Pereira.
Paediatrician: Dr. Tompson.
Speech Pathologist: Dr. Oplan.
Pivotal Response Treatment Therapist: Maria White.
Occupational Therapist: Josh Stojonaski.

Reports:
 Risk Assessment.
 Observations.

Background/General information
Cultural background: Montevideo, Uruguay.
Years in Australia: 15 years.
Family: Mother and father are married, He is the only son.
Health and Special needs: 3 moderately abnormal Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Social Economic Status: Middle
Extra-curricular activities: Every second Saturday he sees a Speech Pathology. On Thursdays he
attends swimming.

NEURODEVELOPMENTAL CONSTRUCTS
Attention: Short attention span.
Memory: Trouble memorising and remembering what he has learned in class
Temporal sequential ordering: Lucas is able to complete simple ordering tasks but finds it difficult to
complete complex ordering tasks.
 Tatiana Barbari

Language: Very little verbal communication.

Motor functions: Often performs un-meaningful hand movements.
Social cognition: Little social cognition
Higher order cognition: Little ability to interpret sentences.

Holistic Curriculum –
Skills, strengths and competencies
 He enjoys learning about animals.
 He is able to match words to images.
 He takes pride in brining something from home to show to the class.
 He enjoys planting in the garden.

Challenges
 Lucas finds it difficult to pronounce words during reading time.
 Paying attention to an activity for long periods.
 Support when socialising with other children.
 Un-meaningful hand movements.

Learning Priorities
 More participation in show and tell by learning new descriptive words.
 Begin to name the animals in the books by reading more often.
 Begin to learn simple gestures such as “Would you like to read with me?” by modelling.
 Perform meaningful hand movements.
 Improve social skills by having more group activities.
 Tatiana Barbari

Tatiana Barbari
3 Platon Drive
DANWAYN NSW 1822

Sara Thomson
25 Curtin Way
KINSTON NSW 1812
To Sara Thomson,
Hi my name is Tatiana Barbari, I am writing to inform you about Lucas Pereira. He is four years and
nine months old, and has a condition called Autism Spectrum Disorder which is a conceptualized as a
behavioural syndrome of multiple neurological injuries associated with a wide variety of medical
conditions (Gillberg, 1990). Lucas was diagnosed with 46 out of 60 which is moderately abnormal. In
our Early Childhood Centre we have been guided by The Disability Standards for Education (2005)
and also the Early Years Learning Framework (2009) to obtain the best results.
Lucas has a strong sense of identity (EYLF, 2009), one of his many interest are animals. Every
Monday we have show-and-tell, this is where students pick something to bring to class and inform the
class on that specific toy. Lucas likes bringing his favourite toy which are often plastic animals. He
also enjoys sharing with the class why he has chosen this toy. Lucas is beginning to make more eye
contact with the students and he is also beginning to say single, short, descriptive words on why he
likes this particular toy. He is able to tell us very briefly why he chose the toy, but the next goal for
Lucas is for him to be able to tell the class 3 different reasons on why it is his favourite. One of the
approaches that has been successful in the past with Lucas is operant conditioning. I will attach an
article that explains how to teach speech to an autistic child through operant conditioning (Hewett,
1965).
In The Early Years Learning Framework in Australia (2009) it is stated that “Children are confident
and involved learners”, in the classroom we always try to incorporate animals into our activities so
Lucas finds it more interesting. How we came to realise that about his interest in animal was because
we often do collages in class and students need to bring images from home. As a teacher I have
organise a corner in the classroom with animal books for Lucas so together we can have some quality
reading time every day. Lucas is beginning to learn how to match words with the corresponding
pictures, which is a sign of comprehension. His next goal is to begin to repeat the words from the
book after the teacher has read them. To further understand the importance of reading in Autistic
children I will attach a reading (Frith, Snowling, 1983).
The Early Years Learning Framework in Australia (2009) states that “Children are effective
communicators”, since Lucas is able to understand images and comprehend texts, in the classroom
we have set up cards on the walls with images to help Lucas communicate with us. Although he is
beginning to say a few words, he finds great benefit from the cards. When Lucas wants to read with
someone, he will pick the photo of the girl or boy and give it to the designated person and both will sit
down at the reading corner. This allows Lucas to communicate with other students none verbally. A
great reading is “Language, communication, and the use of symbols in normal and autistic children”
(1975), this contains information on how autism children communicate through symbols compare to a
child without the syndrome. I will also attach an article that further explains Lucas communication
deficits (McEvoy, Rogers, Pennington,1993).
In The Early Years Learning Framework in Australia (2009) it is stated that “Children are connected
with and contributes to their world”, Lucas enjoys playing outside in the playground, I often do
activities outside as a group so he can socialise with his classroom mates. One of the activities that
he enjoys is planting in the veggie patty, this is a strategy to get him to connect and contribute to the
world while learning how to share and take turns with the other students. Lucas is beginning to
socialise with the students but needs further improvement, the goal for Lucas is to improve his social
 Tatiana Barbari

skills. Little Rainbow has been guided through Pivotal Response Treatment in which instead of
targeting individual behaviours it targets pivotal areas of a child’s development which include,
motivation, response to multiple cues, self-management and the initiation of social interactions
(Koegel, 1988).
The Early Years Learning Framework (2009) proclaims that children has a strong sense of wellbeing,
Due to his condition, Lucas prefers to play by himself although he is able to socialise with other
students but only for a short period of time. In the classroom we have set up tables with different
activities that students can do. Lucas is able to sit with another student with the encouragement of a
teacher and play for short time. Due to the syndrome Lucas sometimes displays considerable self-
stimulatory behaviours such as biting himself, hitting his legs and hand clenching, this is often one of
the reasons why his only able to keep his attention on an activity for a short amount of time. The goal
for Lucas is to have meaningful hand movements, in order to improve his social skills and attention
skills.
Yours sincerely,
Tatiana Barbari.
 Tatiana Barbari

References
Frith, U., & Snowling, M. (1983). Reading for meaning and reading for sound in autistic and dyslexic
children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology,1(4), 329-342. Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1983.tb00906.x/abstract
Gillberg, C. (1990). What is autism?. International review of psychiatry, 2(1), 61-66. Retrieved from
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09540269009028272?journalCode=irp
Hewett, F. M. (1965). Teaching speech to an autistic child through operant conditioning. American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 35(5), 927. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ort/35/5/927/
Koegel, R. L. (1988). How To Teach Pivotal Behaviors to Children with Autism: A Training Manual.
Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED336901
McEvoy, R. E., Rogers, S. J., & Pennington, B. F. (1993). Executive function and social
communication deficits in young autistic children. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 34(4),
563-578. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-
7610.1993.tb01036.x/abstract
Ricks, Derek M., and Lorna Wing. "Language, communication, and the use of symbols in normal and
autistic children." Journal of autism and childhood schizophrenia 5.3 (1975): 191-221. Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01538152#page-2
RUDDOCK, P. (2005). Disability Standards for Education 2005. Retrieved from
http://www.auspan.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DisabilityStandardsForEducation.pdf
The Early Years Learning Framework in Australia (2009). Belonging, Being and Becoming. Retrieved
from
https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_year
s_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf