AUTUMN SHIPLEY-MELLON

EDI 310 – FALL 2019 STUDENT CASE STUDY

JASON*

¡ Jason lives with his mom and sometimes grandma

¡ Age 7
¡ He loves balloons, rockets, and the beach
¡ Kindergarten
¡ He loves to be at school
¡ Disability Classification: Early Childhood
Developmental Delay ¡ He knows all his letters, colors, and can write his
own name

¡ I chose to do this case study on Jason because he is one of eleven students on my case load I work with closely.
His behaviors prevent him from being able to spend an appropriate amount of time in his general education
classroom and they are his main goals in his Individualized Education Plan (IEP).

*All identifying information has been changed

CLASSROOM CONTEXT

General Education Classroom Resource Room (Majority of day spent here)

¡ Sits at his assigned seat located close to the door ¡ For the majority of the day Jason does independent
work in the resource room
¡ On the “sit spots” or rug he sits removed from the
group ¡ He has a choice of what table

¡ Jason is expected to participate in all group activities ¡ He works independently then may play
with his teacher and fellow students ¡ He follows basic classroom procedures
STRATEGY 1: REWARD SYSTEM

¡ Jason has a reward system where he gets a balloon if he shows positive behavior
¡ We taught him that in order to receive the balloon he must use “Kind words, kind hands, and stay in
his classroom”
¡ These behaviors include swearing, being physically aggressive, or noncompliant
¡ If Jason is not exhibiting positive behavior we simply ask “Do you want your balloon?” and he will
return to positive behavior in order to not have the balloon taken away
 ¡ We have taught him to replace all inappropriate language
with appropriate words

STRATEGY 2: ¡ He swears to receive attention from peers and adults

¡ We redirect him to use replacement language when he
WORD sweats
REPLACEMENT ¡ Ex. What the world, Oh Sugar, Oh my goodness, I like the beach
¡ If he continued to swear we would not allow him to have his
reward
 ¡ This replacement language has been somewhat effective, he
continues to use inappropriate language but with much less
STRATEGY 2 frequency than before

ANALYSIS ¡ This behavior originally was the main concern for him to
be successful in his general education classroom but it has
since reduced in severity
STRATEGY 3 : MOVEABLE SIT SPOT

We created felt sit spots so Jason knows where he needs to

sit in the classroom but also it is moveable

Jason knows how to find the sit spot and re locate

it to where it needs to be
• Ex. Bring the sit spot to the calendar area then pick it up and
bring it to the rug where whole class instruction occurs
STRATEGY 3 ANALYSIS
This strategy was very
successful at teaching him that
he has to sit with the group
but provided him the
necessary space to feel
comfortable and reduce
anxiety in the classroom
This strategy has proven to be
We have since been able to
very effective because he has
remove the physical sit spot
made a significant
and simply point to where he
improvement in being able to
needs to be and he will sit
sit near the class and be
there
present during class activities
CONCLUSION

¡ One of the main factors that influences the majority of Jason's behavior is his limited use of language, in order to
try and convey is desires and needs he uses behaviors that would not typically be used by peers his same age
¡ While his behaviors currently may seem extreme they are a significant improvement from what he was exhibiting
at the beginning of the school year showing that all students truly are teachable
¡ Jason continues to need one on one support from the resource room teacher but he has made significant
progress at being able to spend more and more time in his general education classroom
RECOMMENDATIONS

¡ Continue to reinforce positive behavior even for behaviors that he is frequently successful with
¡ Jason may benefit from an augmentative and alternative communication device
¡ A change of placement could possibly benefit him by increasing supports for his behavioral and educational needs