Observation/Assessment Paper
Gabriella Valentino
ECD 2450
11/25/13
I.
History
A. Brief description of the child’s background/ family history
Nicolas is originally from Bogota-Colombia and moved to Michigan about a year
ago. He is 5 years old and has and older sister. He did not speak any English
before moving to the US. At his kindergarten he has hard time communicating
with the teacher and other children. He has learned basic commands and can
understand instructions but is hard for him to express his feelings to others. He
has one friend in class who speaks Spanish and when he doesn’t understand what
the other kids are saying he thinks they are making fun of him and gets angry. He
has one older sister that is 7 years old and they both are very close to each other,
he is very protective towards her. Nicolas mom is 3 months pregnant, he doesn’t
know if he is going to have a little sister or brother yet. Nicolas plays soccer on
Saturdays and he likes, it. Soccer is his favorite sport and he practices it with his
father, uncles and cousins. Nicolas attends Spanish school 2 times a week because
even though Spanish is his first language his parents don’t want him to lose it
once he becomes proficient in English. He has a hard time waking up and has
constant nightmares. Usually 3 times a week, he wakes up in the middle of the
night to sleep in his parent’s bed. Nicolas prefers playing by himself other than
playing with others. He likes to play pretend he is a super heroes; he makes up his
own costumes using his clothes, sister’s, or his parents clothes and accessories.
Weeks after he moved to the States his parents enrolled him in karate classes, at
first he didn’t like it but once he learned the kicks and movement he got more
interested in karate. His parents noticed that he was kicking at toys and furniture
at home and that he became aggressive as a consequence of his karate classes so
they decided to stop.
B. Describe setting
I observed Nicolas and his school where he attends Monday through Friday from
9-4pm. I observed him at his Spanish school where he is part of a class with other
10 children. I also got to spent time with him during his soccer practices and at his
house.
C. Describe your relationship with this child including how long you have
known him/her.
I have known Nicolas for almost a year. I teach Spanish to him and to her older
sister and I am friends with his mom and dad.
II.
Description of the child
A. Why did you choose this child?
I choose Nicolas because I am concerned that his parents are called every week. I
used to babysit for him a couple of times during summer and her summer camp
teacher always had something to say about Nicolas violent behavior when I picked
him up. Also, he is one of my students and I feel I need to help him change his
behavior so it doesn’t gets worst as he gets older.
B. What are child’s strengths/challenges
Strengths: Nicolas is very creative; he can have the most fun with not toys but only
his imagination. He is really loving and caring to his older sister. Nicolas likes sports
especially soccer and he is really good at karate but he stop practicing it when he
started acting violent in school. He loves animals and he is always looking to protect
them. He is able to share his own feeling in his own language and he is very open to
share them. He is very family oriented; family is the most important thing for him. He
enjoys going to the movies with his father’s brothers and he respects them, he never
shows aggressive behavior when he is around them.
Challenges: He has hard time focusing in class and remaining in her sit for more than
5 minutes. He has just started learning English, he struggles to communicate in that
language. He uses aggression towards his classmates and teachers. At home he plays
roughly, throwing toys to the windows and walls damaging furniture and breaking
windows. Nicolas struggles every morning to go to school, he doesn’t get enough
sleep at night because he has constant nightmares and therefore he is tired the next
day.
C. How long has the child demonstrated difficult behavior?
Since he moved to Michigan and started his karate classes. His behavior got worst
when he entered school.
III.
TARGET BEHAVIOR
A. Describe behavior
Nicolas punches other children using his two fists rapidly until another adult separates
them. Sometimes it gets to the point where he won’t stop punching the other kid until
he sees blood. This behavior occurs daily up to 3 times a day. Nicolas has been sent
home in different occasions when his behavior is unstoppable for his teachers.
B. Describe antecedents
While playing at the sand box Nicolas set aside the truck he was playing with, then
came other kid and took the truck. Nicolas responded by running after him and
proceeding to take the car out of the child’s hands and punching on the chest.
In circle time Nicolas didn’t want to participate, instead he laid on the floor next to
the sensory table. His teacher approached him and asked him to join the rest of the
kids. Nicolas threw punches in the air hitting his teacher’s legs.
C. Describe setting events
Nicolas suffers o asthma and doesn’t use his medicine or takes it to school in case of
an attack. Nicolas recently found out that he is going to have a brother or sister. He
doesn’t Speak English and parents are not very involved in his school because they
don’t know English either, therefore he gets little to no help on his school
assignments at home.
D. Describe consequences
The teacher comes and separates him from the child he is punching. However,
sometimes it takes his teacher at least 1 minute to realize they are fighting, until
someone screams. She then makes sure they are playing separate from each other and
spends time with Nicolas during his play. Nicolas avoids activities when punching his
friends because he is sent to sit away from the rest of the children. He gets the
assistant or teacher to sit next to him holding him making sure he doesn’t leave the
table or bothers other kids. When he punches kids to get toys from them he most of
the time gets the toy to him. When Nicolas acts aggressively he gets to play which
whatever toy he wants in order to not distract and harm the other children.
E. Why did you choose this behavior?
I chose this behavior because he sometimes punches to the point where the other kid
is bleeding. I believe that his aggression is separating him from the rest of the
children and its making them fear Nicolas. I also believe this behavior is damaging
his learning experience the most. It concerns me because I believe this is the only way
he uses to communicate instead of putting words to his feelings and emotions. I am
worried because if this behavior is not controlled and changed into positive behavior,
it can have a big impact in his life and when he grows up it can turn out into
delinquency acts. I also believe this behavior should be stopped and changed into a
positive behavior because it worries me that once his new baby brother or sister is
born he might hurt the new baby.
F. How long has it been happening?
This behavior has been happening since he started kindergarten and it has increased
in the past weeks.
G. What else do you know about?
He started getting violent when he started doing karate; he practiced it for about 4
months. His behavior got worse when he started school so their parents decided to
take him out of karate.
Even though his violent behavior started months ago it increased by the time he was
told he was going to be a big brother.
IV.
HYPOTHESIS
A. What is your hypothesis?
I believe Nicolas is acting aggressively at school, specially punching because he
seeks for the teacher or other children’s attention. I also believe he feels he is left
behind because he doesn’t speak the language and can’t communicate with the rest of
the class. Nicolas punches because he feels the other kids make fun of him as I heard
him saying it to his Hispanic friend. To me, Nicolas is frightened in this new world he
is exploring far away from his home and listening to a language he is not familiar
with. I believe he sees his teacher as the only person he feels comfortable with and
wants her full attention to him because he feels scared to socialize with the rest.
B. How did you come up with this hypothesis?
I came up with this hypothesis based on my data collection and hours of observation.
Also, talking to his parents and teachers helped me have a bigger picture of the
situation Nicolas is going through.
C. What forms did you use?
I used the functional assessment interview form, the motivation assessment scale, the
ABC (antecedent, behavior, consequence) chart form, the support planning chart, and
notes I took from talking with their parents and teachers.
D. Why did you choose this behavior?
Because they were provided by my teachers and I used my personal notes to ask
questions that were not included in the handouts.
E. What information did they provide?
They gave me a clear picture of what was happening before, during and after the
behavior and to identify what was causing it. It also helped me to look for ways to
turn his negative behavior into a good behavior and create new skills and abilities for
Nicolas. I was able to tight the behavior to a reason, which allowed me to elaborate a
behavior modification plan.
V.
BEHAVIOR PLAN
A. Describe Plan
As prevention strategy child will be offered visuals as he does not communicate
effectively with his teacher or students due to his low proficiency in English. He
needs to have available some visuals signs that makes him communicate with the
instructor to express their feelings. Child can be offered to go to a safety place when
he feels frustrated, irritated and no one is available to talk to him or give him the
attention he needs. He can go there and take a minute to himself away from the rest of
the children. These prevention skills will give the child time to think before reacting
to punch other children, teacher or staff. Most importantly he will feel heard and that
the rest are acknowledging his emotions and what he tries to express. It will teach
child to say “I am scared”, “I want this” when facing his problems. It will be his new
skill to use when he is in a situation he wants to use violence. This skill will make
him feel that he is part of the group. These visuals would not only help him
communicate with his teacher but the other students can learn to understand what he
is trying to communicate and this would help him socialize with the rest. Another
strategy would be to create a story with the help of parents to describe how the
children feels in certain situations at school this story can be written in Spanish so
that both parents and the child understands. This story should have pictures that
demonstrate how he feels, what he thinks, how he reacts to the behavior and what the
consequences are. This story should have a happy ending teaching the child to find
other ways to solve his problems instead of using violence.
B. Who will help implement plan?
Teachers and staff will help implement this plan at school. At home, parents and
family members will help.
C. List reasons for intervention strategies
I chose visuals because it is the only way Nicolas could communicate because of his
lack of English. A visual supports that he can be understood by both, children and
teacher. Moreover, he will learn how to put words to his feelings and it would be
much easier for him to communicate.
D. How will you include parents in this plan?
I will have the plan written and translated to their language so that they fully
understand our goals and how we expect them from helping us so that in both
settings, school and work are working in the same way. I would also have their
parents to be more involved in school and have a translator in our meeting if
necessary or they could bring a family member that could explain them what is going
on their child’s daily basic at school.
Parents will help children to work on social stories where they can help child describe
his feelings and emotions. They can reinforce the teacher’s plan from home.
VI.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
A. What are the variables in your plan
If the teacher is too late to respond when child is being pushed then she won’t be able
to remind him to use the visual cues as I think child may need to be reminded when
he is in that situation over and over until he learns to respond using visuals by
himself. If parents are not tolerant and hit their child every time he punches his
classmates then they will be reinforcing this behavior.
B. What could go wrong and why?
Child could use visual cues one time and then forget about it or it will take him time
to get used to the use of visual cues. Child could need the use of another intervention
like seeing a therapist if thee behavior does not stop with the plan. Children behavior
could get worst once his baby brother or sister is born.
VII.
ATTACHMENTS
A. Functional Assessment Form
B. Motivation Assessment Questionnaire
C. ABC Observation Form
D. Supporting Plan Chart