1/6/15

Return to Full Day Schedule

Following winter break, our new assistant principal arrived at Denison,

filling a position that had been vacant since the second month of the school year. I
met with her, briefly, to discuss verbal de-escalation strategies that had proven
successful for either the principal or myself throughout the year. I also began a new
book in the Emotes series. This book contains over 20 different emotions that
children often experience and what they look like. The nature of Corys TBI meant
that covering all of these emotions would be overwhelming due to his need for
slower pacing, frequent repetition, checks for understanding, and daily review of the
previous days lessons. Therefore, I selected four emotions that I felt it was pivotal
for Cory to recognize and that I thought were most likely to help him be successful
in the classroom (e.g. Cant) (see below) and paired them with the feelings faces
that I continued to use.


1/27/15 Meeting to Discuss Difficulties with Full Day Schedule

Unfortunately, the first three weeks of the semester had proven to be

especially challenging for Cory. He was sent to the office from specials on a
consistent basis for engaging in physical aggression toward other students. His
struggles in his specials classes appeared to be exacerbated by the fact that students
attended specials based on grade level as opposed to going with their class, as was
the case the previous year, exposing Cory to many unfamiliar peers who were
unsure how to interact with him. Additionally, two severe explosive episodes had
occurred late in the day, reportedly following repeated teacher instructions to
discontinue a preferred activity (pattern blocks) and to join the class for a group
activity. In both instances, the classroom was cleared of all students and Ms. Jones
proceeded to immediately call an administrator to escort him to the office, as per his
crisis plan, drafted by the school psychologist intern in collaboration with building
staff and Corys mother. On both occasions, upon reaching the office, Cory continued
to experience a heightened state of emotional arousal and behavioral escalation
resulting in damage to materials and property within the assistant principals office,
along with the dispatch of DPS Safety and Security, at the principals request.

At our next meeting, in which Corys mother was also in attendance, the

special education partner informed us that our request for funding from the district
for an additional paraprofessional to support Cory throughout the day, but primarily
during the long afternoon work period and in specials, had been approved and that
she would likely be ready to start the following week. This process was hastened in
part due to Denison being a Montessori school, with, at least, partial
paraprofessional support in all classrooms. In collaboration with Ms. Jones and the
special education teacher, we devised a schedule (see attached) to help each
member of the support team know how and when they were needed and to ensure
that the office staff always knew where Cory was at all times. Unfortunately,
complications with both the hiring process and building-level staffing changes led to
the new paraprofessional being utilized for the classroom as a whole, rather than
specifically to provide support to Cory. Notably, the implementation of a guaranteed
iPad break that did not have to been earned, every day between 2:30-2:50 appeared

to provide Cory with a much needed opportunity to escape the frenetic classroom
environment, refocus emotionally, and re-enter the classroom better prepared for
the last hour of the day.

In an effort to ensure that his time spent on the iPad was both academic and

fun, I purchased an activity set called Osmo. Osmo (see below) consists of an activity
requiring students to spell different words by filling in the missing letter(s) in a
word using square letters that are visible to the iPads camera. Also, Osmo includes
an activity utilizing tangrams, which is Corys clear favorite, where students are
asked to arrange seven different pieces in the shape of the designs displayed on the
screen.



3/4/15 Progress Monitoring Meeting

On March 4, the principal, assistant principal, special educator, Ms. Jones, and

I met to review how Cory was progressing under the new system of extensive
supports that had been put in place. Both administrators noted that incidents of
physical aggression has decreased markedly following the introduction of the new
interventions, including daily morning exercise and afternoon iPad breaks, while
verbal disruptions had almost ceased entirely in all specials except music, in which
Cory was likely to continue to feel challenged by the noise of the environment
combined with the abrupt style of the instructor. Ms. Jones reported that he had
begun to sit in on class meeting and even raised his hand to share with the class
once or twice. However, she also felt that there were times when Cory would enter
the yellow zone without having a clear sense of what to do or where to go to calm
himself down. In response, the principal offered to purchase multiple sets of egg
chairs, which are designed with a fold down screen on the front, thereby allowing
him to take short sensory breaks, right within the classroom, whenever he felt the

need. I offered to redesign the lanyard cards to include a picture of the egg chair
with the screen open (see below) for the green zone, meaning that he could sit in
the chair to read or attend class meeting anytime he wanted. I also incorporated a
picture of the chair with the screen closed (see below) for the yellow zone that I
used in conjunction with the picture of the slow down snail. Finally, I suggested to
Ms. Jones that she place two of the chairs in her classroom so that the other students
would always have the opportunity to use one. She agreed that this sounded like a
good idea and created a short list of expectations for students using the chairs (see
below).

Currently (3/23/15)

The all-encompassing level of supports that have been provided for Cory

appear to be having a significant positive impact on his ability to regulate both his
emotions and his behavior. His classroom teacher is thrilled to report that he is
slowly beginning to demonstrate interest in completing more challenging works
that he had previously avoided. Corys participation in daily class meetings has also

improved with him sharing a Who am I? where the student reads a series of clues
to the class and they have to guess the name of the person or animal. Finally, his
specials teachers have shared that since the new supports have been implemented,
incidents of difficult behavior have fallen dramatically.

Summary Statement

Overall, I believe that the ongoing consultative relationships I have

established while collaborating with my colleagues at both the building and district
level have allowed me to view each new challenge through a myriad of different
lenses, leading to the development of interventions and supports with a
substantially higher degree of efficacy. Utilizing a whole team approach, I have been
able to help support and lead all of the individuals who exist within Corys
educational environment and harness their immense talent and knowledge base to
help ensure that he is provided every conceivable opportunity to achieve success
within the classroom.

Moving forward, I intend to continue to improve my ability to involve

parents and guardians in my consultations. In Corys case, his mother had sought to
distance herself from the stress of raising a young child with significant special
needs by acquiescing to him in an effort to maintain a relative state of peace at
home. Unfortunately, this complicated our efforts to provide a continuity of care for
Cory through a set of universal expectations and interventions. Also, my level of
communication with the specials teachers regarding changes to interventions or
scheduling could have been more consistent as several teachers had expressed
frustration at being unsure if and when Cory would be rejoining their classes.

The problem-solving model of consultation can be said to have been

successful overall as evidenced by the recent improvements to Corys behavioral

and emotional well-being, which have, in turn, led to improvements in his
academics. Unfortunately, the realities inherent to functioning as a schools sole
mental health provider within a large, urban, school district, led to each of the seven
steps in the Problem Solving Cycle often taking far longer to complete than
necessary.

It was clear to me from the very beginning that this consultative experience

would be much different than the one I had last year in practicum. During
practicum, I consulted with a first grade teacher about a student who also had
behavior concerns however; they were much less severe in nature as compared to
Corys. Corys case proved to be far more broad in scope, involving: a multitude of
individuals spread out across systems; behaviors with the potential to cause serious
harm; and on-going difficulties in providing lasting, meaningful, supports given the
uncertainty of the true nature of his disability, as attributed to the comorbidity
between TBI, a genetic predisposition to emotional issues, and early childhood
trauma. As a result of these challenges, I have acquired a much greater
understanding of the importance of collaboration between disciplines and across
settings as well as the necessity for dynamic interventions specific to the unique
needs of each individual student.