Week One

Highlighted sections: 4.3 managing challenging behaviour

Critical incident reflection

Critical incident date: 19/11/15

Description
This student is in grade 3, he is nine years old, and he has ASD (autistic spectrum disorder).
During my first week of placement, I have started to understand his behaviour, and how the
associate teachers (job-share classroom) respond to his behavioural issues. These issues
involve the student not completing work when asked, or becoming suddenly very upset or
angry in particular situations which in turn, disrupts the classroom environment. During my
observation days I was able to observe the strategies used in the classroom for each student,
and specifically for this student, although when I attempted to implement a similar strategy,
the student responded badly.
Interpretation
This situation is critical to me, as I will not only be teaching this student during my four week
placement, I will be full control for my last two weeks. This means that it is vital for me to
gain an understanding of this students behaviour, understand why he acts the way he does,
and determine strategies to overcome these issues. This situation happened the way it did
because this student, due to being ASD, is used to a very structured classroom environment,
and does not adapt well to change. As I am a new teacher in the classroom, he obviously felt
uncomfortable with my presence, and was not used to my assistance. Power and Costley
(2014), explain that ASD impairs children socially, making them both socially and
emotionally vulnerable. I have already seen this type of behaviour displayed by this students
multiple times in my first week, and in this instance, my associate teacher will pull him aside
and talk to him, which essentially calms him down, and allows the rest of the classroom to
continue working peacefully. The majority of the time, the issue will generally be the student
feeling like he is not being recognised in the class, or something not going his way, which
leads to impulse control problems (Power and Costley, 2014).

Outcome
From experiencing this situation, I have learnt many things, including a greater understanding
of the types of behaviours associated with a child with ASD. This has made me become more
aware of my lack of knowledge of certain disabilities, which needs to be addressed before
completing more placement blocks. Prior to commencing placement, if I discover I have
children in my class with certain types of disabilities, I will aim to investigate what this
involves, through asking my associate teacher questions, and conducting research online. I
have also learnt strategies to prevent this student from acting in this way, or reducing the
impact of his impulse control problems, through ensuring that he is heard if he has his hand
up in class, and reinforcing structure throughout the day.

Week One
Reference List:

Power, A. & Costley, D. (2014). Preservice Teachers Learning among Students with Autism
Spectrum Disorder. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 38(1), 34-50.