Mrs. Thomas is a first grade special education teacher. This school year, Mrs. Thomas has eight students. Each of the students has been diagnosed with either autism spectrum disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. In addition to Mrs. Thomas, there are two other paraprofessionals in the class. The director of special education has asked that you provide behavior analytic services for the students in Mrs. Thomas’s classroom. You scheduled a time to directly observe as part of the assessment process.
During the observation, you notice one student gets out of his seat during spelling class, walks around the classroom, and twirls around. When he gets out of his seat, the teacher and paraprofessional tell him to get back in his seat and threaten to remove recess time. Another student is flipping headfirst off his chair. The other paraprofessional tells him to stop and threatens that he will have to eat lunch in the classroom instead of the cafeteria. Another student is yelling out the wrong answers in response to the teacher’s questions. Mrs. Thomas tells the student that he is smarter than that and knows the right answer. After these behaviors continue for 15 minutes, spelling class ends. Mrs. Thomas sends the students to recess. During recess, you notice the students engaging in sharing and turn-taking behavior. During this time, Mrs. Thomas and the paraprofessionals discuss their plans for the evening and do not interact with the students.
When you prepare to leave, you ask to see each student’s current functional behavior assessment and behavior intervention plan. Mrs. Thomas tells you that she has been teaching special education for 20 years and the behavior interventions do not work for these students. She has never seen students like the students in this class. She claims that there is nothing you can do to help.
1. What are some of the strengths within Mrs. Thomas’s classroom?
2. What are some of the performance concerns? Discuss how you could use the principles and strategies within performance management to garner the support/compliance of the classroom’s professionals to implement each student’s behavior intervention plan.
3. What are the ethical or social validity considerations to be aware of when designing your plan.