Assignment 1: Case and Commentary

Case;
AEB1210: Understanding Learning Timothy ONeill, Semester 2 2012

This case study being reviewed is situated in a class of approximately 20 grade 5/6 students at Footscray North Primary School where I observe and help out on a Friday morning in their literacy block. It was a dull, cool morning. The bell had gone and the students were waiting patiently outside where they always lineup. Usually by the time I get there the teacher is there and students are already walking into class. But this was not the case for this day. After waiting a few minutes in the cold the students and I decided that we would just walk into the class. We did so. The library teacher came in as usual, yet there was still no classroom teacher. As the students sat on the floor the principal came in and asked to speak to the students for two minutes. The Principal explained, Now grade 5/6D, I have some very important information that I need you all to hear and understand. Your teacher has informed us that she will not be here today and classes will be a bit disrupted NOOOOOOO! I dont want to! a student suddenly murmured. And continued to mumble numerous distressing thoughts as the principal continued to address the students. I noticed who the student was, it was Kim. A student with Autism who of course did not agree with these changes for todays class, as it was not going to be the usual routine. The principal just stared at Kim and continued to address the class throughout Kims bickering. Once the principal had finished talking to the class, she instructed them to head of to the library with the library teacher. She added that Kim was to stay back and straight away Kim showed disapproval to the principals orders and said NOOO! Leave me alone, I need to go now. While so the students were looking on as they were leaving the classroom. The next moment I had seen the principal holding onto Kims arm and saying Kim, please stop and sit here with me for a little bit. We need a talk, all while Kim was trying to pull away and saying Why are you holding my arm? I wasnt too sure if I should have stayed or gone but then the principal instructed me to go along with the class to the library. So I did as I was told. Not long after settling into the library the students were off doing their independent reading and Kim was still not back. Thuy, the library teachers decided to talk to me about my experiences with children like Kim. I could only give her very little information, as I had never really had any contact. Kim came back from talking to the principal and just went along doing her own thing, looking for a book to read and sitting away from the rest of her classmates while giggling away at the book that she had picked. I suppose Kim just needed a cooling down by the principal after hearing the news that there were going to be changes to the class schedule for that day. I guess I was just shocked at how the principal seemed to deal with it, but I guess in the end it did work out.

AEB1210: Understanding Learning Timothy ONeill ID#: 3908479

Commentary;
Throughout my Friday morning placements I have noticed the behavior of Kim but I have not seriously thought about the way she acted. I just presumed that it was just a way of showing off but as I know now this is was not the case for Kim. I discussed with the library teacher Thuy about how they deal with this kind of issue. She mentioned that they just try and calm the student down when this kind of issue occurs in the classroom. She also mentioned to me something that I did not know, and that was that autistic children often like to follow a schedule or a routine but when this routine is disrupted such the teacher being away then this causes some-what chaos. This then became obvious to me and allowed me to understand the actions of Kim, to which I had noticed over the weeks that when the teacher changed things around to catch-up on stuff that Kim would become some what distraught and uncomfortable throughout the class, but not to the extent that it was that day. As I have learnt and from various readings on the internet, I have now learnt that Kims fear of her routine being out-of-place is quite common for people in the autism spectrum as an article on AutismToday.com mentions People, especially in the autism spectrum need routine and structure. Along with this article also they mention some ways to which educators, and possibly the teachers of Kim could use to calm her down and get her use to small changes. Some of the ways mentioned are to change the routines portion by portion over time, negotiate with the student and possibly their parents and break tasks into chunks. These kind of things I believe would be more efficient in Kims situations so out-burst like I observed do not occur as much, or at least not so strong. Amongst looking at this case, I believe that the way that the principal dealt with the situation at that given time when students were present was not quite the right way to deal with it. An autistic child is disgruntled, the principal holding this childs arm to stop them from moving? That just doesnt seem responsible and for some reasons ethical in a teaching practice. Obviously the principal could have taken a much calmer approach to this situation. Of course this kind of situation is difficult for a teacher and cant be fully helped sometimes. Even sometimes it is not the teachers fault for not being able to communicate or get the message across to the student. It could partially be the parents fault for not initiating any long-term plans for their child. As identified by the National research Council (2001), they listed 5 effective programs for young children with Autism that could be implemented by the parents. These programs include a 12 months a year of systematically-planned educational activity, sufficient individual attention given to the child everyday and give instruction in the areas of functional spontaneous communication, social interaction, play skills, cognitive skills taught in a manner to facilitate generalization, proactive and effective approaches to challenging behavior, and functional academic skills. These programs could assist with easing the child into being calmer during certain situations but of course this may not work for all children with Autism. "Autism isnt like diabetes. With diabetes, we have two or three things that we absolutely know about every kid who has it. But since its not that way with autism, we need an educational model wide enough to take in the whole spectrum. That means its going to have to be a
AEB1210: Understanding Learning Timothy ONeill ID#: 3908479

fairly broad model. (Kathlen Platzman, WebMD interview w/Colihan K.) What Kathlen pretty much means is that there cant be just one or two simple solutions to this like dealing with Diabetes, a broad model needs to implement so all things are covered through the spectrum. Obviously this has not occurred in the setting of this case and I do hope that in the near future that the school, along with the parents of the autistic children who attend the school come to some kind of plan so that it can be implemented and situations that cause an uncomfortable feeling for others around in the classroom much like I felt when this case happened. Educating children with autism can be quite challenging. It is more than a full-time task that requires an active input from the parents as well as the teachers. As a result of the challenges that come with autism spectrum disorder, parents should be forthcoming in making sure that their child with this special educational need is provided with adequate educational support. (Cosmas U. Nwokeafor, Professor, Interim Dean of Graduate School, Bowie State University (2009)) However, it is understandable that in some schools and households their access to the needed resources to accompany the needs for these students may be limited to various variables, such as the location of either the resources or the school/home and also the ability their ability to afford for the resources to make these kind of things happen. But even so I believe that if schools and households cannot access these the government should at least make a compromise so that the child affected can reach their full potential and minimize the disruptions within a classroom so the student can contribute to the classwork being undertaken by the other students. Overall, this case with Kim could have been dealt with much better than what I had observed with simple plans put into place. These plans would have the ways to access the necessary resources that should be used to deal with ways of how to deal with Kims outburst and have key ideas for the teacher for when they are teaching to the class and the autistic child like Kim. But there is hope that in the near future that from studies and reports some one or a group of people will come up with an exact way to deal with these kinds of situations, or if not advance the ways that teachers and parents can deal with it allowing it to also be easily accessed and affordable.

Bibliography;
Colihan K., Autism in the Classroom, WebMD http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/features/autism-in-the-classroom Educational Placement of Children with Autism, Health.gov.au National Research Council Report (2001), Educating Children with Autism. Cosmas U. Nwokeafor, Professor, Interim Dean of Graduate School, Bowie State University (2009), Conundrum of Autism: A Review of its Causes and Significant Impact on the Education of a School age Child, The Forum on Public Policy http://forumonpublicpolicy.com/spring09papers/archivespr09/nwokeafor.pdf Autism Today, 7 Essential Tips For Calming Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, AustismToday.com
AEB1210: Understanding Learning Timothy ONeill ID#: 3908479