week 4

Kyle is a 10th grader, very large and strong for his age. He lives with his mother and 13-year-old brother. Kyle has excellent skills in football and works out with the varsity team on occasion and plays on the sophomore team with success. His father is currently in jail for robbery and assault. On numerous occasions prior to incarceration, Kyle’s father has beaten him, to the point where both he and his brother needed hospitalization. Kyle has a diagnosis of AD/HD, but no learning disabilities have been found. He is easily distracted and overstimulated in school, frequently interrupts the teachers and does not pay attention well. However, standardized achievement testing places him in the average range in all areas. His grade point average is 2.1. Kyle has a great deal of difficulty accepting “no” from authority figures and gets himself sent to the office for “losing control” and “arguing with teachers.” He also regularly gets in trouble for “smirking” and laughing at teachers after being denied something he wants. Kyle has been identified as a “bully” in the community, but has a few friends, mostly one to two years younger, that he sees outside of school to skateboard. He enjoys badgering and “shaking down” younger students and has extorted CDs and other items in the neighborhood. Younger students rarely tell adults about the mishaps as they are aware Kyle will respond by severely beating them. He has no criminal record other than one shoplifting violation last year. He does not belong to a gang, nor does he express any interest in their activities. Kyle often intimidates other kids into doing things that are degrading and humiliating. When he is “bored” he goes “looking for fun,” he says. For example, during one lunch period he tried to force a younger boy to drink a mixture of coke and urine. When the boy refused, Kyle got him to the floor and poured the mixture into his mouth. This time, a teacher became involved in the altercation. After the 10 day suspension, Kyle has now been recommended for a special “opportunity class” to finish his sophomore year which is located on another campus. That class is requesting a Behavior Support Plan, even of a preliminary nature, prior to accepting him. NOTES: