case study

Case Study #1 (Sarri)

Sarri is second grade student. She was adopted 8 months ago, and her adoptive parents wanted to

have a meeting with the school because they had moved from another district following the

formal adoption process that took place in Virginia. Sarri’s parents were both

well educated and well informed. They brought copies of the Eval and a report from

their psychiatrist. Sarri was born in Mogadishu the capital of Somalia. She was brought to the US

at the age of 5 as an orphaned refugee. The whereabouts of her biological mother are unknown

and it is reported her father was previously imprisoned but may have been killed in the civil war

there.

Prior to Davis and Michelle, Sarri had been in an intensive foster home and in a hospital setting.

Davis and Michelle were a Level One foster care home (high need) and decided to adopt Sarri.

Sarri lives with her adoptive parents and her 14-year-old sister who is a biological child of Davis

and Michelle. There are two more siblings that are over 18 and out of the home.

Davis is an oral surgeon, but sold his practice prior to starting the adoption process for Sarri and

does consult work, training, and is teaching at a medical school. Michelle is a Pharmacist. Over

the summer in Virginia the parents paid to have Sarri start learning academics and be exposed to

school/instruction at a private year-round school near where they lived. Sarri attended that

program for 4 months prior to the move. They have lived in the city for 1.5 months now, Sarri

has a tutor that works with her outside of school 3 times a week. The tutor is an education

graduate student from a nearby university.

Sarri is described by her parents and the documentation as being within normal

range intellectually and far below academically, though that is more likely caused by a lack of

instruction and exposure to traditional learning. She struggles with fine motor skills and is

described as a bit “clumsy” and “trips over her own feet”. Sarri is fluent in English and Farsi, in

speaking, reading and writing at the first-grade level. Her psychiatrist specifically notes that

“given the speed at which she has acquired and adopted the use of English in all manners speaks

to her naturally high adaptive and intellectual levels.” Writing is a struggle for her in both

languages and she hates writing. She can create comprehensive thoughts and ideas, but the

translation from thought to paper is a challenge. At times, Sarri has become extremely angry

during writing activities because she is a perfectionist and it takes such a great deal of time to

complete the task for her. She has gone through brand new pencil erasers just writing a simple

paragraph, but also has gotten angry enough to break pencils and flip over furniture.

Sarri’s history is spotty, she was born in Mogadishu, she reports having older siblings, but there

and her mother’s whereabouts are unknown. She would found by UN workers after an older

woman (possibly grandmother) left her at a medical aid station 18 months ago. Sarri can be

highly aggressive when she becomes agitated, frustrated or is in fear. At the hospital, she

attacked a nurse hitting, kicking and biting her. No severe injuries were caused but she has that

history. It is believed that she was exposed to and saw a variety of trauma and tragic events since

birth, her personal experience with trauma is unknown. She sees a therapist but to date has not

been willing to talk or open up. The parents came to the school prior to the year starting and met

with the principal as well as an Associate Superintendent, they shared all the history of Sarri and

asked for “special classes” and help. They were told to enroll her at the local elementary school

and that they natural process of the 45-day screening would help identify areas of concern that

appear at school.

According to the parents Sarri sees a counselor, psychiatrist and her doctors regularly. She is

diagnosed with a General Anxiety Disorder. Sarri’s family has a

monthly Child and Family Team (CFT) meeting and has invited anyone from the school

to attend. They have offered to have the outside therapists observe Sarri at school to

provide support. It is believed Sarri may have a form of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)

but according to the parents the doctors are unwilling to label or diagnosis anything else

officially given the history of trauma, possible PTSD, and the change related to being adopted.

For the first two week of school Sarri makes it about 2 hours before she begins to run away, hide

on campus, wander the school building and refuse directions. Davis or Michelle have been asked

to come pick up Sarri daily. On day 9th of the school year, the assistant principal (AP) tried to

force Sarri back to her classroom by holding her hand and walking her to class. Sarri sat on the

ground refusing to stand. When the AP tried to stand her up, Sarri scratched and kicked her to get

away. The school has requested an IEP team to “discuss behavior” and next steps. Sarri is

currently suspended for 3 days she is not identified, labelled, or supported as a student with a

disability, IEP, or 504.

Davis and Michelle are supportive of the school, but frustrated because they know Sarri has a lot

of needs and tried to get things in place before the year started. Additionally, the family has

learned the school opted not to share Sarri’s history with her teachers, and now some teachers are

afraid of her and view her to be dangerous. The art teacher has requested Sarri go to the office

instead of her class because the materials could be used to hurt people. They have setup a CFT

meeting to be held in two weeks, and have arranged to have it at the school during a 1⁄2 day so

all her providers, the nurse and principal can attend.

1. Provide a summary of the key issues 2. Where would you suggest the school starts in supporting Sarri? Even going through a

“formal evaluation” process that can take up to 60-days, what can be done now?

3. What would you do to educate campus staff about how to work with Sarri? 4. What steps could be done to overcome the staff fears? 5. Personal thoughts on the case, issue, or experiences with similar students/situations?