bonus taylor case

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Taylor

Taylor is a sixth grade student with mild learning disabilities. Her teacher, Mrs. Casemore, has requested assistance because Taylor's behaviors are impeding not only her learning, but the learning of others in the classroom. Prior to meeting with the Behavior Support Team (BST), Mrs. Casemore and Mrs. Clark, the speech teacher, did a record review to determine if there was any information in her records that would shed light on Taylor's target behaviors. (see Record Review)

The BST has been assembled. The PE teacher, speech and language pathologist, assistant principal, counselor, paraprofessional, the learning resource teacher, Mr. and Mrs. Case, and a second sixth grade teacher have joined Mrs. Casemore in a BST meeting.

Mrs. Casemore gives some background information on Taylor to the group. Taylor's learning disabilities are in the areas of reading. She does well in math and any hands-on activities. She quits easily if an assignment involves reading and spelling. There are two other students in the classroom with learning disabilities with a total of 17 students in the class. Taylor has several good friends that she plays with at recess.

The team asked Mr. and Mrs. Case about their home life and if they could shed some background information on Taylor's life. Mr. and Mrs. Case identified that Taylor is the youngest of three girls, and that both of her sisters are much older with one in high school and one in college. Taylor does not have to do much around the house because her sisters tend to "baby" her and do her chores for her. Mrs. Case works full-time in a high-stress position as a stock analyst, and Mr. Case travels frequently out of state for his business. The Case's admitted that mornings are very hectic with everyone going in different directions and that Taylor's lack of organizational skills causes her to have a "bad" morning on most mornings. Mr. and Mrs. Case are willing to assist the team with any plans they devise to help Taylor with her behavior problems.

Mrs. Casemore defined the behavior problems that Taylor was having in the classroom. The team decided that it was very important to define the behaviors in measurable and observable terms. The behaviors are listed below:

Throwing objects (define in measurable and observable terms)

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Disruptive outburst (define in measurable and observable terms)

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Physical aggression (define in measurable and observable terms)

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Reflections (complete each of the following):

1. Why is it important to gather so many people at the Behavior Support Team meeting? Why couldn't Mrs. Casemore have just met with the Case family to determine Taylor's target behaviors?

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2. Is there anyone else that could have been present at this meeting?

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3. Why is it important to label behaviors in observable and measurable terms?

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After defining the behavioral terms of the target behaviors the team wrote a key of possible (see Key of Common Entries):

· Contexts

· Antecedents

· Behaviors

· Consequences

· And student reactions

These keys were put on an Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence (ABC) chart so the team could duplicate the ABC form for Mrs. Casemore to use to collect ten days of data for Taylor's behaviors. This way the same contexts, antecedents, behaviors, consequences, and student reactions are measured the same way each day for ten days. It is important to have at least ten occurrences of a behavior in order to determine the function. Ten days will likely result in at least ten occurrences.

The team was taught how to fill out the charts and behavior data are collected for ten days. The following ten pages are the results of ten days of data collection. This data will be analyzed to form a behavioral intervention plan. (see Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence Forms)

Mrs. Casemore agreed that she and Mrs. Phillips, the paraprofessional, would collect the data since they both spent the majority of time with Taylor. Should any behaviors occur during specials, Mrs. Phillips would be there to record the behaviors. The team agreed to meet again in 11 days to analyze the data and determine the function, or the reason behind Taylor's behaviors.

Reflections (complete the following):

1. Why is it important to define who will collect the data prior to collecting the data?

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2. Have most regular education teachers been trained on what an FBA is or how to collect data on student's with problem behaviors?

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3. Is an FBA only useful for students in special education services?

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Eleven days later Mrs. Casemore met with the team to show them the data that was collected. They looked at the ten pages of data and began analyzing it. One person read off the data while another person tallied the analysis forms. A third person figured the percentages, and then they were ready to discuss the data.

The team then looked at the beginning time of each incident and marked the 30-minute time frame in which the incident began. (see Time of Day Data)

Next they tallied the number of incidents on each day of the week to determine if there was a pattern to the behaviors based on day of the week. (see Day of Week Data)

Next they wanted to look at the context to determine if there was a pattern there. (see Context Data)

They tallied the behaviors that occurred. They asked if there were any that they did not have enough information on to make a hypothesis

Behaviors	Tally	Ratio	% INVOLVED
Throwing Objects	11	2/32	6%
Disruptive Outbursts	11111111111111111111	20/32	63%
Physical Aggression	1111111111	10/32	31%

Then they looked at the antecedents to see if the things that were happening prior to the behavior incidents were maintaining the behaviors. (see Antecedent Data)

They thought it might be interesting to see if behaviors could be paired with certain antecedents. (see Behavior/Antecedent Data)

The team also thought it might be interesting to see if certain behaviors were paired with certain consequences. (see Consequence Data)

The team wanted to see if certain consequences stop the behavior effectively.

Consequence	Letter	Tally	Student reaction	% effective
			Stopped	Continued
Choice Given	A	111111	11111	1	83%
Redirection	B	11111111	111	11111	38%
Discussion	C	1111	11	11	50%
Personal Space Given	D
Changed Activity	E	11		11	0%
Peer Attention	F	11		11	0%
Verbal Reprimand	G
Physical Prompt	H
Time Out	I	1111111111	11111	11111	50%

After they tallied the number of consequences and the number of times the behavior stopped or continued in each column they did the following:

· Add up the total tallies beside each consequence.

· Add up the number of stops and the number of continues in each row.

· Divide the total stopped by the total number of tallies in each row and that is the percent of effectiveness during this behavioral observation.

Reflections (answer the following) based on the provided data tables:

1. What time of day is most difficult for Taylor? Why do you suppose these times of day are most difficult?

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2. Why do you suppose Monday and Friday are most difficult for Taylor?

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3. Can you think of a reason that would explain why group time, Reading, Math, and lunch would be most difficult for Taylor?

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4. Why can we not make a determination about the function of Taylor's throwing objects?

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5. Why might transitions be difficult for Taylor? What might be the function of Taylor's behaviors during transitions?

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6. Go back to the data and look to see what was going on when Taylor threw objects. Where was she? Why might she have resorted to throw objects during those two times?

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7. What consequence is most likely going to stop Taylor's target behaviors? Why?

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Now that the team had a good idea of the function of Taylor's behaviors they could brainstorm some ideas to teach Taylor replacement behaviors. Together they brainstormed replacement behaviors and desired behaviors for the target behaviors that occurred with these functions.

Reflections (complete the following):

1. What are some ways that you could intervene to make Taylor's day more pleasant for everyone?

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