Assignment:
Review the "Case Study: Stephen."
In an essay of 1,000 to 1,250 words, use your foundational knowledge of the special education process and related issues to describe your recommendations for assisting the case study student. Include the following in your essay:
1. Detail the steps you recommend be taken, including the roles of the specific stakeholders who legally and ethically need to be involved in determining and implementing those next steps.
2. Explain the ethical dilemma in providing Stephen an education that will allow him to flourish, including why moving LRE placements is not an option at this time due to the standard special education process.
3. Incorporate the CEC Ethical Principals and Professional Practice Standards into your analysis and explanation.
4. Discuss the possible involvement of paraeducators, tutors, volunteers, or related service providers. If paraeducators, tutors, or volunteers were brought into the classroom to assist Stephen, what guidance and direction would you provide to those stakeholders?
5. Discuss legal, ethical, and quality requirements related to managing confidential student information when working with paraeducators, tutors, or volunteers.
Support your findings with 3 to 5 additional scholarly resources.
Case Study: Stephen
Stephen is a young boy with autism who receives most of his education in an inclusive classroom. He speaks in one-and two-word utterances and can say "book," "food," "more," "hi," and "drink." However, his main mode of communication is a picture exchange system.
Although Stephen has demonstrated that he really enjoys group activities, he has lately begun biting his fellow students.
In addition, he has begun pinching his teacher during one-on-one instruction. After he engages in one of these behaviors, he yells, "It hurts!" and starts laughing.
A behavior analyst has conducted a structured interview as part of a functional behavior assessment for Stephen. The teacher and parents' responses indicate that the function of Stephen's aggressive behaviors is to seek attention.
Keeping this information in mind, the analyst needs to directly assess Stephen's behavior.
Stephen's general education teacher, Ms. Gonzales, has recorded data regarding the frequency of his behaviors, but with inconsistency as she is the only adult in the classroom. The special education teacher, Mr. Kuchar, has not been able to spend much time in the inclusion classroom to support Stephen and Ms. Gonzales and to observe Stephen's behavior. Ms. Gonzales has requested a meeting with the Child Study Team to discuss the possibility of changing Stephen's placement.
Ms. Gonzales frequently communicates with Stephen's parents and has mentioned a possible placement change to them. Stephen's parents do not want him to be pulled out of the inclusion classroom even though other students are being hurt.
Currently, there are five other studentsi n the inclusion classroom who receive special education services for behavior issues. Stephen's behaviors are the most severe. Ms. Gonzales does not feel she can effectively meet Stephen's needs with regards to his behaviors and keep the other students from being hurt.
Mr. Kuchar agrees that Stephen needs to be placed in a different classroom to better fit his needs; however, he has realized that there is inconsistent data collected thus far to support this need.
The school principal also agrees with the suggestion of a placement change and has asked Mr. Kuchar to set up a meeting to discuss this with Stephen's parents.