Case Study
Joshua is a 2nd grade student who attends Johnson Elementary in the Chicago area. Joshua lives at home with his mother, baby sister, aunt, and cousin Vinny. Joshua's father has been incarcerated since he was in kindergarten. Reports indicate thel'e was a physical altercation in the home and Joshua's father became angry and was arrested. After the initial arrest additional unrelated charges were made and his father was placed in prison. Joshua's mother currently works two jobs to support the family which means that after school Joshua hangs out with Vinny and his friends who are much older and in high school. Joshua reports to the school psychologist that Vinny's friends pick on him and make fun of him but say they do so because he is part of their group. Joshua also disclosed that he is angry because Vinny's friends say he must hate certain people in his class and he does not understand why he must hate them. Typically, Vinny would take Joshua to school in the morning but three weeks ago Joshua had to walk alone. He was jumped by a group of kids who he said he did not know who kicked and punched him repeatedly. Joshua left the incident with a few bruises and a bloody nose but was able to make it to school and complete his day after being cleaned up by the school nurse.
In class, Joshua is very smart and is often capable of completing work independently but refuses to comply with teacher expectations. He may disrupt the class by tipping his chair back and banging it on the floor, tapping his pencil on the desk, or shouting and calling out to peers or the teacher during instruction. Joshua does not return homework and has not completed any of the at home required reading passages during the ft semester. During math, Joshua struggles and does not appear to understand how to answer basic addition or subtraction problems. He has been placed in a Tier 2 math intervention and works with his classroom teacher, Mrs. Schneider 3 times/week in a group of 2-3 students. The group is working on Touch Points in order to develop his number sense in relation to addition. Last week, Mrs. Schneider provided a permission slip to go on a field trip to the local nature center. Joshua became very upset and threw the paper in the garbage yelling "That place is stupid".
Please use Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory to reflect on Joshua's world. What stands out? What do you think is happening with the ecological model? Also, what are 3 additional questions you would like to ask in order to gain further insight into this student's community, school, and family situation?