Assignment:
Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team (MET) Case Study
School and Home Background Information
• Jonathan's height and weight are below average norms. He moves around the classroom constantly during non-preferred activities/tasks.
• Affect is serious in nature. Very rarely smiles.
• Sometimes he will isolate himself at the back of room, under tables, and under the teacher's desk during non-preferred structured and unstructured activities.
• When Jonathan does not want to do the prescribed activity or task assigned by teachers, he will scream at loud volume levels. This occurs on average 4 times a day during school.
• Jonathan shows a lack of interest in activities involving scissors, markers, glue, or any type of art materials beyond coloring or drawing with crayons.
• Jonathan refuses to join morning circle activities that involve singing or sharing aloud.
• He enjoys playing with small race cars brought from home; enjoys building structures with blocks and Legos; likes coloring sheets with crayons only but gets upset when colors go outside the lines. He will try to engage staff in conversations about the number of doors and windows in the school building. He is fascinated with the local fire and police stations and their structural appearances.
• Jonathan requires visual prompts to pay attention to verbal directions; says "No" as a response to adult directives.
• High levels of engagement are noted when doing a preferred activity (can attend to preferred activities for up to 10 minutes at a time).
• Eating habits are limited to certain types of food that must be prepared in the same manner. He will not try and/or taste any snacks that are offered to the whole class.
• Serious behavior concerns started to emerge at the beginning of first grade. Before this, he did scream and throw objects but was not aggressive toward staff and peers. Currently, he becomes frustrated when presented with non-preferred tasks. Behavior often escalates into screaming at adults/peers, throwing objects, and sometimeshitting peers/teachers.
• Jonathan currently lives with his mom and dad. He has an older brother in middle school. Parents report that Jonathan is very active and rarely stops moving. It takes up to twohours for him to fall asleep at night. He is limited in going to any type of activity in the community due to his behavior. He is not allowed to go to the grocery store or any public location that has toys or building materials.
• Jonathan's parents report that his older brother had similar issues when younger but not to the same extreme. They admit that their reactions to his behavior are not consistent and want help from the school.
• Defiance and aggressive behaviors are a major issue at home. He will engage in similar behaviors noted at school. At home, this includes throwing objects at family members, yelling, breaking objects, and hitting. Parentsreport that he will engage in such behaviors almost every morning and evening during the week and weekends are especially difficult. It often takes Jonathan over an hour to calm down after demonstrating aggressive behaviors.
• He willescapefrom the front and back yards and walk around the neighborhood to stare at houses and cars.
Additional School History
• Mother requested district special education screening last year due to behavioral issues at home and school.
• Parents enrolled him in preschool at age 4. He was only allowed to attend 1-2 hours per day due to behavioral issues (screamed at teachers, refused to engage in any group activity.)
• Jonathan is not able to take advantage of before/after school programming due to his behavior. He attends a summer day camp with the help of a teenager who is a friend of the family.
• Curriculum-based measurements indicate that Jonathan's current reading level is at the 1.0 grade level. He struggles with phonemic awareness and reading comprehension. He can read high frequency sight words. His numeracy skills around rote counting are a strength.
Basic computation and problem solving with math concepts are of concern.
Current Concerns of School Staff
• Teacher observation data indicate that Jonathan is aggressive and his disruptive behaviors, including tantrums, occur 3-5 times a day. Jonathan hits and kicks peers and teachers; he will scream and throw books/chairs.
• Teacher observation data indicate that Jonathan will not follow directions for academic or social/play activities. Refuses at first by saying, "No." He will refuse to speak and puts his head downwhen not wanting to follow adult directives. He will also run and hide under a table.
• Refuses to do any fine motor/art activities involving scissors, markers,glue, clay, glitter, etc.
• Skill deficits in reading comprehension and decoding. Skill deficits in math problem solving and basic computation.