What advice can you offer to this problem. You had a 5th grade student who constantly draw, sleep or day dream in class all day. He is reading on a third grade level and his comprehension is very low. He gets easily frustrated and eventually gives up. He lives with his dad, he’s always late for school and he has a hard time sitting in his chair in class when he do arrive. He is very friendly but the other students refuse to socialize with him so he only have a few friends. What interventions would you implement for this student.
Re: Suggestions
I’m certain the behavior is just due to the school failure and not because of it. And perhaps dad is having some trouble getting him to school due to his feelings about it. Wouldn’t be much fun would it?
I most likely would do nothing unless it was interfering.
However, the big thing would be to refer this child to the team that does the evaluations. The other thing is you might recommend to the parents that the child be tutored. Sad to say, but I doubt he will learn to read in special ed. This should be a private tutor and not a company like Sylvan.
Perhaps the school counselor, principal, or special ed. teacher has a person they refer to.
—des
You have to decide exactly what behaviors you want to change and exactly what you want to change them to. I would pick ones that you can control and focus on no more than three essential changes, for example entering the classroom and sitting down quietly, staying on task for a prescribed amount of time (in increments of 5 minutes), and completing assignments. Set up a behavior management program whereby he gets a check on a chart each time he complies with a goal and a certain number of checks gets a reward. Start out with a low goal (50% of possible checks) and increase the percent to get the reward as he starts to improve. Make sure the reward is what the student wants. You can sit down with him and write up a contract.
I would also modify his assignments, by shortening them or allowing him to use alternative response methods (circling instead of writing, etc.) so he can more easily complete assignments. Once he gets used to finishing his work and achieving success, you can ask him to do more. That reduces the frustration element.
You can make up teams or pairs for cooperative learning, making sure he is paired with a competent and friendly peer who will help him. Do it for the whole class, so it isn’t obvious. Besides, it’s a great learning tool for all.
At the same time, I’d request an evaluation for learning disabilities by the child study team, if it hasn’t been done before. You should also speak to his teachers from years past to see what has worked for this student.
I hope these suggestions help.
Fern Goldstein