Tiffany Sajtos ECE 2450 3/25/14 Assessment Project

Assessment Project: Johnny

HISTORY: Brief Description of childs background/ family history: Johnny is 2.5 years old and is the only child. He lives with both of his parents and they both work full time. Describe setting: Johnny is in childcare 5 days a week, from 7:30am to 5:30pm. In his class, there are currently 2 girls, and 2 boys, not including Johnny. During the typical week, there are 3-4 teachers in Johnnys classroom. Describe your relationship with this child including how long you have known him: My relationship with Johnny is very limited. His first day in childcare was my first day as an intern. I have known and worked with him every Monday and Tuesday morning for 7 months. DESCRIPTION OF CHILD: Why did you choose this child? I chose this child because in the beginning he was constantly causing problems within the classroom. When he was not there, we had no problems throughout the day. When he was there, at least 1 accident report would be sent home due to something this child did. I wanted to see if I

could observe him and find a reason behind these problems. I wanted to see if I could figure out if I was missing something; if I could be doing something to help him. What are the childs strengths/ challenges: Johnny does not have a lot of vocabulary, he can say No and his teachers name, and mom and dad. He does not know his shapes or colors, and when it comes to fine motor activities, he struggles. When his mom drops off, he is clingy to her, and whines until distracted by something he likes/wants, usually his milk cup. Johnny struggles with sharing, and not taking his friends toys, he also gets very upset when its time to clean up, and ends up not having to clean. There are a few strengths that Johnny has. He loves to help clean, when the teacher sprays water on the table or walls, chairs, doors, Johnny runs around to wipe it all clean. He also likes to help fill water cups. He will turn on the water, and help hold the cups under it, and will then wait for the teacher to put the top on it, and he will run it to the friend that the cup belongs to. He smiles and laughs the entire time he does this. He loves to hold the books during circle time, until it is time to use them. He also is very conscious of friends crying (when he does not cause it) he likes to help them. He likes to be with the young toddlers, fresh out of the baby nursery. When he is with them, he will follow them around and tries to hug them and take care of them; he protects them from the other children. He loves to lead the line, and he likes when he gets to choose his own walking buddy for going down the hallway. Johnny also loves to do crafts. How long has the child demonstrated difficult behaviors? Johnny has been in several different child care centers. He was kicked out of all of them for his behavior and biting. He has had the behavior problems since he came to daycare. We have witnessed the behavior for 7 months now.
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TARGET BEHAVIOR: Describe target behavior: Johnny hits, kicks, and shoves his friend approximately 3-10 times a day. He does this by first hitting a friend, then if the reaction he wants does not happen, he will hit and kick the friend, if that does not work he shoves them. Describe antecedents: If a child has something Johnny wants, or something Johnny had sometime throughout the morning or even something he just left to go play with something else, He will have the above behavior. Describe setting events: Johnny may be used to not sharing due to the fact that he is an only child. Describe consequences: When Johnny has these behaviors, he generally gets told No, and to have gentle hands. He then gets taken to another area of the room where he is placed alone. The teacher then walks back to the child that was hurt and ignores Johnny. If he leaves the area the teacher put him in, the teacher does not do anything, as long as he doesnt go back to hurting anyone. Why did you choose this behavior? I chose this behavior because Johnny is constantly hurting the other children, at least 3 times a day, sometimes more than 20 of these incidents occur in a single day. I was/am worried that Johnny has something deeper wrong with him, that needs more attention. Since I am not a
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full time teacher, I do not have the authority to try different teaching techniques with him to try to help with the problem behavior. However, I am hoping that after I finished my observations and had a plan, that the lead teacher would look at it, and use some of the suggestions I have. How long has it been happening? This specific behavior has been happening since Johnny came to our center, and according to his mother, he has been kicked out of childcare centers prior to coming to ours. What else do you know about it? I have noticed that Johnnys behavior is worse during gym time and other free choice play times. He seems to get bored and do things to entertain himself, which is usually hurting other children. There was a preventive strategy put in place about 2 months after Johnny started to help with the biting behavior. It was simple, to stop giving him his pacifier when he bites someone. This seems to have helped; he does not bite as often, instead of 3-5 times a day, its now maybe once a week. HYPOTHESIS: What is your hypothesis? When Johnny sees a toy or object he wants, he will yell NO and hit, kick, and shove the child until he gets the object. When this occurs, Johnnys teacher will remove him from the situation, put him in an area by himself, and ignore him unless he does another bad behavior. How did you come up with your hypotheses?

I developed this hypothesis through observations over the past 7 months. I have been observing Johnny 2 times a week for 7 hours each day. Through all the data I have collected and all the behaviors I have witnessed, I feel comfortable with the above Hypothesis. What data collection forms did you use? I used the Module 3a: Individualized Intensive Interventions, The Problem behavior questionnaire, and the ABC analysis date sheet, as well as multiple anecdotal notes. What information did they provide? The data form I found the most helpful is the ABC analysis data sheet. This really showed me what behavior problems were more prevalent; the data sheet also showed me what surrounding circumstances accompanied the behavior. The Individualized Intensive Interventions data form was also helpful. The most useful in helping me decide on the hypothesis, was the data under section B, numbers 5-7, and all of section C and D. This helped me narrow the times, the place, and the situation that the behavior usually occurs in. DESCRIBE PLAN: Detail Plan & List reasons for all P-T-R intervention strategies: PREVENT: Since most of Johnnys problem behavior occur during time free choice time and unstructured play areas, we will have a more organized schedule with less choice time, and the choice times we have will be spaced farther apart and choice areas will be limited. We will have a picture schedule and pictures of every play area to place in the choice time schedule slot, so that all children can see what areas will be available during each choice time. Once all the friends decide what areas we will have open during choice time, Johnny will be able to find the picture
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and place it in the schedule slot for choice time. Johnny will also be able to take the pictures off when we are done with each activity. We will also have a book of the schedule with Velcro strips for the free choice activities to be placed on. This will be Johnnys personal book to always have with him. He will be encouraged to look at it so he is reminded what activities he can do, and when it will be time for him to help hold the signs. To give Johnny something to do during the last few minutes of choice time, we will have a big green sign on a Popsicle stick that has a number 5 on it. This sign will be what Johnny can carry around the classroom to warn all the friends that we will 5 minutes left to play. We will have a big yellow sign on a Popsicle stick that has a number 1 on it as well. This sign Johnny will carry around the classroom to let all of the friends know that we have 1 minute left to finish playing. We will also have a big red sign with a picture of the room all clean and organized on one side and the other side will be a picture of the room all messy. This sign is what Johnny will carry around to let his friends know that it is time to clean up; he will continue walking around using this sign until the room is clean. For each sign that Johnny is given, the teacher will help him set the timer so that when the timer goes off, Johnny knows to go get the other sign. TEACH: To help Johnny with stealing toys, we will make a social story. This book will have real life pictures, it will have a child looking at a toy, walking to the child that has the toy, and then some pictures/symbols to represent what the child should do. For example: a question mark and a toy next to it. If Johnny wants the toy, he can show his friend this picture. Then we will have a picture of 2 children playing with 1 toy, this will be the picture Johnny will show if he wants to share the toy. Then we will have some items for when a child says No to playing or sharing. In the book will be a picture of a child holding onto the toy with a red stop sign next to it. If the child does not want to share or give the toy to Johnny, they will point at this picture (all
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of the children will know how to use this book, so that they can interact properly with Johnny). There will also be pictures of a clock which represent not now, but later. This will help Johnny with sharing, and not stealing toys. In another section of the social story will be real life pictures of faces: smile, tears, and frown. Johnny will be able to use this to tell the other children or the teacher how he is feeling. All pictures in the book will have words as well, this way Johnny can try to use words or just point. REINFORCE: To reinforce Johnnys good and bad behavior, we will use a sticker chart. For good behavior; Johnny will be able to choose a sticker and place it on his chart, for bad behavior the teacher will bring Johnny to the chart and use a black marker to put an X over one sticker. When Johnny gets 20 stickers, he gets to pick a toy out of the toy box. The box will be clear and Johnny will be able to see what is in the box, it will be a reminder to have good behavior. This sticker chart will be in the book that Johnny has with him at all times that also has the social story and schedule. Who will help implement the plan? All teachers that are in Johnnys room on a regular basis will be able to implement the plan. They will all work together to make sure Johnny is on a constant, predictable schedule, and everyone implements the strategies the same way. There will be a meeting with all the teachers that ever go in Johnnys classroom, where this plan will be described in detail, and everyone will receive a copy of the plan. There will also be a copy of the plan left inside the classroom. How will you include parents in this plan? Parents will be included in this plan by having a choice of implementing these strategies at home. We will have a visual schedule chart ready for them to take home, with normal things
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that typically happen while the child is home for mornings, nights, and weekends, as well as the personal picture schedule book. Everything will be on Velcro strips so that the parents can change the time, and pictures to fit their routine. The parents will also be given the same 3 signs that Johnny uses in the classroom and a timer, as well as a social story (pictures with parents not children), and sticker charts for his book with stickers.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG: What are the variables in your plan? There are some variables in the plan that could happen. One big one is if Johnnys dad picks up or drops off. In the 7 months that Johnny has been in our childcare center, his dad has never once picked him up or dropped him off. If this were to happen, it could throw Johnnys entire day off. Also, if there were to be a new teacher in the class, even though they will be aware of the plan, they may not implement it, and that could throw Johnnys day off as well. What could go wrong and why? A thing that could go wrong with this plan is the parents could disagree with it, or not want to implement it at home. If the parents chose not to implement it at home, we could still do it at childcare, but it will not be as affective if the parents do not do the same things at home. Another thing that could go wrong is the assistant teachers could disagree with the plan and decide not to do it when the lead is not around. This is why it is important to have a meeting before the plan is put in place and make sure everyone knows how it works and agrees, even if that means tweaking things. ATTACHMENTS: Attached I have the following items: functional assessment form, ABC analysis data sheet, and the Problem behavior questionnaire, and multiple Anecdotal Note papers.