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ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY

Ethnographic Case Study

Education for Students with Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD)

Cozette Ming

BYU-Idaho
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ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY

Ethnographic Case Study

Introduction - Liam

How can students with sensory processing disorders be given greater access to rights in

education? In order to better understand what public education is like for someone who has

sensory processing disorder, I interviewed a 12 year old boy with this disorder as well as his

mother. To ensure their privacy, pseudonyms will be used, with the boy being referred to as

Liam and his mother as Hannah throughout the paper.

Liam was raised in Texas. Hannah was a stay-at-home mom at the time. Her husband

worked at a company that offered him flexible hours. He often worked from home, usually at

night so that he could spend time with his family during the day. The company did not offer

health insurance, so getting Liam a doctor's consultation to discover why he was struggling in

school came at a price, one they had to pay for themselves.

Liam entered public school at age five beginning in Kindergarten in the fall of 2011. He

continued in public school from Kindergarten through 2nd grade, for three months of 3rd grade,

and for all of 5th grade. During the years that he was not attending public school, he was

homeschooled by his mother. The public school that he attended was the best school in the area

and it was very highly rated. In Kindergarten through 2nd grade, there were 19 students to a

teacher, while his 3rd and 5th grade classes had 22 students per teacher.

Liam was not diagnosed with sensory processing disorder until he was in 4th grade and

was being homeschooled by Hannah, his mother, after being pulled out early in his 3rd grade

year because of the methods that the school faculty used to deal with Liam’s disorder. The
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doctors gave some helpful advice on how to handle Liam, and he was able to get an IAP before

going back into 5th grade that helped Hannah feel comfortable enough to send her son back to

school to give the public education system a second try.

General Information about the Population with Sensory Processing Disorders

Students with sensory processing disorder usually have extreme difficulty in a school

setting. Because it is a condition “in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to

information that comes in through the senses,” students with SPD lose focus when there is too

much noise, when the lights are too bright to them, or when there is another stimulus that their

senses cannot handle. People who have sensory processing disorder are overly sensitive to their

environment. For them, the common sounds that we hear everyday may be painful or

overwhelming to them. Often, only one sense is affected in people with SPD, but multiple

senses or all of the senses can be affected. Liam had difficulty with overstimulation of his senses

of hearing and sight.

For Liam, noise from the classroom was distracting for him. The teachers and his IAP

group discovered that if Liam was given a specific, unique job, he tended to focus better.

Usually the teacher had to give him a task like passing out supplies when the other students were

talking so that he could remain in control. The overhead lights were also a major contributor to

Liam’s problems. When he was still young, he would hide under his desk to avoid the overhead

lights when he became overwhelmed. Hannah related this story from before Liam was

diagnosed to me:

In third grade, Liam was overwhelmed by the noise in the classroom combined with the

sensory overload from the overhead lights, so he hid in a cubby and would not come out.
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The principal thought he was being oppositional defiant and physically removed him

from the cubby. Of course, I believed that this seemed like a very bad solution. If a child

is scared and hiding, physical removal can cause anxiety, lack of trust, and other

problems. I was not informed of what had happened until the end of the school day when

I was picking Liam up from school. It was extremely concerning to me that I was not

even informed of the situation for hours. The next time that the overhead lights were too

overwhelming for him, he hid again but this time the teacher, TA, and principal together

could not find him. I am not sure how long it took to discover him but again I was not

informed until the end of the school day. When I tried to meet and discuss this with the

principal she was very opinionated about what she thought Liam needed. Since she

thought he was oppositional defiant, her solutions were not kind and were the exact

opposite of what I believed that my son needed. Of course, knowing my child I knew

that Liam was not oppositional defiant. We decided as a family to pull Liam from school

and homeschool during his third grade year because of how the principal was handling

the situation. I simply did not see the school setting as a safe environment for learning.”

By the time that Liam reached 5th grade, he had been diagnosed with SPD. Hannah demanded

that the school give Liam an IAP to help him receive the best quality of education. The school

initially refused, but Hannah was insistent. They eventually agreed on the condition that Liam

would first see an occupational therapist and psychologist and bring them proof of Liam’s

diagnosis. From this point on, Hannah could begin to make progress with the school in order to

better her son’s education.

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Hannah said that “After we knew the lights were the problem, [Liam] was allowed to

wear a baseball hat at school, but the school would not let him wear hats in the classroom before

that because their dress code didn’t allow it and they said that it would be distracting to the other

students. In actuality, it was the only thing that could keep him focused! This just proves that

some situations call for different solutions and if the faculty is not willing to try those solutions

for fear of changing the normal routine for the other students, some students will not receive the

education that they deserve.”

When asked if she was able to have regular communication with her son’s teachers,

Hannah responded that she communicated with them on a daily basis after Liam was diagnosed.

She stated that “Most of his teachers preferred email communication. If I sent them an email I

usually would hear back from them in a few hours or by end of day. If [my son] had an issue

[the teachers] would usually call during the kids’ lunch time to discuss.”

I asked Hannah what Liam’s school day looked like, how it was different from the other

students days, and what his teacher did for him that helped him to avoid becoming overwhelmed

or distracted during class. She told me “Liam’s typical school day schedule was the same for

him as the other children, with the exception of the time that he was allowed to leave the class

when he became overwhelmed. In 5th grade when we finally got his IAP, he had breaks

scheduled throughout the day. The IAP provided the teacher with solutions on how to handle

difficult situations. One of these solutions that worked best was allowing him to take walks to

the office when he needed a break or some quiet time out of the classroom. He was allowed

extended test time and was allowed to take his tests in a special room on school grounds that was

quiet and had natural lighting so that the lights would not distract him. I asked for a teacher
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assistant to sit with him, but the school would not provide that because they said that he was old

enough to be accountable for himself and let the teacher know when he needed additional help or

a break from the classroom environment.”

“P.E. was held every day and assembly was held weekly. These were both extremely

difficult because the noise level was too hard for him to handle. In 5th grade during Friday

assembly, Liam’s teacher would let him go to the gifted and talented room and tinker around

with supervision from the instructor. This was his absolute favorite time of the week.”

“Liam was also allowed a sensory break after lunch time. Lunch time volumes would

always cause him to shut down for the rest of the day, so I didn’t want that, but I didn't want him

eating lunch in a different location because I wanted him to be able to participate in the social

part of school. So he was allowed to wear headphones in the lunchroom to cancel out the noise.

After lunch he would go to a sensory room that the school had. It was supervised and a calming

wind down that usually lasted about 20 minutes. I thought this was a huge help, and it made his

performance in the classroom infinitely better than he did in earlier grades when he was

receiving no help.”

After discussing what a typical day for Liam and some of the things that the IAP allowed

Liam to do during the school day, Hannah and I discussed the IAP and some of the specifics that

it entailed. She explained to me that “the IAP worked great at the beginning of the year, but

toward the end of the school year it was not working as much. I found the teachers were just

annoyed by it at that point. Sometimes things didn't work that we had added to the IAP and that

would frustrate them. They wanted an exact solution. Unfortunately, what Liam needs changes,

so there isn’t always a set solution. They didn’t understand that and just wanted a single, simple
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fix for every issue that he would have in the classroom so that he wouldn’t disturb their other

students.

Cross-cultural Connections and Recommendation

I believe that the best thing that teachers can do for SPD students is to be aware of their

individual needs and do the best that they can to meet them. In Liam’s case, the teachers were

not willing to look for solutions beyond the ones that they were given, and Hannah expressed her

sadness that Liam’s teacher did not want to put forth any effort with him by the end of the year

because she was exhausted and frustrated with him and the disruptions that he would

unintentionally cause in the classroom. In my opinion, this situation would have been better if

the teacher were more actively engaged with the IAP meetings and in finding what worked best

for Liam rather than what worked best for her.

Hannah told me that “While I think that most of the situations in the classroom could

have been handled differently, I honestly believe the teachers did everything they could with

what they were provided. It was the principal and administration that needs to change the most.

The school did not help me at all to find solutions or help Liam get the accommodations that he

needed to succeed at public school. The process once I had his diagnosis was still a long

paperwork waiting game. When Liam was in the younger grades, I asked for testing so that we

could find out why he was having such a hard time in class and they would not provide it

because academically he was not having any problems, although we both knew that there was

something going on.”

Another thing that really helped Liam while he was in school was the 5th grade

mentoring program. Hannah described the program to me, saying that a few times a month Liam
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would have lunch with other children and a mentor. His mentor was a pilot and Liam really

enjoyed discussing planes with him. This really helped him because Liam was able to spend

time socializing with someone who he really looked up to, and he was able to get positive

individualized attention that was hard for him to come by in that school.” I think that this

program should be extended to more schools, allowing students with various disorders including

SPD to connect with people that they can look up to and giving them something to look forward

to so that they want to come to school.

When Hannah and I discussed what Liam was like when he came home from school and

what the homework situation was usually like, she told me that “after school, Liam was usually

completely depleted. Homework was impossible and he usually never got done in Kindergarten

through 3rd grade. When he was in 5th grade, he only did homework if it was an absolute

necessity. I tried to get the school to let him test out of having to do math homework for material

that he had already mastered, but they would not allow it. Liam would come home with hours

worth of busy work of worksheets and homework. I hoped that he could focus his energy on his

work that actually needed some work. I wasn't trying to get him out of homework it, was just

that homework was a battle due to his exhaustion from sensory issues of being at school all day.”

I think that students with sensory processing disorders need to have an exception from

homework if they are overwhelmed all day at school. For Liam, his time at home was essential

for him to be able to play and work to get back on his feet after being overwhelmed all day long.

Homework was a barrier to that. I think that each individual situation is different, but that

homework should not be a requirement for SPD students when it will hinder their learning more

than increase it.

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Application and Recommendations

In my research and interview for this case study, I found myself feeling genuine grief for

Liam and the fact that he believed that his teacher did not like him because of his sensory

processing disorder and the way that it would make him behave when he was overwhelmed. In

my future career as a teacher, I hope that I can make sure that every single one of my students

knows how much I love them and want them to succeed in public education and in life in

general. I hope to adjust the way that I think and speak so that no student of mine ever feels like

I am only seeing their disabilities. Rather, I would like them to know with certainty that I see

them as individuals and will do everything in my power to make sure that they have everything

that they need to receive every right in education. I think that teachers, myself included, need to

be aware of the individualized needs of each of their students, especially those with sensory

processing disorder so they can do what works for their individual students to help them the

most.
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Resources

About SPD. (2019). Retrieved from Spdstar.org website:

https://www.spdstar.org/basic/about-spd

Goodman, B. (2012, May). Sensory Processing Disorder. Retrieved from WebMD website:

https://www.webmd.com/children/sensory-processing-disorder#1

Goodman, J. (2018, June 25). The Unbearable Sensation of Being: Living With Sensory

Processing Disorder. Retrieved December 11, 2019, from The Unbearable Sensation of

Being: Living With Sensory Processing Disorder | UC San Francisco website:

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2018/06/410786/unbearable-sensation-being-living-sensory-p

rocessing-disorder