BETLS observation tool 

BETLS is an acronym for behavior, emotions, thoughts, learning and social relationships.  
This tool is a template for gathering and documenting information and observations about a child or
young person, and your particular concerns.  
Observations should: 
 focus only on what you actually see and hear, rather than what you think about a child or young
person’s behaviors, emotions and thoughts 
 take note of when, where and how often a child or young person is showing a particular
behavior or emotion 
 notice what makes the child or young person’s experience worse and what makes it better 
 record how long the behavior or emotion occurs (for example, if you’re concerned about a child
or young person’s outbursts, take note of how long they last) 
 notice what happens before and after the behavior that is a concern 
 be recorded by different people and in different situations during the day. 
This template also provides a space to reflect on a child or young person’s experiences.  
It allows you to note their thoughts about a situation, and any other additional information that could be
playing a role in their behavior or mood. 

DETAILS
Student Name: Tim Date of Observation: 4/21/21
Grade: 4th
Strengths:
Tim is a great reader, and he reads well above grade level. He is hardworking and determined to get
his work done without mistakes. Tim listens to his teacher. Tim excels in writing is. Tim’s parents say
he spends a lot of time on the computer, so I would gather he is good with technology. He is very
competent in class. He seems to calm down quickly.

Concerns:
Tim has outbursts that cause him to throw objects and/or yell in class when frustrated. Tim spends his
lunch alone in the library and seems withdrawn on the playground. Tim exhibits nervousness when he
is called upon in class and gets really upset if he makes mistakes on his schoolwork. Tim seems to
have trouble expressing himself appropriately.
 Student Profile
Behaviors Emotions Thoughts Learning Social
Relationships
What is the What is or might What is or might What learning What social areas
student doing? the student be the student be areas are being are being
feeling? thinking? affected? affected?
Tim has outbursts, Things Tim may Tim may be The learning areas The social areas
yells, and be feeling are: thinking: affected are: affected are:
sometimes *frustration *nobody listens to *any lessons that *peer
throws things *loneliness him. are assigned as socialization skills
during these *unheard *he needs to do group work *Appropriate
outbursts. Tim is *anxious/nervous things perfectly *cooperative expression of
withdrawn and *fearful *he will not be work feelings and
spends a lot of accepted emotions.
time not *he is different *cooperation-
socializing. *he is compromise and
misunderstood other team
building skills

Pervasiveness
Who is present at the time? Staff? Family members? Other students?

It only gives us one scenario, but because his outbursts generally happen during group work, the most common
people present are his peers and the teacher. According to the parent/teacher conference, it does sound like his
parents may deal with some outbursts at home when they are trying to ask him to do things that take him away
from his technological devices.

Where do these events/concerns occur? (one setting, multiple settings)

The only place that we actually see an outburst take place is school. Dad mentions having troubles when asking
him to do something. It is possible that it happens in multiple settings since it seems that he is set off by group
activities (but this may border on the line of speculation).

When do they occur? What times of the day? What happens before and after the occurrences?

With the information I have it would appear that they occur during the day, during group activities. Before the
outburst that I saw Tim was trying to put his input in the group conversation and tried speaking multiple times, but
it seemed that the other kids were not listening or even letting him talk. After the outburst the teacher came over
and spoke calmly with Tim. Tim told her what was wrong and that nobody would let him talk. With this being the
only event that I saw personally, it is hard to say for sure if there is a specific time of the day or any other reasons.

Academic/Behavioral Strengths/Needs
Student’s Academic Strengths:

Tim is smart and has good ideas. He is an avid reader, reading above grade level. He is a good at writing. He is
particular about his work (this can be both a strength: striving to do the best, and a need: learning that it is okay to
make mistakes).

Student’s Academic Needs:

Tim’s main academic need is socialization, there are multiple aspects of socialization that Tim could use some
support in, but overall, it goes back to social needs.

How much does the behavior have an impact on the student or others around them?

I would say there is a moderate impact on the students around him. If the behavior continues, they may begin to
fear Tim and not want him in their group due to his outbursts. I think it has a great impact on Tim himself as he is
not developing friendships or learning how to appropriately express his feelings or voice his opinion.

Your Feelings
How does this situation make you feel? What additional supports would you need?

This situation actual makes me sad, and frustrated because there was only one actual outburst that I personally
viewed, and I think what led to that outburst would send many people into frustration, some may not have an
outburst, but I could see many people being upset by it. So perhaps I would want to talk to the school counselor
about how to help Tim with expressing his feelings, what I can do to help. I would also want support from the
parents as far as working together to help Tim.

What have others noticed about this student?

I have noticed that Tim seems to have good communication skills with his teacher. In the classroom when his
teacher came to talk to him immediately after the outburst, he was calm as he told her what had upset him. I also
noticed that when she spoke to Tim on the playground that she thanks him for talking to her about what had
happened earlier, which give the idea that she had a good conversation with him.

Strategies
What strategies have been tried with the student? Who implemented these strategies? What was the outcome?

The strategies used so far are talking to his other teachers to collect information about his time in other classes,
talking to a senior teacher to see what her thoughts are and having a meeting with his parents to open a line of
communication and see if there were any changes at home that may be contributing. The teacher also calmly talks
to Tim after his outburst and with her calm approach, he is visually back at baseline withing moments of talking to
her. It also sounds like the library teacher has encouraged him to sit with his peers and that did not work as he
prefers to be alone.

Other Factors
What cultural or socio-economic factors might be playing a role in this situation? Have there been any changes in
the student’s life within school or home?

No changes in the student’s life that are talked about. His family seems to have very busy life and they said during
their meeting that they don’t have a lot of time to get him to extra-curricular activities on the weekend. He spends
a lot of time at home, by himself either reading or on the computer. His parents have expressed a concern as well.
Mom said it was something they have been worried about for a while, and Dad said that he has always had the
preference of being on his own.

Other Notes

I think it would be important to observe Tim more because I don’t feel like there is enough information to really
give straight answers to some of these questions. Seeing as there is only one scenario where Tim has an outburst,
it is hard to say if there is any consistent factors causing it. We can go off what others say to a degree, but
everyone is going to view the situation differently so the same person witnessing the behavior on multiple
occasions would give a better idea of what things are reoccurring.