Case Book Two

Mr. Truk is meeting with Shelby and Ernest McCoy about their nephew, Ned. They have legal custody of Ned, since Ned's father was jailed on a burglary charge and Ned's mother started living on the streets. Ned spent about four weeks being homeless before Shelby and Ernest found him, and took him in. Ned's mother refused the family offer to take her in, and instead signed over custody of Ned, telling him that she didn't want him to end up like her or his father, and that she would not see him again. The actual custody that Ned's father may have is up to the courts, and right now that is on hold.

MR. TRUK: Thank you for coming in, again, to talk about Ned's progress. I really appreciate how hard you are working with him to catch him up on his missed learning, and how much support you show for his classroom work. Ned is finally starting to show that he really may care about himself and his work. We are finally starting to see him turn in work, and stay a bit more focused in the classroom. However, there is still a ways to go before I am willing to consider "letting go" of the little things!

Ned starts to cry in class whenever anyone talks about their parents. This is actually better than when he used to run out of the room, or go hide, because he is expressing his feelings. There is a lot of pain there, yet. I am okay with his crying, as he doesn't carry on about it, he just sits and cries. I know he needs to do that. I have told him that he can do that for now, until it is out of his system.

What I am more concerned about is his anger. He has started to lash out at others, especially the kids in his work groups. He sees those kids everyday, and has to work closely with them. I know that they all really care about each other, and it is very hard for the other kids to take Ned being nasty all of a sudden. He can be fine, and very cooperative, then all of a sudden he just is mean.

I didn't ask you to come in just to hear this. As you told me on the phone, you are seeing the same things at home. I want to propose a way to handle this. I think that some very simple behavior modification is in order, and may help enormously. What I want to focus on is the anger. When Ned is angry and verbally lashing out at others, that is inappropriate. I want to reinforce his working well and not lashing out. I was thinking that for every five minutes that Ned is working well without saying something nasty or hurtful to his peers, he could earn a chip. In the behavior modification language, we call them tokens. At the end of the day, depending on the number of chips he has, he could claim rewards, small things that please him. I know he likes time playing with the class pets, cleaning the fish tank, even helping me with straightening the room. I don't want you to think I am trying to get free labor out of him. He genuinely likes being helpful and caring for the classroom. If this works, you could do the same thing at home, and have him earn time for walking the dog, or the like. As he shows more and more control, we can up the amount of time before he earns a token. Eventually, he won't need this anymore. I just believe that right now he needs more support than he normally has received. I really think that this has a potential to work, but, if he challenges the system, we all have to stay with it. We have to give it time to work! What do you think?

MRS. MCCOY: This sounds wonderful. He is verbally angry more and more at home. I really have started to worry. I know that the school social worker told us that it would take awhile for him to adjust, but sometimes he is just so mean. I know that there are things that set him off, like mentioning parents, but sometimes we just don't know. It can be a food, some image on the television, etc. He just blows! I don't want this to get worse, and I sure don't want it to go on much longer. He is already a big boy and if he keeps growing he will pass me in size in no time flat! I don't want an angry child that is bigger than me!

MR. MCCOY: I am all for the idea. I don't think we have chips at home, and I wouldn't want to use the same thing, because then he might try to bring them to school and trade them in! He is very resourceful. I suggest that we use the chips here and we can use checker pieces at home. We have a lot of those, and he doesn't like to play checkers.

MR. TRUK: It sounds like we are all in agreement. I will draw up the plan, and explain it to Ned. I want Ned to know what we are going to do and why, what behavior has to change, what behavior he has to learn. It is really important that we focus on building the new behavior. We can't punish him when he lashes out. We have to redirect him and tell him that the five minutes before the next chip is starting over, giving him maybe 30 seconds to compose himself. Okay? (heads nod in agreement) Great. I will then send a copy of the plan home for you. Thanks again for all you do to help Ned.

Teacher Notes:

• Teachers often find a need to formally or informally work to modify a student's behavior. If this is a behavior that is likely to be occurring beyond the classroom, it is generally really helpful to have the parents or guardians involved in the discussion and planning of the modifications. They know the student, and the context of the behavior. They can help provide insight into what the student likes, dislikes, etc.