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James Preston**
 * Group 1

James Preston, a 10.7 year-old boy is beginning his 5th grade year at P.S. 185. James is having significant difficulty in school and is in danger of failing several subjects. The following write-up is composed of information gathered from James’ teachers, friends and parents.

__**What are the main issues for James in his current school setting?**__

James has been described as having the following issues in school:

-difficulty focusing in class mostly during independent work time and group projects -appears lazy, unmotivated and occasionally defiant -performance on exams is highly inconsistent -fails to complete homework assignments and projects -is unaware of how his words and actions affect others -despite warnings of failure, James does nothing to improve


 * Following is a breakdown of the different subjects James is involved in and the issues he is having in each subject:**

__Social Studies__

-doesn’t respond to rewards or punishments -constantly talks and distracts classmates -silly and goofy during group work and doesn’t do his share -suggests only ideas that interest him and doesn’t follow through -disorganized -messy -irresponsible -can’t check work or hand in on time -seems not to care about anything

__Art__

-works in a group with others but only on his ideas -keeps forgetting to bring in items he needs from home so he can’t work -fails to finish or complete sketches -wastes class time talking to children and walking around the room -doesn’t do any work unless the teacher is right there -can’t keep up with the pace of the class -received an incomplete last semester

__Writing__

-doesn’t always listen to teacher’s suggestions -gets upset when he has to stop writing -doesn’t care for his work -sloppy and disorganized when putting work away

__Following is information provided from James’ father, best friend and a ten-year-old classmate regarding his difficulties:__

__Father__

-room is messy -can’t do homework independently -doesn’t bring homework home -tells his parents too late about things he needs to bring into school -gets into the same fights with friends over and over (doesn’t learn from his mistakes) -accepts no responsibility for making a friend feel bad

__Best Friend__

-no sense of other’s feelings so he says hurtful or embarrassing things (unaware of cause and effect) -doesn’t realize he’s hurt someone’s feelings

1__0-year-old classmate__

-always talking to other kids in class -can’t sit still and do his work -wanders around the room when the teacher is talking -doesn’t listen to the teacher and doesn’t pay attention to instructions -distracts classmates during group work -does not contribute to group work

__**What aspects of attention appear to be difficult for James?**__

James displays attentional breakdown in the following areas (language taken from Mel Levine's Inventory of Traits):


 * Arousal/Alertness:** He is fidgety when he needs to concentrate and he reveals highly inconsistent/erratic patterns of attention.


 * Mental Effort:** He has trouble getting started with work, has difficulty finishing work, can work only on things that are of interest to him and his effort is unpredictable; he can work well at some things but not at others.


 * Processing Depth and Detail:** He requires repetition of instructions, has trouble with fine detail in school work and seems to have trouble entering new material in memory.


 * Mental Activation:** He seems passive in learning; doesn't relate new information with what is already known, he is unusually creative/inventive and imaginative, and has trouble getting involved/engaged in school subject matter.


 * Focal Maintenance:** He often doesn't concentrate long enough but sometimes concentrates too long. He is not a good listener and misses key parts of directions/explanations.


 * Satisfaction Control:** He is notably restless and craves excitement.


 * Previewing:** He fails to look ahead and consider possible consequences before doing or saying things. He does school work without planning or thinking enough before starting out. He has trouble accomplishing transitions from one activity to another and trouble estimating or foreseeing solutions or work outcomes in school.


 * Facilitation and Inhibition:** He says and does inappropriate things without realizing it. He has a way of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.


 * Tempo Control:** He has trouble allocating, organizing, and/or estimating time needs and often dawdles, is late or misses deadlines.


 * Self-Monitoring and Self-Correcting:** He loses track of what he is doing during a task or activity. He doesn't notice when others seem displeased and doesn't realize when he has said or done something wrong. He makes frequent careless work errors without noticing.


 * Reinforceability:** He doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and is not greatly affected by punishment or rewards. He doesn't use methods that have worked well previously.

__**Here are the strengths of the different approaches the teachers have taken with James:**__

__Writing:__ James is developing good self-esteem from having a positive experience in Writing class. He is able to harness his creative potential. James is able to sustain focus for long periods of time, giving his brain experience in sustaining focus. James is having positive experiences with his classmates during writing time.

__Art:__ When James is left alone to be creative, he comes up with some great work. I don’t like to put boundaries on the way an artist works as it can affect their creativity and the outcome of the finished piece. I want the art to be theirs alone and I think my hands-off approach lets James foster his creative side.

__Teacher’s approach from the perspective of a 10-year-old classmate:__ Letting James draw comics in writing class seems to work well. He’s really into drawing and he doesn’t distract the other kids when he’s doing that. When the teacher has him do something that he’s interested in, he’ll pay attention and he won’t mess with anyone else. It seems like he’s only interested in a few things though, and mostly just in writing.

__Social Studies:__ Rewards and punishment does seem to work for some kids, but it doesn’t seem to be the case with James. I thought that James might respond well to group work since he loves to socialize and spend time with peers. However, that hasn’t gone as smoothly as I would like either. I worry that there are few strengths in my approach – since James isn’t working and I’m just getting more frustrated.

__Teacher’s approach from the perspective of Aziz, James’ best friend:__ Letting Jimmy work on his own, drawing comics, seems to really work for him. He is able to focus on something and he gets to do what he wants to do while everyone else gets to do their own work.

__Family approach as told by James’ father:__

He gets individual attention and doesn’t have any distractions. If his focus wanders, his mother is there to redirect him. Plus she knows what interests him and how to get him hooked into the topic.

__**Drawbacks to each approach:**__

__Writing:__ James may miss opportunities to hone his writing skills and experiment with different genres. He may become stuck in the comic format and not want to break out of it to try something else. It may be difficult to find another type of writing that "speaks" to James. James may not meet all the writing benchmarks for his grade. James may not learn how to organize his work if I keep doing it for him. Also, the other students don't understand why James is allowed to work on his own projects instead of doing the assignments. It isolates him from his classmates. __Art:__ Unless you are standing right on top of him, James can get off track and not get anything done. I need to find a balance between leaving him alone to be creative and keeping him on task. I think it is important to finish what you start, and letting James decide what he feels like doing in class on any certain day isn’t very productive or helpful to James.

__Social Studies teacher:__ Despite my best efforts, clearly there are weaknesses in my approach since I struggle to deal with James to such a strong degree. I just feel like I can’t get through to James. Obviously James doesn’t care about the rewards and punishments enough to make work a priority. Now my own frustration seems to be getting in the way of any positive relationship that James and I might be able to have.

__10-year-old classmate:__ I don’t think the teachers have figured out an approach that works well because James is still disruptive most of the time. He doesn’t listen to directions, and his behavior seems like it’s getting worse, not better. A lot of kids don’t like him because he annoys us in class. No one ever wants to be in a group with him now because we know there’s no way he’ll get his part done, and we end up doing twice as much work. Also sometimes he’s mean to kids--he makes fun of people and it seems like he doesn’t care about hurting people’s feelings. I don’t think he tries to be mean, he just doesn’t think before he talks.

__Best friend Aziz:__ The teachers don’t seem to really know what to do about Jimmy. They constantly tell him to sit down and to work or focus on his work but they don’t try to find out why he is doing those things. There is no plan for him. They don’t seem to know what to do when he gets mad or disruptive and says hurtful things. I’ve heard him several times say that he forgets and the teachers don’t know what to do about that. They just remind him again and again to stop. If he continues they bring him to the principal’s office. They don’t see that he doesn’t know what he does or that he forgets that he wasn’t supposed to do something anyway.

__Father:__ He isn’t learning to work on his own. I could see how his mother could become a crutch after a certain point. I don’t know what will happen when he gets older and can’t always get her help – I worry about that. Like when he goes to college – she won’t be there to hold his hand through every class like she is now. What will he do then?

__**Following are recommendations for James in each of his classes**__

__Writing__ -James should plan out his writing in advance. He needs predetermined goals that are explicit and written down in front of him while he's writing. -James could benefit from keeping a list of writing ideas to refer to often. -James would benefit from a self-assessment sheet in Writing class that lists his personal writing goals. -Pieces of writing that James is particularly proud of could be kept in a portfolio and dated so that he could compare what he was doing as a writer in September to February to June. -James may need more time than the other children to organize his materials after writing. I may stop him a bit earlier to help him organize. -He would benefit from a facilitated approach to the organization where I walk him through the steps first, he practices them with me and then on his own. He may need a graphic organizer to keep track of the clean-up steps so he doesn't lose focus. -James can become an "expert" on comic book writing. He can do mini-lessons for the class and participate in guiding a small group in the art of comic book writing. He can become a reference for others interested in writing comic books.

__Art__ -James should work in shorter amounts of time allowing for “controlled” breaks. These would be times when he would be allowed to stretch, get a drink of water or use the restroom all while not disturbing the other students. Once he had a break he would be expected to come back and rejoin the class to continue working on the project. I will experiment to see what the longest amount of time he can focus on the project is without getting distracted and see if eventually he can work for longer periods of time. -James should visualize before beginning of a project what the end product will look like. That may help him from straying off course and never finishing. I could talk it out with him and even help him do a rough sketch of his ideas and he can keep referring back to it to remind him what his original idea was. -James will have a planning chart in the classroom for him so he can visually see how much time he has left to complete the project. I can help him plan ahead of time what he needs to accomplish in each class in order to have a finished piece by the time we are ready to move on to the next project. -James should be seated at the front of the class closest to my desk and not right in the middle of the class where he would be getting distraction from all sides. -As a reward for actually completing a project in the time allotted I would offer James the opportunity to choose what the next class project will be. Hopefully, this will be a reward he can connect with and will help motivate him to finish his work in a timely manner.

__Social Studies:__ -James needs to find an access point into the curriculum that interests him. -James needs to learn and practice breaking down big ideas into the steps needed to complete a project. James can make himself a “project plan.” This might help James with both management of time and his general organization skills. -James needs different colored folders, or special sections in his binder.

__Social Recommendations:__ -James needs to become better aware of how what he says affects others. -James should be responsible for apologizing for his actions when he hurts someone’s feeling or says/does something inappropriate. -Aziz will help James by reminding him of things he needs to accomplish. -Aziz can call James at home and talk to him about his assignments.


 * __Recommendations to James’ family:__**

James should be given time to have a creative outlet at home. Maybe the family could come up with an art project to work towards together and the parents can play a role in helping to manage issues like time, deadlines and focal control with James. If James can have extra reinforcement regarding these attention issues at home it would help when he has to call on these controls in the classroom.

James should be allowed to take breaks when working on projects at home. He needs to be able to walk around, stretch, etc.

It should be considered whether James would benefit from a low level dosage of medication. It’s possible that medication coupled with behavior therapy and strategies could significantly increase his ability to focus at school.

If James receives a formal diagnosis of ADHD, his parents may want to look into developing a 504 Plan with the school.

James should be given opportunities to enhance his learning by engaging in trips, tours and direct active experiences.

James should be provided with a plan of action for each assignment he must undertake. His parents could begin a writing assignment by providing him with the first line of the essay.

James should keep a record of his ability to focus on a task at home. He should take responsibility for writing down when he feels his attention shifting and when he feels focused. This may help him to see patterns in his own behavior.

To try to keep James focused on his task he can be reminded not to listen to outside sounds while he is working. A quiet place conducive to focusing can be made for James to work at.

James may benefit from being told in advance how long he will have to concentrate. He could practice keeping his concentration by using a timer or clock to keep track of how long he is concentrating.

If James is having trouble becoming overly focused in an area he can be reminded that it is time to change and move onto a different topic.

James could start to transition into working on his own more often. He needs to learn to be able to sit down without someone right next to him and still get some work done.

James should be encouraged to approach school assignments at home by developing a plan of action that outlines the entire project from beginning to end. He needs to be able to see the end result before he begins working to encourage him to work towards that end result.

James will benefit from having discussions at home that center around hypothetical situations either social or academic. In these discussions he can be asked to reflect upon what others might feel if he says or does specific things to them. This should increase James' ability to foresee outcomes before he says or does inappropriate things.

James' parents should attempt to establish an open line of communication with his teachers and to develop the least adversarial relationship possible. His father especially may want to rethink his relationship with James' teachers. Better communication would lead to more understanding between the two sides.

If there are more problems in school, it might be a good idea for James and his parents to see an educational psychologist to see if James has any problems and to get a diagnosis. They can meet with one so that they can understand why James is acting the way he is and how they can help him do better in his everyday life.

James' teachers should make their expectations very clear for James and his parents and be consistent in those expectations. A regular daily routine may help him follow along in class.
 * __Recommendations to James' teachers:__**

James' teachers should communicate with each other and with James' parents to establish a consistent policy about homework. One possibility is a daily assignment log that James would fill out and have signed by each teacher every day. His teachers could also use the log to communicate with his parents.

His teachers may also want to post assignments online or email them to James' parents so his parents can check daily whether or not James has homework and ensure that it gets done.

James may need extra time and help to organize his folders and backpack at the end of each class. He may need a peer or an aide to assist him with organization and to check that he's bringing home everything necessary to do his homework.

James should be allowed to occasionally take breaks as needed. This may mean walking around the classroom or the hall for a few minutes during class. He should be taught to self-monitor and choose appropriate times for breaks (for example, not while the teacher is giving directions).

James should be given preferential seating (in the front row on the end) to minimize distractions from other students.

His teachers need to contact James' parents in order for them to have an open communication with them. They need to create a consistent environment with James' parents where he will have a way to organize and have structure in his day. They need to help James and his parents come to terms with any of James' attitude problems and figure out ways to help him consistently.