Field Notes 2 (2/20/13)

Attached are field notes from my second visit. 

Guided Individual Reflection

What happened? During her individual reading time, E was reading nicely with her teacher. When Mrs. K stood up to pick something up off of her desk- not 2 feet away- E stood up and tried to flip her table in record time. The books and papers went flying. Mrs. K ignored the disruption and continued teaching, while I picked up the papers. E did not appear angry or to show any emotion.

Why did it happen? E took advantage of the time that her teacher wasn't looking to act out. It was not that she was angry or upset, but might have been feeling angsty or pent up. I have seen E, a child with moderate autism, act out before because she likes the stimulation. 

What might it mean? It could mean that E needed some time to take a break from working on her reading, or needs to learn better coping skills for behavior (which she is working on at school).

What are the implication for practice? The most important thing that I learned was to ignore the situation to keep it from getting out of hand. It was more important to not give E the attention than to fret over the table or the papers. In moving forward, it is especially important that E learns to control her outbursts because she could become dangerous the older and bigger she gets. I had seen E act out like this the last time I was placed at this school. Now, a year later, it is clear that she is working on behavior managment. Instead of a chair, E sits on a bouncy ball to keep her energy from getting out of hand and to keep her stimulated. Continuing to learn these sorts of techniques to help E learn will be important.