Emotional Disturbance Case Study

There are very few students within the eighth grade at Summit International Preparatory Middle School receiving special education services. This case study focuses on a student that has been particularly difficult to get to know in my time at Summit, he is quiet, keeps to himself, and rarely offers up answers or information without being asked. The process of interviewing this student (referred to as H.P throughout the paper) and his teachers offered insight into his life that for other students I have gained simply through daily interactions and working with them in the classroom. H.P. has emotional disturbance (ED), which affects his social interactions, his behavior, and his attention is class. One of the common threads found throughout

This characteristic is: “A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems” (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 2003, p. 66). A few weeks ago there was an incident in my host teacher’s classroom with H.P wherein he swore during a lesson for no reason that she or I could discern. This was an outburst that can happen with a student with ED but was not very typical of him. My host teacher took him out into the hallway to speak with him about it, explain why it was inappropriate, and give him a warning since it had been the first incident of the year. However, she told me he was so afraid of her reaction that he was physically shaking as she spoke to him (Kautzman, personal interview, October 13, 2016). This appears to be a pervasive issue with H.P., he is fearful to discipline from all teachers and it states within his IEP that he: “Must have private discussion about behavior” (May 20, 2016). One of his special education teachers said that it can be difficult to discipline or punish him because of his extremely negative reaction, but it is still important to have these discussions with him and give him consequences so he knows when his behaviors are not appropriate (Ruiz, personal interview, October 21, 2016). This is something that many teachers struggle with, not

has lived in Texas his entire life but only came to Uplift starting in sixth grade, before that he attended Forth Worth ISD (H.P., personal interview, October 12, 2016). According to his IEP, he has been receiving Special Education services the entirety of his middle school career at Uplift Summit. He is Hispanic and listed as “Limited English Proficiency” in his second year of monitoring within the school system, however, he appears to have an advanced grasp of the English language. H.P. does very well in his Spanish classes, which he enjoys immensely and from my observations he also gets along better and is more open with the Spanish-speaking special education teacher. He tends to respond better to her and is more likely to get back on task when she gives him reminders and corrections compared to the only English-speaking Special education teacher. He lives with his mother who is very involved in the IEP process and kept up-to-date about day-to-day activities by both the special education teachers and some of his general education teachers (Kautzman, personal interview, October 13, 2016). Ms. Kautzman, the Algebra I teacher and my host teacher, emails or calls H.P.’s mother whenever there is an incident or if he missing assignments, but she says many other general education teachers do not do the same. Parents should have a place in the education of their child and be made aware of what is happening at school: “In enacting the Individuals with Disabilities