Deputy Principal to provide you with insight into his behaviours in the school setting.
Background:James has attended St Ives North Public School since Kindergarten and is currently in Year 4. In Kindergarten, the school received Flexible Behaviour Support for James for his violent behaviours towards his peers and teachers (biting, punching and kicking). In Year One, James had intervention from the Itinerant Support Teacher (Behaviour) for poor peer relationships, anger, task refusal and non-compliance.
James’s Year Two and Year Three teacher, Victoria Mamas, attests that James was initially extremely reticent in Year 2 to involve himself in class activities and peer interactions. He did not respond to positive reinforcement, even refusing to accept rewards and certificates. Victoria noted a significant improvement with his behaviour during the two years that she taught him and believes that this is related to the large amount of attention that she gave him whilst in her class. Victoria stated that James was significantly more demanding of her time, for his emotional needs, than the other students in her class. Whilst James cried often and his anger and distress continued to be easily triggered, Victoria did note that he developed friendships, demonstrated an eagerness to please his teacher and appeared to enjoy school.
Victoria’s predominant concerns with James during her time with him were related to her observations of him appearing to hear imaginary voices and other stimuli and reacting to these with inappropriate behaviours, such as laughing hysterically for no apparent reason.
James’s behaviour and ability to cope at school has deteriorated significantly this year and the following interventions have been implemented to support him. James’s current teacher, Amanda Tunks, has instigated an individualised behaviour management program for him in the classroom, based on the provision of positive reinforcement for expected behaviours. His mother, Colleen Keevy, has provided ‘fidget toys’ as a calming strategy to be utilised when his anxiety levels are heightened and James has a designated calming space in the classroom where he can choose to move to if required. James has been placed on a highly supervised and structured playground schedule to ensure that he has adult supervision at lunch time. He also has regular school counsellor support.
School teacher observations – Information provided by Miss Amanda Tunks (12/08/15):
James can be a friendly boy who likes to contribute to classroom discussions. He loves to read books during class and is creative and excels artistically. James receives computer time, if he completes his work, and he is responding well to this positive reward system.
James frequently complains about feeling sick at school, he often appears tired and has dark rings under his eyes. James exhibits a very strong reaction to even slight injuries. He has been observed by a teacher to deliberately scratch himself, possibly to gain the attention of said teacher. He also has hit himself several times when frustrated.
At times James has his clothes on back the front or inside out and hides his face under the hood of his jumper during class and play time. On Monday 27/07/15, James wore two layers of clothes to school and then placed his sports uniform over the two layers. The clothes consisted of jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, full school uniform and sport uniform. James said he had slept in the jeans and long sleeved t-shirt the night before.
Academically, James struggles to understand simple instructions, attempt or complete work and he becomes fixated on completing certain questions or activities. This results in him becoming anxious and unable to progress with his work. James ‘shuts down’ when he is asked to do something in class that he does not want to do or when things don’t go his way and he then refuses to participate. It is difficult to reach James during these periods and he appears either ‘blank’ and nonresponsive or overly distressed. James displays extreme mood swings and can quickly switch from laughing hysterically to crying uncontrollably and at times cries nonstop for extended periods and is unable to calm down. One example of this was when James arrived at
school on 07/08/15 crying and visibly distressed. He stated that he was upset about an accident that he had the previous night at Hornsby shopping centre and was inconsolable.
James has immense difficulty interacting with his peers. He has been violent towards them by pushing, punching and kicking them. James has also been observed being verbally abusive to peers, especially on the playground. He has been observed distracting his classmates by touching students, throwing items at them and licking them. James is able to take responsibility for his actions and show remorse, yet often does not appear able to understand why his behaviours are inappropriate. He finds it difficult to show empathy and is predominantly negative in his perceptions of himself and others.
Deputy Principal observations – Information provided by Mrs Naomi Ierace (10/08/15):
James has been spending a number of play sessions in the Deputy’s office as an optional "time out" strategy, where he chooses to go there during play time rather than be in the playground. This strategy was created last term in response to James having regular (daily, sometimes twice-three times a day) altercations, both verbal and physical in the playground with his peers. These altercations were usually related to a hand ball game.
During these sessions, James interacts easily with the Deputy. When he brings a friend, James is observed to play calmly and has very positive social interactions when he is 1:1 with them. James behaves very differently depending on the mood that he is in when he presents to the Deputy. He vacillates between being chatty, friendly and excited to share his experiences of the day to being sullen and unresponsive.
James’s behaviours of concern occur predominantly in the playground or in the classroom in response to learning activities that James finds difficult.
Playground Concerns
James lashes out verbally and physically in response to perceived or real disagreements with his peer group. He punches, kicks and swears at other students. James has difficulty maintaining friendships because of this.
James can be highly resistant to understanding another person’s perspective. He has been observed being distraught and abusive when some of his friends chose to play handball on a four square court instead of a six square court where he wanted to play. The histrionics can last for up
to half an hour and can lead to kicking, punching and fighting with other students depending on when, how and which staff intervene.
Classroom Concerns
James has been sent to the deputy during class time as a result of becoming unreasonable and argumentative in class. His teacher has a quiet area for James in the classroom and he uses "fidget toys" to give him something to do with his hands if needed.
Once, during a maths lesson, James came to the deputy’s office extremely agitated and virtually incoherent. He was upset and described seeing "numbers everywhere". He appeared to be actually seeing imaginary stimuli and was repeating the word "numbers" over and over.
School counsellor observations:
James happily comes to counselling sessions and often refers himself if he is feeling distressed or worried about something. He has a vivid imagination and can be highly descriptive when talking. James has a number of good friends who I have also spoken with and they are reliable and very supportive of James. I have observed them playing very well together on a variety of activities in a 1:1 or small group situation. James is a very good handball player and this is his favourite activity. During these games, James shows very high levels of focus and agility. James is always very polite and well-behaved during our sessions.
James has difficulties with his emotional regulation and is easily triggered into high levels of distress. He has been brought to the counsellor’s office on two occasions recently because he could not stop crying and was unable to speak about the incident that had instigated his distress. In these instances, distraction was the only means to calm James and he promptly stopped crying when sufficiently interested in another activity, immediately ceasing his rumination about the recent event. The concerning incidents appear predominantly to originate in the playground at recess or lunch from altercations in a handball game.
James is very verbal and enthusiastic when speaking, though at times he exhibits difficulty when participating in a conversation. He switches between topics and at times contradicts himself within the one sentence, such as initially stating that a student dislikes him but then attesting that he is a supportive and reliable friend. James talks about his "imaginary world" and his "real world", where he believes he is able to switch between the two realms. James describes Yetis (characters from a computer game that he plays) as being in his bedroom at night and leaving ice blocks under his pillow and around his room. He states that the Yetis are "imaginary", yet the ice blocks are "real".
James has persistent deficits in his social interactions with peers. He finds it difficult to understand or comprehend another child’s perspective when analysing an incident and is frequently unable to consider alternative options than those which he has selected. James has a low self-esteem at times and describes himself negatively unless prompted to talk about his strengths. Once he has been directed to focus on his good qualities, he is able to do this unless distressed. When James is feeling low, he is more likely to describe other students, including his close friends, as disliking him.
James is highly sensitive to noise. He reports that he "falls out of the world" when his surroundings are loud. He attests that earplugs or earmuffs would not be helpful because he "hears everything perfectly when they are on, even with my hands over my ears". I have also observed James exhibiting behaviours that indicate that he is also overly sensitive to touch. On two occasions, when walking with James to his classroom, he was accidentally lightly brushed by a student walking past and he jumped, appeared very shocked and made a shout and then elbowed the student in retaliation.
My response:
Well let me begin by saying that a lot of what has been highlighted in this report is new to myself as well.
I am truly surprised that most of this hasn't come up in any of our many conversations. No mention of perhaps meeting to discuss any of this either.
I can honestly say that I have been left floored and speechless. I have no words to express the disappoint I'm feeling at this very moment.
I will liaise with Dr Silove moving forward and will inform St Ives North of what our next steps will be to ensure James's educational needs, as well as social and emotional needs/support are met appropriately.
kind regards
Colleen
Dr Silove's response:
Dear Vashti
Thank you very much for this report – much of this information is new to me and very relevant , so I will arrange a meeting with James’s parents to discuss how we can best support him moving forwards.
Do you have an recent academic testing on James ie a WIAT or similar assessment. Is it possible to let me know what academic support/intervention/
Many Thanks Natalie
After a phone call with Dr Silove:
HI Colleen
To summarise our phone call :
The information from the school is new and unexpected
It is distressing to hear of this in a report and not first hand after all the interaction you have had
My take on it is that James is feeling insecure, unable to manage his emotions, unhappy and as a result externalising this. Its hard at this stage to know exactly what the cause is, but we will assess further
Vashti will be back at school next Thursday and give me more info regarding his academic and intervention support at school
In the meantime, you will ring Tim Wahlin Clinical Psychologist and get an appointment as soon as possible for James and yourselves
Once you have an appointment you will let e know and I will do a referral.
Otherwise you will try arrange for someone to be with James in the morning when he leaves for school and at home in the afternoon when he gets back from school.
Already you are trying strategies to get him off more easily to school in the morning and it is working.
We will stay in touch telephonically
Regards Natalie
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