Demand focuses on a student who goes to school last year at the first time in early childhood education, 4 years. Since the beginning of schooling the student shows difficulty on integrating with the reference group, besides having trouble respect the rules of the classroom and the tutor finds it difficult to control his general behavior. He doesn't know how to play and fight with his mates.
Alarmism starts to be shown because of the behavior of this student. The tutor makes the demand for psychology assessment center for guidance. As, passed the first year of schooling, the student continues with many behavior problems and school performance, it was decided to request the intervention of a team of external educational counseling to work with this type of student.
This team has the following objectives.
• Assign the case and analyze the data received from the student.
• Observe the behaviors of students in the school context.
• Develop a plan for individual action.
• Implement the action plan with the student.
• Evaluate the action plan.
• Encourage the participation and commitment of teachers.
• Collaborate in the involvement and participation of the family.
• Coordinate the various social, health and educational agents.
They want to check if the behavior problems that the student shows, either in school or family context, can be associated with ADHD, conditioning the normal development and it makes necessary to apply specific measures of intervention.
This student has to be educated with the rest of the class, with his mates, and he has to participate as many times as possible in the scholar activities taking into account his specific needs. They must participate in the regular curriculum, making settings as necessary because the competences to be a citizen and to participate actively in society are established.
FIRST STEP OF INTERVENTION
Data analysis and observation.
It is based on the documents that explain the current situation of the student, report data on educational psychology, functional assessment of behavior by teachers, steps taken and results obtained. This has led to a decision of the director and guiding the school to request the intervention of the team, in collaboration with the family and the school itself remains imperative.
A fist contact is made with the family (including family educator) and also with the school (director, counselor and tutor). Data collection is complemented by direct and systematic observation of students in the classroom and other school spaces. There will be 15 hours of direct observation, in periods of 2 or 4 hours, including all the moments on the school day.
Then, preliminary assessments will be presented to the design of the intervention plan with the aim to start with some changes.
SECOND STEP OF INTERVENTION
Design an individual Intervention Plan.
It includes the definition of observed behaviors and explanatory hypotheses
of these, objectives, guidelines and action strategies, teaching materials and resources, monitoring and evaluation.
It is importan to focus on three aspects:
- Behavior's nature.
- Situation in which it should happen.
- Criterion to decide if he has achieved the planned objective.
It has to start with minimun requirements. At the same time, it is important to make sure that there aren't incompatible behavior with the problem behavior. Then, when the behaviors are analyzed, the next step is to decide the procedures that are going to be used in order to modify the behavior, with the aim to delete the undesirable responses and also reinforce the desirable responses. This measures are going to be established according to the needs that are shown in the school context.
The teaching team inform that the student presents the following behaviors whose intensity, frecuency, duration or inadequacy to the context are problematic to the integral development as person and to the normal schooling of the rest of his mates and change objectives are established:
The derivation of the student to the unit for child and adolescent psychiatry is also an important aspect. The family will be cited to contact the pediatrician and refer the case.
When the plan is already presented, every fortnight educational counselor assists the school to collaborate and act in developing the plan. Regular coordination with the various educational agents is established. Teaching resources and materials selected are aimed at professionals who work directly with students, in addition to the specific resources to work with the family.
THIRD STEP OF INTERVENTION
Design of an Habits Notebook.
The student should be able to follow simple instructions supported with images, so it is proposed to adapt the program 'think aloud' Camp and Bash (1998), making that students learn four issues or questions to be answered adequately to a problem:
1º What is the problem? or what am I supposed to do?
2º How I can do? or What is my plan?
3º Am I using my plan ?
4º How have I done it?
Vallés (2003) in its intervention program on 'hyperactivity' also raises self-instructions. The aim is that the student questions hiself about the steps to follow in a situation or problem and can be checking as he finds the attainment of them.
When the notebook is made, therapeutic pedagogy specialist specifically trains the student in school routines that are related through modeling, reinforcement of appropriate and inappropriate behavior correction. Generalizes the tutor with the reference group. We seek with this, given the opportunity to develop their full learning capabilities. Some of the contents are presented below:
To assess and strengthen these contents, an evaluation system with emoticons is established. It allows student motivation:
FINAL STEP OF INTERVENTION
Evaluation.
After the implementation of intervention strategies mentioned why has responded to the specific educational needs of the students, they have learned to improve their behavior, has focused on schoolwork, improved relations with its peers and adults, has taken care material and has favored their overall development. Regarding the observed behaviors of students in the school context from the start of the intervention, it is considered to have changed. The intensity, duration and frequency of behaviors considered inappropriate or problematic, have been reduced significantly, appropriate behaviors have increased. The notebook acquiring habits, among other measures, seems to have contributed to these results.
The individual plan of intervention design has allowed to have a guidance document in a systematic and realistic educational intervention. This plan has been adapted to the characteristics of the case and has been susceptible to changes throughout the intervention period. When the plan of intervention is implemented with the student, with the group, the center, with different actors, it will be monitored by the counseling team. In this implementation all of them have to work together on the same line for maximum effectiveness.
The evaluation of the intervention plan is done on a quarterly basis, taking into account the school year through educational meetings with all agents. The various measures taken are valued and, at the end of the school year, specific guidance team prepares a report reflecting the results. This report addresses both the director and the guidance of the school. The participation and commitment of the teaching staff by coordinating with the management team and the guidance team is favored. In the same way that the involvement and participation of the family is achieved through the involvement of social services. In both cases, they are held, first, weekly meetings, and after a quarter fortnightly meetings.
Coordination with the various social and health workers to make school work more effectively lets collect and exchange information, which should be treated with caution and always positively.
CONCLUSIONS
The intervention has to start at the same time specific needs may be shown in order to support students. It is great to create a balance in the classroom with different children and to understand their needs as challenges and as advantajes to learn among them. However, not always it is enough with regular or specific resources. Sometimes, it is necessary to request new supports or educational assessments.
What is really important is to follow the educational process and analyzing the results step by step until the achievement of the precise knowledge of the indications of ADHD and valu positively in order to facilitate a more positive and effective intervention. The objective is to find the development of educational practices where all the students are benefit with an personalized teaching, adapted to their individual necessities.
Source: Martínez, M. (2010). Práctica educativa con un alumno con diagnóstico de TDAH en la estapa de educación infantil. Innovación educativa, nº 20, pp. 261-272.
