Sorting It Out: A CIP Study of a Special Education Student

Shala Hahn

Copyright 2001 by Shala Hahn
Included here with permission of the author

[Children] do not quest for sameness, but they search for the sense of triumph that comes when they are respected, valued, nurtured, and even cajoled into accomplishing things they believed beyond their grasp (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 10).

Puzzlement

Jase is a friendly, African American student in my class. Despite some academic difficulties, she is extremely social and loves to engage adults and peers in conversation. Jase often approaches her peers on the playground or in the lunchroom, speaks to them in a kind manner, and attempts to discuss topics that are of interest to them. I have seen her talk to boys and girls from many different cultures and ask questions to learn more about them. At the beginning of the year, I assumed that Jase had many friends due to her outgoing personality, but as the weeks went by I realized that she did not. In fact, I saw that she had great difficulty maintaining friendships. I asked myself, "Why is this little girl, who appears to have so much to offer other children, having difficulty forming and maintaining friendships with her peers?"

Known Information

Field Elementary School is located in a county in northern Virginia, which has over 157,000 students. Field is a relatively small school with only 361 students, but is very diverse. With students from 21 different countries, there truly is no majority among the children at this school, although there are some minority cultures, including African American. The students speak 19 different primary languages and many of them receive ESL services, learning disabilities or other special education services, or both.

Field Elementary School houses a special education program that began as a pilot program at the school in the mid-eighties. It was developed to provide special education services to those students who needed a self-contained setting but did not appear to "fit" into any of the established classes such as autism, educable mentally retarded, or emotionally disabled. Although the classes were not identified by grade level, the students were in classrooms with their same age peers. The special education teachers who initially taught in the program did not follow the county curriculum and instead used IEP goals and a life skills curriculum to plan their instruction.

I am a special education teacher at Field today. The program has slowly changed from its early days. Currently there are four special education classes with an average class size of six. The program services students with multiple disabilities, mild to moderate autism, moderate to severe Attention Deficit Disorder, severe learning disabilities, and moderate emotional disorders. With the state’s institution of the Standards of Learning and the trend toward including students with disabilities in regular classes as much as possible, the special education curriculum has become more academic and less of a life skills program. The teachers of this program combine IEP goals with the county’s program of studies and state’s Standards of Learning to create a curriculum based on the students’ needs.

There are two administrators at Field; both are European American and female, as are the majority of the teachers. I am European American. My assistant in the morning is Irish and my assistant in the afternoon is Hispanic.

The teachers all participate in grade level meetings, staff meetings, and various professional development activities. At these meetings, we are given opportunities to share ideas and opinions about events that are happening in our classrooms, the school, and the county. Currently, the teachers are involved in a book study of Carol Tomlinson’s (1999) The Differentiated Classroom. Although participation in the book study is mandatory, many teachers have commented on the usefulness of the book and have implemented the ideas suggested in it in their own classrooms. Quotes from the book, such as, "We must dream big dreams with [the students] and be persistent partners in helping them soar towards those dreams. Both equity and excellence must be part of our road map for these students," (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 21) are hung around the school in places where teachers would be likely to read them.

I teach a class of eight students; three of those students have one Hispanic parent, one student is from India, one student’s father is Iranian, one girl is African American, and two students are European American. I teach three girls and five boys. We began the year with another African American boy, but he was placed in a center for students with emotional disabilities in October. The students in my class are the same age as second and third grade students, although the special education classes are still not assigned a grade level. Most of the children in my room have been in special education since kindergarten and have spent two to three years in classes with the same kids. My students all have at least one disability affecting their social, academic, and emotional skills to the degree that they cannot progress in a general education class, even with modifications. Most of them receive speech and language therapy and occupational therapy in addition to the service they receive from me. Still others see the emotional disabilities teacher or autism resource teacher on a regular basis. The children in my class have music, PE, lunch, and recess with another regular education, third grade class. Since the beginning of the year, those same third graders have been coming to our room three times a week for science and recently, the same children have been coming to our room four days a week for one of their language arts centers. A few of my students go to a regular education room for certain subjects such as math, social studies, or language arts, depending on their academic strengths.

Jase is an African American girl in my class. She will be ten years old in June and has been in the special education program at Field since kindergarten. As all the students in my room do, Jase has a complex academic, social, and family history. According to her file, Jase was initially tested and diagnosed as having a developmental delay while attending a Head Start program at her neighborhood school. Her teacher was concerned with her fine and gross motor skills, behavior, and attention span. Jase’s mother had also reported a hearing loss, though no medical evidence of the loss exists in Jase’s file. Her mom stated that Jase began getting ear infections when she was four years old and had many reoccurrences. She also had tubes in her ears at three different times throughout her life. According to the social study history report, which was obtained through interviews with Jase’s mom, there was a reported study of sexual assault on Jase by a male relative during the summer of 1996. Counseling services were recommended to Jase’s mom but it is not known whether the counseling ever occurred.

In November of 1999, Jase was retested by the county system. According to that testing, she has a full scale IQ of 64 with a severe discrepancy between her verbal (84) and performance (48) IQ. She also scored in the low range on tasks that required visual-motor integration and auditory perception. Based on these tests, classroom performance, and teacher and parent input, Jase was found eligible for special education services as a student with a learning disability. She currently receives 25 hours per week of that service through the special education program, one hour through occupational therapy, and spends four hours per week in language arts in regular education with no special education support.

Jase is unique in my room in that she is the only student who is reading on grade level and therefore goes to a regular third grade classroom for her language arts instruction. Math, however, is a struggle for Jase. She has difficulty counting objects, knowing whether to add or subtract, and performing one-digit operations accurately even with the use of a number line. Jase also has difficulty with fine motor tasks such as cutting on a dotted line, but has learned to ask for accommodations like having the line highlighted. Her handwriting is legible, but sizing the letters correctly and using only her left hand to write are goals on her current IEP. She needs to have any cutting, coloring, gluing, tracing, or folding activities modeled for her and even then sometimes needs hand over hand assistance to complete them correctly. Jase needs directions with two or more steps repeated at least twice before she can follow them.

Jase contributes often to the small group discussions we have during social studies and science lessons, but frequently calls out answers, even after I have called someone else’s name. To diminish this behavior, I began using a chart with Jase to help her wait for her turn to talk. She now earns a check after each group lesson if she raises her hand and waits to be called on before answering. If she earns a predetermined number of checks, she receives an opportunity to get computer time the next morning. She keeps the chart on her desk and marks her check after consulting me. This system works best when I remind Jase of her goal before group lessons commence.

Jase is polite and immediately smiles at and converses with any adult who comes into our room. She dresses fashionably and often asks teachers, "Don’t you like my outfit?" She reads magazines such as American Girls and always checks them out of the library rather than books. Earlier in the school year, she was bringing magazines like Teen and Seventeen to school. Due to some of the pictures on the covers, I asked her not to bring them back and wrote a note to her mother and they have not returned since. Recently, Jase has learned to use the Internet and likes visiting the sites of her favorite singers and famous teens like Brandi. I had to set firm rules about when she was allowed to use the Internet because I would often find her on it when we were transitioning from one activity to the next. Jase transitions slowly even without the distraction of the Internet. For example, when it is time for PE, she will not have her tennis shoes on even after I have reminded her numerous times. She often begins her morning math sheet before unpacking her backpack and is usually not in line with the rest of the class to go to the buses or out for recess. In the past she has taken up to ten minutes to use the bathroom and on two occasions when I checked on her, she was singing and dancing around the bathroom.

Jase is the only student in my class who sits with another class at lunch. I have encouraged this behavior, as I do with all my students, as a way for her to make new friends. She usually sits with the only other African American girl in the third grade at a table with about five other students of various ethnic backgrounds. If our classes are out at the same time, she also plays with the same girl on the playground. Most of the time, both girls appear to enjoy their time together. Jase has made such comments as, "Kebran and I are friends because we are from the same culture."

Currently, Jase is the only child living with her mom and grandmother. Due to the IEP process and parent conferences, I have had a few meetings with Jase’s mother, Dondra. All of our face to face meetings have been civil and courteous. My first phone conversation with her was not though. The day before, Jase had come to me with a minor problem, and I had told her that she needed to it by herself. She was upset by this response and told her mom about it when she got home. The next day Dondra called me and proceeded to tell me in a loud voice that Jase follows teachers’ directions, I should not tell children to solve their own problems, and I needed to keep any child that was mean to Jase away from her. She then hung up the phone without giving me a chance to speak. Our next meeting, a month or so later was very cordial and no mention of the phone call was made by Dondra or myself.

One reason for my puzzlement is the behaviors I have seen Jase exhibit when she perceives a problem with a peer. For example, I recall one instance when Jase came back from lunch crying. She was inconsolable and could not tell me what the problem was until after she had about fifteen minutes to calm down. She then explained that Kebran had not talked to her enough at lunch and that Kebran did not want to be her friend any more. Only after I had helped her talk with Kebran and explain her feelings was she able to join the lesson that was being conducted in my room. Similar situations have occurred with the students in my room. When Jase felt another student was ignoring her, she yelled at him for an extended period of time and continued yelling after she was moved to another part of the room. When she was called last into line, she refused to get in line; and when she eventually did get in line she made her feelings about it known all the way to the lunchroom. Many of my students complain about her unwillingness to leave them alone when they are upset, which can cause conflicts in our room to escalate.

The second cause of my puzzlement is the way I have seen other children react to Jase’s attempts at friendship. On the playground, when I watched her approach other children, they said only one or two words to her before quickly walking away. During science, the children chose seats that were away from her and made quiet but negative comments when they were placed in a group with her. Jase continued to talk to them as though she did not see or hear what was going on around her.

Cultural Question

Due to her interactions with her peers, Jase did not have many friends. She would often turn to adults for the companionship she was seeking therefore, her social skills were not improving. I thought there might be some cultural issues affecting Jase’s relationships with her peers. I used the Cultural Inquiry Process web site (Jacob, 1999) to formulate some questions about my puzzlement. For example, how does the tracking system of the special education program at Field affect Jase’s relationships with her peers in and outside of the special education class? How could my beliefs about how students should interact be affecting my observations of Jase and the other students? Was my cultural background causing me to "socialize [her] to silence and invisibility" as Fordham (1993, p. 23) believes happens to many African American girls? Could there be a mismatch between Jase’s family culture and the culture of the classroom? After gathering more information through my meeting with Jase’s mom, I chose to focus on the mismatch between Jase’s home and family culture and the culture of the school and to look specifically at the difference in Jase’s interactional style at home and the expectations at school (CIP step 3.3.1).

Gathering Information

As stated by González et al. (1993), "...[using varied sources of .1information] illustrate[s] the multi-dimensional facets of the students that teachers become aware of as they learn about the families’ household networks, survival strategies, and resources" (p. 18). Based on this, I realized that an interview with Jase’s mom was probably the best way to gain information about her family culture. I was apprehensive about this because of our history. I informally spoke with other teachers who had Jase as a student in the past and many of them had similar experiences with Dondra. One teacher told of a situation where Dondra lunged at her from across the table. The principal told of a time when Dondra became so angry that she had to be asked to leave the meeting due to her treatment of the teachers. Still, these same people also spoke of very positive experiences with Dondra in which she praised them for their care of Jase.

I took the opportunity to speak with Jase’s mom Dondra after an IEP meeting in January in which Dondra seemed happy with Jase’s progress in school. I told her a little about the CIP process and why I had chosen Jase as my subject. I also informed her that I would be looking at my own cultural perspectives as Jase’s teacher to see if I could improve what was happening at school. I wanted to give her the feeling that, as González (1995) states, "...[I was not] attempting to convey educational information, but [was] seeking to understand the ways in which [her family] makes sense of their everyday lives" (p. 3). Dondra surprised me with her enthusiasm for and interest in the project and the ease with which she began talking. I did not find it necessary to ask very many questions because Dondra told me a lot of information without being asked.

I did begin, however, by asking if Jase had many friends in her neighborhood. Dondra named a few of the girls that Jase often played with in their apartment complex and said that they seemed to get along well most of the time, aside from some "girlish" stuff. She said that the children might play together a few times a week when the weather was nice. I asked her if Jase seemed to enjoy her time with these girls and said nice things about them. Dondra replied that Jase would often complain that one did this or that to her, but she was always willing to go back out and play with them again another day. Dondra also said that these particular girls were African American although many of the children in her apartment complex were European American and Hispanic, and that Jase would talk to all of them when she had the opportunity.

Dondra also told me some information about Jase’s father and his involvement in her life. She began by telling me that even though he lives in New York, he would make monthly trips to see Jase and call her each week on the phone. Jase was excited by the visits and phone calls and would talk about them constantly. Recently though, Jase’s dad had remarried and had a baby with his new wife. His visits and phone calls to Jase were becoming less frequent and he was questioning his paternity of Jase. It was at this point during our conversation that Jase's mother became very upset and began crying. She expressed her anger at Jase’s dad for doing this to Jase and her willingness to sue him if he did not continue to pay child support. I asked if Jase knew about her father’s actions and Dondra told me that she did and she was upset by it. She reported that Jase cried when she heard her mom and dad fighting on the phone and when her dad would not call her. Dondra said that Jase once made a comment about her dad loving the new baby more [than her]. Dondra was concerned that these recent events might cause Jase to behave differently in school. I assured her that I would let her know if she seemed upset or began talking about her dad at school.

During the course of the interview, I also discovered that, according to Dondra, Jase gets a lot of attention when she goes out in public. Her mom told me that strangers will approach her to talk to her and Jase will converse with them forever if she is allowed. Most people comment on her clothes and some have even give her money. Jase is always extremely polite and seems to relish the attention that she is given. Dondra told me of four such situations and was smiling as she recalled all the details of each.

Dondra allows Jase to buy fashion magazines each time they go to the store and she noted that Jase does not just buy the African American magazines, but is interested in all cultures and people. She also said that Jase has a good relationship with Dondra’s boyfriend and that he is taking her out on a three hundred dollar shopping spree when he gets his tax return. I wondered if all of her emphasis on appearance and popularity was, as Ogbu (1993) states, "a survival strategy to compensate for apparent lack of equal opportunity for equal and fair competition in mainstream economic and other institutions" (p. 97).

From the interview, I gathered that family is a very important support system for Dondra. She and Jase live with Dondra’s mother and her sister visits often. It appeared to me that they all have an equal role in caring for and disciplining Jase. She is often the only child when these three women are together. I told Dondra how I have heard Jase make comments that I felt she was repeating after having heard them from an adult. While they were not inappropriate, they were not always correct for the situation. Even her voice intonation would mimic what she had heard. I told Dondra about the day that Jase was upset with a friend and said, "Family is supposed to take care of each other," and gave her some additional examples of what I meant. Dondra seemed surprised to hear that Jase was saying these things, but did agree that sometimes Jase tries to become part of the group by acting like an adult.

As an additional method of gathering information, I began watching Jase’s interactions with her peers more closely. I took notes and found a few common factors through different situations. The first was that when she was in a large group of students and sitting next to someone to whom she wanted to talk, she would talk to that person while the teacher was talking, even after the student told her to be quiet. Additionally, when she was working with a group to accomplish a task, she was more likely to socialize than work. This behavior could have been the result of an attention issue, processing difficulties, a cultural difference between home and school, or a combination of all three. I also noticed that when Jase was having a problem with a peer, she did not refocus on academic work until she felt she had an opportunity to express her feelings and that the other party heard her. On a class survey about problem solving, Jase reported that she feels the teacher should solve problems for her and that talking it out was her favorite way to solve problems.

Interventions

Although Dondra and I had a positive interview experience, I chose to keep the interventions I implemented focused on Jase’s peer relationships at school rather than try to implement and monitor interventions at her home. The problem solving survey was very informative and gave me some ideas for interventions not only for Jase, but to help my entire class become more independent problem solvers.

A few years ago I read the book Positive Discipline by Jane Nelson (1996). The book describes ways to help children become independent problem solvers through class meetings. Although I continued the practice of class meetings with my students, I referred to the book to help me find a way to allow Jase to express her feelings immediately after a problem has occurred without interrupting instruction. I was quickly reminded of the class agenda. As Nelson (1996) describes it, an agenda is used so the teacher does not get distracted by minor student conflicts. When a child has a problem, they write their name and the problem on paper and place it in a designated spot. During a class meeting, the papers are read aloud and if the situation is still a problem, each class member has an opportunity to suggest a solution as the teacher writes all the solutions on chart paper (p. 141). I introduced this procedure to my class in February. Whenever students came to me with a problem, I said, "Put it in the agenda box." Jase quickly caught on to this procedure and even now I often find her long notes filled with exclamation points in the agenda box. Writing down her problems gives Jase an opportunity to express her feelings without disrupting class.

Another intervention I used to help Jase was a carryover from a program my students had been exposed to for many years through the guidance counselor’s lessons. Kelso’s Choice (1994) is a program designed to teach children specific strategies to solve problems. It includes the use of modeling, dramatizing, stories, and visual aids to teach eight different methods to solve a small problem. The program begins by teaching the difference between small and big problems, which we reviewed as a class. I then read the surveys that the children filled out aloud to the whole class. I stressed that different children had different preferences for solving problems and that they were all correct and acceptable. Over the course of the next few weeks, I had each child role play their favorite way to solve a problem and an additional method with which they were not so comfortable. I also placed a visual aid on each child’s desk to remind them of the different strategies to solve problems. I used the visual aids as a reminder to Jase that not all students use the same methods to solve problems. This was especially useful when Jase could not understand why someone wasn’t listening to her express her feelings about a problem situation.

The information I gathered also helped me realize that I would need to change the way I handled Jase’s emotional responses to conflicts with other students. In the past, I often told her to get herself under control so she could rejoin the class. I realized through my conversations with Dondra and observing Jase, that she needed to have her feelings validated by someone before she was able to do that. Many times the student with whom she had the conflict needed time to calm down before talking; sometimes a student was not able to talk about it at all because of emotional difficulties. So I changed the way I reacted to Jase by becoming more comforting. I listened to what she had to say, and if the other student was physically and emotionally available, I had them listen also. I would then paraphrase what she told me so she knew I was listening closely. Sometimes I would give her an example of a time when I felt the same way. I was reminded to do this when I read, "Adults often show interest in having children share, but do not demonstrate mutual respect by sharing themselves" (Nelson, 1996, p. 119). This response from me seemed to help Jase refocus and move on with her day more quickly.

I also intervened by giving Jase more opportunities to be around Kebran, the other African American girl in third grade. Kebran seemed to be one of the only children who accepted Jase and treated her as a friend consistently. Kebran’s teacher and I worked out some times when the girls could be together in academic and nonacademic situations. Kebran began coming to our room for one hour per week for math. Not only did Jase look forward to this time each week, but Kebran was able to help her stay focused on her work.

Monitoring

I am continuing to monitor the interventions I have put in place through observation and self-reflection. I have let Jase’s mother know of the interventions by giving her a copy of the visual aid from Kelso’s Choice and writing a note once per week to inform her of Jase’s successes. Although Dondra does not write back to me on a regular basis, our recent phone conversations have been positive and I have felt more relaxed with her than I have in the past.

Jase continues to have some difficulty solving problems, but the interventions have helped her become more independent and understanding. The class meetings have allowed me to be the teacher and not just the problem solver in the room. For example, Jase and another girl in my room have continuous conflicts. One minute they are best friends and the next they are viciously angry with each other. Before I implemented the agenda, I would have gotten involved and tried to deescalate arguments between the two girls. My attempts did not meet with much success and took me away from my other students. Because we have brainstormed solutions to these difficulties, when a problem arises, I refer the girls to the chart where those solutions are written. Although they do not always make good choices and solve the problem on their own, I feel I am helping them become independent by giving them the opportunity to try.

When Jase has a problem that we need to solve together, I reflect on how I handled the situation and what I could change the next time I help her. I take brief notes on what happened and on what we both said and did. I not only do this for improvement purposes, but also in case I am ever questioned about what I told her and how I helped (or did not help) her.

All of Jase’s difficulties at school are not solved, but I believe that by fostering her social interactions, which are so important to her and her family, she will continue to grow into a more confident child with the skills needed to make long lasting friends.

The quote at the beginning of this paper describes how I feel children should be taught. Every child is vastly different from every other child and to think that they all should be given the same instruction in the same environment under the same rules is a notion that good teachers know is outdated. All children have different environmental, intellectual, emotional, cultural, and even unidentifiable factors that affect who they are and how they present themselves. The best we can do for each child is to help them reach there own goals and meet their personal potential. The Cultural Inquiry Process is a tool that can help teachers accomplish this. Although I will probably not have the time to write up such a detailed study on another student, I feel that this CIP study will remind me to look at all of the factors that could be affecting a child before drawing conclusions.

References

Fordham, S. (1993). "Those loud black girls": (Black) women, silence, and gender "passing" in the academy. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 24 (1), 3-32.

González, N. E. (1995). The funds of knowledge for teaching project. Practicing Anthropology, 17 (3), 3-7.

González, N., Moll, L. C., Floyd-Tenery, M., Rivera, A., Rendon, P., Gonzales, R. & Amanti, C. (1993). Teacher research on funds of knowledge: Learning from households. Tuscon, AZ: University of Arizona, National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning.

Jacob, E. (1999). Cultural Inquiry Process Web Site. [Online]. http://classweb.gmu.edu/classweb/cip/ [2001, April].

Kelso’s Choice: Conflict Management for Children. (1994). Winchester, OR: Rhinestone Press.

Nelson, J. (1996). Positive discipline (Rev. Ed.). New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

Ogbu, J. (1993). Frameworks-variability in minority school performance: A problem in search of an explanation. In E. Jacob & C. Jordan (Eds.), Minority education: Anthropological perspectives (pp. 83-111). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Tomilson, C. (1994). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.