Reference no: EM133486643

Case Study: Antonio sat at his desk muttering to himself, "I just can't do this." Antonio's paper was full of holes indicating how he had tried to answer and change answers numerous times. When Mr. Larkson looked up from his desk to see what he was doing, Antonio let out a loud yell and banged his head on the desk. Antonio was supposed to be completing a worksheet of 10 multiplication problems, but instead was carrying on at his desk. Mr. Larkson went to his desk and tried to redirect him back to his worksheet. "Now, come on Antonio. You can answer these problems," he said as he handed him a clean worksheet. Again, Antonio let out a yell and shouted "I just can't do this crap." With that, the other students let out simultaneous "ooohhhs" and "ahhhs." Mr. Larkson, who was now becoming angry, gave Antonio one final command: "Get back to work or take a trip to the hall." Antonio did nothing but sat in his seat motionless, overcome with stubbornness. As Antonio sat contemplating his demise, Mr. Larkson snapped at the other students, "Get back to work." Again, he looked at Antonio and growled at him, "Get to work." Within seconds of Antonio's refusal, Mr. Larkson let out, "That's it! You go to the hall, and you can finish this paper for recess!" Again, Antonio sat still refusing to move. Mr. Larkson then went to the board and in large letters wrote "ANTONIO-NO RECESS." With chalk cracking as he wrote it, the other students again chimed in with "ooohhhs" and "ahhhs." Antonio, unfazed by his teacher's action, defiantly held up the clean worksheet and ripped it in half.

During the entire incident, Ms. Ziglar watches as she tries to redirect the attention of the other students in her inclusion math class. Ms. Ziglar knows to stay out of Mr. Larkson's way when he disciplines students. Although she occasionally has to deal with them, for the most part she takes a hands-off approach to behavior problems of the special education students. Ms. Ziglar had approached Mr. Larkson in the past about the way he handles behavioral problems, but he does not want to be told how to deal with behavior problems.

Antonio is a 13-year-old with Cognitive Impairments (CI) who currently attends Toolesville Elementary School in downtown Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Antonio has been in Mr. Larkson's class for 2 years and has caused problems for Mr. Larkson on a number of other occasions. Antonio is considered borderline CI because of his earned IQ score of 69 on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, but was placed in two inclusion classes this year because he had shown improvements in behavior and academic skills over the past year. In addition to his lower-than-average IQ, he also has academic deficits in all of the basic skill areas: reading, math, and written language. To complicate matters, Antonio has also been identified as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and currently takes Ritalin to help control his attention and hyperactivity.

Question: From the case, what behavior(s) would you target for remediation Antonio? Or what behavior(s) would you target for further assessment or observation for Antonio?