Iep Case Study

DANCER IN THE DARK, SELMA

IEP CASE STUDY

EDI 430

Ashley Riviere 7/3/2010

This case study was constructed based on knowledge of the field along with the film, Dancer In the Dark. The IEP is based on main character Selma and her struggles with a hereditary disorder which causes her to become blind. Observation Data Collection Summary Format

Teacher Candidate’s Name: ASHLEY RIVIERE School Name: THE COLLEGE AT BROCKPORT SUNY Date of Observation: 6/17/2010-6/22/2010 Beginning Observation Time: 9AM (24 HOURS) Ending Observation Time: 12 PM Grade Level: COLLEGE Content Area: WORKFORCE Description of Activity: FACTORY WORK—MACHINES AND MANUAL LABOR. Type of Recording System Used: FREQUENCY RECORDING CHART.

Comments: The student appears to have visual impairment. Student exhibits increasingly poor working habits on a more regular basis. She is on time, however cannot drive. She rode a bike for quite some time, but has recently switched to walking to work. She walks along the railroad tracks. She is dedicated to the job and requested extra hours in addition to the work she does outside of the factory that keeps her up at all hours of the night. Her sleep deprivation could be influencing her decreasing eyesight. The student is friendly and often day dreams. She mentions her love for theatre. She likes to watch musicals and is even planning to participate in a local performance. She does not have much time for this outside activity, or time for herself for that matter. Perhaps more time for things like this could help her condition. She is unable to participate in the things she enjoys doing because of all her hours in the factory, etc. She mentioned something about an operation for her son, but the investigation is ongoing. After being let go from the factory, a warrant for her arrest was issued the same night.

Frequency Recording Chart Student Name: Selma Teacher Candidate: Ashley Riviere Date: 6/15/10 Time Interacting Day Physically Verbally Respond Positively with Dreaming violent violent negatively peers outburst outbursts to peers 7:30am-7:55am X 7:55am-8:40am X X X 8:40am- 9:45am X 9:45am-10:50am X X X 10:50am-11:55am X X X 11:55am-12:00am X X X 12:00am-1:05am X X X 1:05am-2:10am X X X 2:10am-3:15am X X X 3:15am-4:20am X X X 4:20am-5:25am X X X 5:25am-6:30am X X X

Functional Behavioral Assessment: Part 2 (Function) Functional Behavioral Assessment: Part 1 (Description) Student Name: Selma ID: unknown DOB: unknown Case Manager: Ashley Riviere

FBA Summary Format

Teacher Candidate’s Name: ASHLEY RIVIERE School Name: THE COLLEGE AT BROCKPORT SUNY Date of Observation: 6/18/2010 Beginning Observation Time: 6/17/2010 Ending Observation Time:6/25/2010 Grade Level: COLLEGE Content Area: WORKFORCE Description of Activity: Day dreaming, singing and dancing to musically themed songs. The student appears to have trouble seeing objects that are right in front of her. She walks to work, instead of driving.

Comments: Selma exhibits behaviors that are dangerous to the welfare of her and her child. Environmental factors include her living situation (trailer—near-poverty), lack of family and excessive work hours. Biological factors include her inherited condition that is causing blindness in her and in her son. These factors contribute to Selma’s lack of sleep and anxiety, also her lack of self- confidence. Selma’s episodes in the factory put her in danger of machinery malfunction and episodes outside of work put her at environmental risk as she walks along railways and rivers, being unaware of her surroundings.

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Case Study Report

In the film Dancer in the Dark, main character Selma lives in America as a Czech immigrant. She works in a factory all day and every day. The conditions in the factory are undesirable and she spends all of her time outside of the factory working on more meticulous work to save up money. In the factory, she works with a very expensive machine that can break very easily, if not carefully monitored and operated. Selma has a good friend named Cathy and a friend who always stops to offer a ride home from work. Selma lives with her son in a nearby trailer, a few miles from the factory. Her “landlord” rarely bugs her about money and even bestows gifts upon her son for birthdays, etc. Selma’s home is small, but appropriate for the two people living in it. The main house, owned by the landlord/neighbor is big and beautiful—strikingly different from the trailer beside it.

Selma’s dance/theatre classes are housed in a studio nearby with a large stage that Selma enjoys dancing and singing on. Selma is going blind as a result of an inherited disease that will be passed on to her son. She is saving money for an operation that could prevent her son from the same fate. Selma has changed her pattern from riding her bike to walking to work because her vision is so poor. She cheated on a sight test so she could continue to work in the factory.

Selma is a very enthusiastic worker and has talent on the stage. Except for the fact that she cannot see,

Selma enjoys these activities. The factory brings her money while the drama classes give her an escape from a long days work. She is able to clearly communicate, however is shy. She does not have much self-confidence and interacts with others as if she is below them in society. She is strong-willed in some ways however, for example, she is very determined to save up money for her son’s surgery. Academically, it is hard to measure

Selma’s skills because she is not in school and only participates in factory work. However, Selma seems to be good with money and numbers because even though she cannot see the cash in her hand or in the tin where she stores her money in the house, Selma keeps track of every penny. Her emotions are high at times when she dozes off into her daydreaming fits. She aggressively acts out scenes in her life as if she was living in a musical.

She is very passionate about these performances and every detail literally comes to color in the film. Her behavior, while inappropriate at times, is perhaps a result of hyperactivity caused by her genetic disease. Selma has no trouble with physically moving around and dancing. In fact, she tap dances quite well and admires a famous tap dancer from Czechoslovakia.

Areas of need include social interaction skills and help being able to differentiate fact from fiction. She interacts with people around her appropriately until they flatter her or help her with something. For example, she does not ask for help with her work outside of the factory putting hair pins on to little pieces of cardboard, but her friends help her anyway. She is uncomfortable with this situation. She has no feeling of self-worth. This feeling is further proved by her unwillingness to complete a fair trial in the end of the movie resulting in her being sentenced to death. She has the chance to get out of the sentence but instead insists on using the money for her son’s operation instead of a lawyer who could save her life. At times, she physically cannot control her daydreaming and even though this helps Selma cope with what is going on, it creates a world that does not exist.

A proper modification to Selma’s environment would include being removed from a situation of distrust. Her neighbor and landlord in whom she confided with steals her money knowing that she cannot see it coming. In this instance, she would be removed from a setting that is generic to the rest of the world— neighbors who have sight—and perhaps placed in a more trustworthy home. Selma’s friend Cathy is left to take care of Selma’s son after her death, so maybe Cathy could have helped them all along as a family. She needed a job where she was not working with dangerous machinery and risking her life every day. Selma could continue with the hair pin job because that did not require sight. She could have sought out a more appropriate setting for herself and her child. Her child was in good hands with the neighbors but only until they turned on Selma and her son.

I recommend services including those for the visually impaired. I recommend the son be tested properly for the genetic disorder that Selma carries and have him treated right away to see if the vision could in fact be saved. Selma could also look into a better home for herself with more people she can trust and learn to take care of her son on a regular schedule so he does not become another forgotten case. Selma needs to be an advocate for her son and herself. For her son, I would start off by testing for any other disabilities from the disease and treat from there. If special education services are appropriate, then Selma should work with the school and all personnel including general education and special education teachers and professionals in order to complete those as needed. As for Selma, as previously mentioned, a new, safe job is what she needed. Also, Selma could have benefited from some counseling. Perhaps counseling alongside her son would also be beneficial to her and her son. Confidential Student Information SUPPLEMENTAL PAGE IF INCLUDING SHORT-TERM INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES AND BENCHMARKS FOR EACH ANNUAL GOAL*

* NOTE: FEDERAL AND STATE LAW AND REGULATIONS REQUIRE SHORT-TERM INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES AND BENCHMARKS IN IEPS ONLY FOR STUDENTS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES WHO WOULD MEET THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA TO TAKE THE NEW YORK STATE ALTERNATE ASSESSMENT AND FOR ALL PRESCHOOL STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES. ANNUAL GOAL: Selma will decrease daydreaming fits (to minimal frequency—one or two times per month by attending theater classes twice a week in conjunction with counseling. Evaluative Criteria: Selma must be attending class twice a week and regularly scheduled at work for not more than 28 hours. Procedures to Evaluate As recorded by social worker Goal:

Evaluation Schedule: Selma will record experiences at the end of each day and report weekly to both counselor and social worker. SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVES

decrease to 1x per day decrease to 3x per week decrease to 1x per week decrease to 2x per month decrease to 1x or no times per month

ANNUAL GOAL: Selma will increase ability to read Braille from no knowledge of the language to easy translation of sentences by one-to-one tutoring. Evaluative Criteria: Selma will meet with tutor after work for two hours on days that she is not in theater class (maximum three days a week). Procedures to Evaluate Progress monitored and recorded by tutor upon completion of Goal: course study. Evaluation Schedule: Tutor will provide oral examinations once every two weeks.

SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVES

Selma will learn Braille alphabet Selma will learn Braille grammatical symbols Selma will learn Braille numbers 1-100 Selma will translate 5 sentences at a time in Braille Selma will translate 5 paragraphs in under 5 minutes in Braille. ANNUAL GOAL: Selma will eliminate violent outbursts from her life completely from once every few days to none. Evaluative Criteria: Selma will meet with a counselor before work every morning. (5xs a week) Procedures to Evaluate Selma’s progress will be monitored by a psychological Goal: counselor who specializes in hereditary disorders. Evaluation Schedule: Selma will be fully examined twice a week until the situation progresses to a less frequent schedule. SHORT-TERM OBJECTIVES

decrease to once a week decrease to twice a month decrease to once every two months decrease to once every six months decrease to none.

Self-Reflection

The IEP case study project this semester has been challenging, but informational. For example, working part-time at a preschool for children with special needs has given my some familiarity with the term IEP. However, before this course, I had never gotten a detailed explanation of what it takes to form one from start to finish. Cooperation with so many different departments of professionals as well as parent, student and community members is crucial to building an appropriate individualized education plan. Each piece, like each person, is equally important to developing a child’s needs.

At first, my experience with the process of developing a data recording chart seemed simple. I did not know until a few weeks later which chart was best for this particular case study. I first submitted a chart to record duration. After this piece was rejected by Kim, I reconstructed another version of the same type of chart—this time getting it right. Still, I didn’t feel that it made much sense.

Then I decided to make a chart of each type and found out that what I needed for my specific objectives was a frequency chart. This piece truly proved to be the biggest challenge because I still didn’t complete the chart correctly. Apparently the information in my chart was completely irrelevant.

So for the final package, I revamped my process for the frequency chart and hopefully came out with a good finished product. I feel much better about the information provided in this chart and confident that it would benefit the student in this case (had it been a real case).

For me, FBA was easiest because it provided some very helpful information that led me to infer upon what the child would need based on certain types behaviors and the situations in which they occurred. By constructing a FBA, it is easy to see how teachers could benefit from simply writing down and studying what the child’s behaviors express. This piece proves to be a very helpful tool in providing necessary services and related guidance and education for the student and his/her family.

IEP goals were a challenge. It is difficult to come up with such focused goals based on one scene of a movie. In this case, I was able to come up with three, but struggled to do so due to such a huge lack of information. However, in the real world, teachers may not have a ton of information when dealing with students with special needs as we found in the diversity section of the course along with my studies on family involvement so it is good training to be able to come up with particular goals for a vague situation.

The case study report is also very important because it provides all information that is not already included in the other parts of the project. The report might touch on various topics that could have been missed or forgotten or even just left out by the teacher. As we have found in research through the entire course, a child’s environment plays a huge factor in his/her behaviors and overall health and education. So, when discussing a child within an IEP, the report should include a lot of information in regards to the child’s different environments.

In conclusion, this project, however stressful and meticulous, served as a necessary tool in the growing world of special education. I feel more confident working at the preschool knowing that I can identify different parts of an IEP and also make some sense out of them. Working with children with special needs is a rewarding job as it is, so any little thing that can help me to understand their world better will just further the rewards in my life.

Teacher Candidate Tracking Form for Case Study Project Directions: Please bring this form with you as you have individual conversations with your instructor about the progress of your Case Study assignment. A. Data Recording System – The data recording system is identified and planned, ready for the observation and has been appropriately linked with reference to contextual factors in the classroom. (developing data recording system) COMMENTS please see self-reflection for explanation STATUS Proficient Final (fourth) try Developing Second submission-needs more Unacceptable First and third submission-don’t understand what is expected  B. Observation of Characteristics – Observable and measurable data is designed and collected so as to measure student characteristics in a meaningful manner using appropriate instructional instruments. (conducting observations using data recording chart and FBA) COMMENTS Need to rework on reinforcement section. Antecedent is O.K., but consequence is incorrect. Please read my email about this. STATUS Proficient Developing 6/18/2010 Unacceptable C. Evaluation and Reflection for IEP Case Study Report – Analysis of student characteristics and performance clearly identifies strengths and areas for growth. Plans for future changes and improvement are evident in accommodations, modifications, resources, and services.(writing case study report) COMMENTS Good content. Could you write this using Times New Roman font ? ?? You will see in my original Submission of this assignment that TIMESNR was used  STATUS Proficient Developing 6/23/2010 Unacceptable D. IEP Goals/Benchmarks - All suggestions for IEP are linked to overall learning goals for all students. Goals are sequential and demonstrate variety across instruction, activities, assignments, levels of learning, and resources. The teacher candidate has integrated the use of technology that is especially designed for students with disabilities, and that makes a significant contribution to learning. (writing IEP goals) COMMENTS “Very Good” STATUS Proficient 6/30/2010 Developing Unacceptable E. Reflective Paper on Assignment – The teacher candidate has carefully considered all aspects of the assignment and summarizes his/her professional growth in a deliberate and thoughtful manner. Areas for future improvement are considered.(writing reflection paper) COMMENTS two pages completed all rubric guidelines STATUS Proficient 7/2/10 Developing Unacceptable