Case+Study

CASE STUDY Molly's Case Study: Student: The Student is a boy named Tyler who has Williams’s syndrome. He has problems writing with a pencil and paper, it takes him 30 minutes to write three sentences. The student is very creative and can orally tell stories. He is very weak and cannot physically carry a laptop during school.

Environment: The student will be using this device is in his special education classroom for reading, writing, and mathematics and in the general education classroom for art, music, and physical education. He will also be able to take the digital voice recorder home for writing assignments that he may have for homework.

Task: The task that needs to be accomplished is, something that the student can use to help him write effectively and efficiently for school. This tool needs to be light in weight because the student cannot physically carry a heavy laptop. The tool should also be something that will help the student to write assignments faster than current use of pencil and paper.

Tool: The student will be provided a digital voice recorder to orally recorder his stories. He will record his voice on the recorder then plug the recorder into a computer in the library and the recorded voice will turn into text. After that the student can print out a paper copy of the writing to turn into the teacher.

**Stephanie's Case Study:** Student: The student is a 16 year old female who has Rett Syndrome. She is non verbal but is still mobile. She primarily uses her left hand as her right hand is always in a closed fist. The student does not write and her only form of communication is to point at a desired object and refuse unwanted objects or activities.

Environment: The student is in a self-contained special education room at her high school. She spends a great portion of the day in physical and occupational therapy. Because she is non verbal and doesn't write or communicate effectively it is hard to know what she comprehends and understands. The student enjoys the reading area where she is able to look at books and point at pictures. She also enjoys putting small objects into a container and has good fine motor skills.

Task: The student needs a basic form of communication. She needs to be able to communicate what she wants or needs to another person effectively so that she can have a better quality of life. She is good at pointing at desired objects, but unless a specific object is put in front of her she currently can't initate a choice.

Tool: PECS or Proloquo2Go are the best options for teaching communication. The student already points at preferred objects. The next step is to show the relationship between pointing at the preferred object and actually receiving that object.

Alyssa's Case Study: Student: The student is a 17 year old boy who has severe Muscular Dystrophy. He is unable to sit upright, operate a manual wheelchair, or hold a pen for an extended period of time. Environment: The student will need to move easily in every day life, such as in general education class room, the public, and at home. In the classroom, the student needs assistance with physical work, such as writing and typing. He needs assistance eating in the lunchroom as well as at home, and bathing and toileting at home. Task: The student needs to be able to accomplish daily school work that involves the extensive use of arms such as writing for extended periods of time. This tool needs to be readily available and lightweight if the student if the student is intended to carry. Tool: Transition from manual to a powered wheelchair, adapted tables in classroom and lunchroom, a mobile arm support (MAS) for working and eating, For extensive writing, and in time, with slowly deteteriorating muscle, the student may need extensive AT devices for writing such as speech to text, or even a switch. Lifting devices for toileting and bathing. __Blair's Case Study__ Student: The student is a happy friendly 3rd grader. He is non-verbal but makes noises to express when he is happy or upset. The student has behavioral melt downs when his schedule is changed, or when he does not receive wanted items in a timely matter. He reaches for wanted items when they are close to him; he makes it apparent when he wants an object when he cannot reach. He uses a wheelchair to get around but can crawl, and walk when assisted. He is legally blind, but enjoys objects with bright colors. The student also enjoys listening to music, and listening along to his favorite movies. He has a good range of motion, but is limited in sight. He needs a way to functionally communicate with others.

Environment: During the school year he spends the majority of his time in the special education classroom with eight fellow classmates. There is one special education teacher along with three paraprofessionals in the classroom. The room has 4 tables that generally seat 3-4 students at any one time. There is a reading area as well as a “quiet room”. He participates in general education music and art as well as modified gym. When he is not at school he lives at home with his mother, father, and 2 sisters. He enjoys spending warm afternoons outside in their backyard, either sitting in the sun or splashing in the pool.

Task: The student needs a basic understanding of cause and effect. Once mastery of this concept has been determined the student can move into mastery of efficient and effective methods of communication using a device.

Tools: The student should be provided with a switch placed in front of the student. The switch should be hooked up to a device that will hold his attention, such as a radio or a favorite toy, which will allow the student to master the task of cause and effect. The student may also benefit from the use of stimulus toys such as something that vibrates that can sit on his lap or he can hold in his hands. Laura's case study on Matthew: Student: In this study only one child was used he was a ten year old white male named Matthew. He has multiple disabilities such as mental retardation, hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy. He went into the class only being able to respond to one request, and had no type of out going communication other than responding to being old to push a switch. When given this prompt he would respond appropriately. Environment: Matthew was in a school for severe disabilities and was in a life skills classroom. When going to other classes such as gym and music they were done in the most naturalistic environments. Most of the day he is in his wheelchair or on a bean bag he is not able to walk or be mobile with out the assistance of his chair. Normally if he was hand mouthing they would put Matthew in arm splints, but they wanted to decrease this behavior without the splints. Task and Tools: Matthew does hand mouthing, and we are trying to decrease this behavior. An intervention was put into place to try and decrease this behavior. During the baseline Matthews hand splints were taken off, and he was put in front of the television or a switch that was connected to the radio or a book tape. An observer sat and watched Matthew. His hand mouthing occurrences were recorded in 15 min intervals from 11:30am until 2:45pm. During the intervention they used circular tasks, and a hand down procedure. They gave Matthew 10 seconds to respond to the activity and then did a least to most prompt. The activities were to keep his hand busy, and out of his mouth if he placed them in his mouth they were immediately removed by the researcher. He was then given less assistance, and eventually given no more hand down procedures. Results of the strategy on target behaviors: In baseline he was hand mouthing as often as 11 times per 15 min interval. When they intervention was implemented this decreased tremendously to 0-2 times per session. When we returned to baseline this jumped back up, and when returned back to intervention hand mouthing did not occur. These are great results and may be something that you would want to try with your child at home. Keep in mind every child is different, and results may vary.