“Lina” is an eight- year old female student in the second grade. She is currently in an inclusive classroom and has been classified as an emotionally disturbed student. She has no physical heath issues nor did she experience any prenatal complications. Lina attends weekly therapy sessions outside of school and has access to meet with the school psychiatrist and/or social worker during the school day. These meetings are not regularly scheduled and usually occur after or during an incident. However, the school psychiatrist does meet with small groups of students with special needs twice per month and Lina is a part of these group meetings. Lina has imaginary friends, has stated that dolls have spoken …show more content…
Academically, Lina is able to perform alongside her peers in the general education setting. Lina does not receive academic instruction with the special education students within the classroom. Lina is a highly intelligent and a creative student. She enjoys writing and creating number patterns. Lina writes about her own imaginary kingdoms. However, Lina has difficulty following the teacher’ s directives or taking corrective instruction. If Lina doesn’t want her homework checked or wants to change the rules she will immediately resist and react aggressively. If Lina does not like a task or has difficulty at first with a new concept, she will become frustrated and throw things, scream, run off, slam doors, and lash out. During these episodes Lina is sternly removed from the classroom and verbally reprimanded by the special education teacher. She is then taken to the principal’s office and then to the psychiatrist. She is usually allowed back in the classroom in about an hour. However, she is not allowed to sit at her desk and must sit away from the other students with her work and watch the lesson unfold. She is usually shy and withdrawn during these moments, and hides by the door and peeks out. Lina needs the support of a special education teacher solely for support during her emotional outbursts. These disturbances occur on a regular basis and can occur multiple times in …show more content…
She then casually walked towards her classmate sitting on the rug, and kicked her in the thigh with all of her might. At this point, the general education teacher sternly asked Lina why she kicked the other student. There was no response and the special education teacher was then called into the classroom. The special education teacher had a very aggressive approach when she entered the main classroom. She immediately grabbed Lina by the hand and marched her to the principal’s office. Eventually, the child that was kicked was brought into the office as well. During part of this exchange, Lina was asked to explain her actions. Lina stated that, through tears, that her feelings were hurt when the other students did not wait for her to put her whiteboard away. The special education teacher then asked her how she would feel if someone had kicked her. Lina immediately started to scream out, “ what about my feelings???” The special education teacher then began a lecture on how hitting is wrong. However, the special education then turned to the child that had been kicked and asked her what she could have done different and how she could have helped Lina put her whiteboard away or gotten a teacher to help. This child appeared to be very confused by this exchange. At this point, the special education teacher demanded that Lina apologize to the other student or face immediate suspension. Lina reluctantly agreed to this