A Case Study: Sara
Sara has just turned 15 and is graduating from Gordon Junior High this year. Because of a history of early neglect and abuse in her biological family, she was placed in a foster home and subsequently in a residential program for 2 years because of her unmanageable behaviors. Sara was finally diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and she has lived with her current foster mother for the past 2 years. Her placement in this therapeutic foster home provides the support services she needs to make the transition back to a normalized community setting. Sara loves to swing, spending long periods of time in the family's backyard. She was very disappointed when she found out that her junior high school did not have swings.
Sara's foster mother has noticed some unusual behavioral characteristics. Sara becomes almost hypnotic when she eats; she will continue to eat as long as there is any food available. Her foster mother wonders if this is due to the early physical neglect. When she is asked to slow down, Sara will blurt out, "Well, I'm hungry!" It is becoming problematic as Sara is beginning to gain weight as a result of the nonstop eating.
Sara also seems to have a very high tolerance for pain. One day she was riding down the driveway in the back of a truck and fell off. She was on the ground, her tooth chipped and her face bruised. Her foster mother said that she had a "bizarre look in her eyes," but she didn't shed a tear. Sara seems unresponsive to most physical stimuli. Her foster mother thinks she doesn't express the pain she feels. Once again, her foster mother wonders if this is part of her condition or if it is the result of her early abuse.
Sara is very intelligent, and she can't understand why the other students aren't getting what the teacher is teaching. She doesn't understand that what is obvious to her might not be obvious to someone else. She sees the world only from her own perspective, assuming that everyone sees things the way she does. Sara's foster mother is particularly concerned about her egocentrism and sees it getting in the way of her making friends at school.
Sara participates fully in her general education classes, and with the help of Carol, her one-on-one aide, she makes good grades. Her measured intelligence is in the average range, and she demonstrates grade-level achievement on tests and her report cards. Carol has noticed, however, that Sara needs explicit directions for each task. For example, when the teacher says, "Take out your notebooks." the other children take them out and open them, whereas Sara just takes hers out.
Sara also has a Big Sister named Nancy, a professor at a nearby community college. Sara and her Big Sister share a love of libraries and books. It often seems that Sara would prefer to be alone and to read and write her books. To her credit, she has actually written three stories which she calls her "books."
Sara seems to be a very concrete thinker. One day Sara and her B.
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A Case Study SaraSara has just turned 15 and is graduating from.docx
1. A Case Study: Sara
Sara has just turned 15 and is graduating from Gordon Junior
High this year. Because of a history of early neglect and abuse
in her biological family, she was placed in a foster home and
subsequently in a residential program for 2 years because of her
unmanageable behaviors. Sara was finally diagnosed with
Asperger's syndrome, and she has lived with her current foster
mother for the past 2 years. Her placement in this therapeutic
foster home provides the support services she needs to make the
transition back to a normalized community setting. Sara loves to
swing, spending long periods of time in the family's backyard.
She was very disappointed when she found out that her junior
high school did not have swings.
Sara's foster mother has noticed some unusual behavioral
characteristics. Sara becomes almost hypnotic when she eats;
she will continue to eat as long as there is any food available.
Her foster mother wonders if this is due to the early physical
neglect. When she is asked to slow down, Sara will blurt out,
"Well, I'm hungry!" It is becoming problematic as Sara is
beginning to gain weight as a result of the nonstop eating.
Sara also seems to have a very high tolerance for pain. One day
she was riding down the driveway in the back of a truck and fell
off. She was on the ground, her tooth chipped and her face
bruised. Her foster mother said that she had a "bizarre look in
her eyes," but she didn't shed a tear. Sara seems unresponsive to
most physical stimuli. Her foster mother thinks she doesn't
express the pain she feels. Once again, her foster mother
wonders if this is part of her condition or if it is the result of
her early abuse.
Sara is very intelligent, and she can't understand why the other
students aren't getting what the teacher is teaching. She doesn't
understand that what is obvious to her might not be obvious to
2. someone else. She sees the world only from her own
perspective, assuming that everyone sees things the way she
does. Sara's foster mother is particularly concerned about her
egocentrism and sees it getting in the way of her making friends
at school.
Sara participates fully in her general education classes, and with
the help of Carol, her one-on-one aide, she makes good grades.
Her measured intelligence is in the average range, and she
demonstrates grade-level achievement on tests and her report
cards. Carol has noticed, however, that Sara needs explicit
directions for each task. For example, when the teacher says,
"Take out your notebooks." the other children take them out and
open them, whereas Sara just takes hers out.
Sara also has a Big Sister named Nancy, a professor at a nearby
community college. Sara and her Big Sister share a love of
libraries and books. It often seems that Sara would prefer to be
alone and to read and write her books. To her credit, she has
actually written three stories which she calls her "books."
Sara seems to be a very concrete thinker. One day Sara and her
Big Sister were talking about sex. Sara told Nancy that she's
never getting pregnant and that 'Tm going to wait until I'm 21,
and then I'll get married to someone I'm really in love with, and
then maybe I'll have sex." But then she added that she guessed
she would get pregnant. When asked why she thought that, Sara
said, "Well, I saw this sign at school that said that girls who
play sports don't get pregnant ... and I don't play sports." Sara
also doesn't understand figurative phrases like "You're on thin
ice!"
Sara doesn't seem to realize that sometimes people need to do
things they'd rather not but that doing them is part of the social
contract. One day, her aide asked her if she would throw
something in the trash can, and Sara said, "No!" Another day,
3. Sara hurt her foster sister's feelings by criticizing her singing.
Sara was puzzled because she thought she was "helping" her
sister. Carol takes note of these situations and reports them to
Sara's speech thera-pist. The speech therapist works on social
conversational skills like these that most young people pick up
by observing others. Then Carol follows up by spending IO
hours a week working with Sara in a community setting,
reinforcing the social interaction skills that her speech therapist
has been working on. Her foster mother tries to reinforce them,
too, but she sometimes tires of being a "24-7" teacher when she
would rather just be Sara's mother.
Her foster mother is concerned that at the age of 15, Sara
doesn't seem to have a sense of personal boundaries. One day
they had a visitor with a beard, something new for Sara. She
reached up and pulled his beard and started laughing, even when
he reacted with pain. At camp last summer, she met a boy. She
was "all over him, hugging and kissing, like a much younger
child." She was happy to have a friend, but she doesn't realize
which behaviors would be considered appropriate or
inappropriate in such social situations.
Recently, her foster mother has seen her become very "boy
crazy." Sara is very interested in a boy at school named Bob,
but he hardly seems to notice that Sara is there. Sara hates to be
ignored, and she can't understand why Bob ignores her. She
responds by inappropriately putting her hands on him, often
with an altercation ensuing. She doesn't appreciate the
subtleties of adolescent interactions, responding much like a
third grader who chases another child around the playground to
make him be her friend. The problem is that as a young
adolescent such behaviors are apt to be seen as sexually
inappropriate and definitely odd.
Sara has some long-standing problems with appropriate personal
hygiene. She doesn't seem to notice the need to change her
4. clothes or take a shower, even when her clothes are dirty and
her body odor has become offensive. She does not appreciate
that the changes in her adolescent body require more attention
to hygiene if she is to be welcome in social environments. This
really bothers her foster mother, who can't understand why Sara
would be so oblivious to the appearance she presents. She has
noted, however, that recently Sara seems to be developing an
interest in her grooming.
Another issue that has surfaced is the constant presence of
Carol, Sara's aide, in school and in the community. Recently,
Carol has been consciously attempting to step back a bit and let
Sara try to handle her own social interactions. However, Carol
remains vigilant and intervenes as needed. For example, at
graduation practice, Sara was sitting with some other girls,
trying to interact with them. Carol became aware that the girls
were trying to embarrass Sara by calling Bob over, although
Sara was oblivious to their motives. Carol stepped in to stop the
teasing. She continues to be concerned that Sara doesn't seem to
recognize when others are laughing at her rather than with her.
Sara's foster mother knows that Sara will continue to need her
aide's help when she moves to the high school next year, but she
hopes that the social coaching Sara receives from Carol and the
speech therapist will begin to make her capable of handling the
social side of adolescence with fewer interventions from Carol.
There seems to be a real deficit in her level of socializing, a
deficit that her foster mother fears will continue to cause Sara
problems.
Sara's lack of social awareness and skill continues to concern
everyone. At the graduation ceremony this week, it was
painfully obvious that Sara was not at the social level of the
other girls. She wants people to like her, but she stands out in
her immaturity. When someone does something she doesn't like,
she is apt to respond by pushing or biting, because the other
person "wouldn't leave me alone." These behaviors cause others
5. to avoid her. Recently she was at a parade downtown and tried
to greet some girls from school. The girls whispered to each
other and walked away. Her foster mother wonders how to
explain what happened to Sara. She realizes that these might be
girls Sara had yelled at inappropriately just the day before.
The questions remain: How might her foster mother and
teachers help Sara develop the social competence to match her
academic abilities?
Questions
After reading the case study in Module 4, from the information
provided in this case study and the power points for the week:
1. Identify descriptive elements that suggest that Sara's
diagnosis of Asperger's disorder is appropriate and in line with
DSM-V and IDEA definitions. Be thorough
2. From the case study information, make a list of Sara's
strengths and needs. Relate (Compare/Contrast) these to your
knowledge of typical developmental patterns.
Please submit a
one-page analysis in response to the questions above.
This analysis must be grounded in the case study. Assume that
your audience is already familiar with the case, eliminating the
need for background information. No need for any header
information...begin your answer on line one of your page. There
should be strict adherence to the 1 PAGE MAXIMUM.
The analysis will be graded on the basis of (10 points per item)
:
· does the answer reflect familiarity with the case study-
· does the answer reflect knowledge and/or application of the
concepts outlined in the reading
· Grammar/Technical components (including APA 7th edition
guidelines)
7. Concept Guide that you would give to your students with
exceptionalities to help them to follow along and master the
Math content of your lesson. This guide can be formatted as a
PowerPoint presentation, Prezi, etc. This guide will include the
steps for teaching and learning the Math concept, illustrations
for how to process those steps, and at least five questions that
the students may have about the concept with the answers
provided.
· Choose a Math concept.
· Using PowerPoint, Prezi, Word, etc., create a step-by-step
guide to help students with exceptionalities learn the Math
concept.
· Include illustrations for each step.
· Include at least five (5) frequently asked questions (FAQs)
with the answers.
· Your guide should look professional and it should be easy to
follow and understand.
8. Exemplary
Acceptable
Unacceptable
Math Concept/Content
9-10 points
Included a specific Math concept.
7-8 points
Included a general Math concept.
0-6 points
Concept was not specific to Math.
Step-by-Step Guide
21-25 points
Created a detailed step-by-step guide to help students learn the
Math concept using PowerPoint, Prezi, Word, etc..
16-20 points
Created an adequate step-by-step guide to help students learn
the Math concept using PowerPoint, Prezi, Word, etc..
0-15 points
Created a vague/limited step-by-step guide to help students
learn the Math concept using PowerPoint, Prezi, Word, etc..
Illustrations
21-25 points
Provided clear illustrations for each step that were aligned to
the Math content.
16-20 points
Provided somewhat clear illustrations for each step that were
somewhat aligned to the Math content.
0-15 points
Provided illustrations that were not clearly aligned to the
content; and/or did not include an illustration for each step.
FAQs
9. 21-25 points
Included five frequently asked questions with answers.
16-20 points
Included four frequently asked questions with answers.
0-15 points
Included three or fewer frequently asked questions with
answers.
Etiquette/ Professionalism
9-10 points
The concept guide looks professional and it is easy to follow.
7-8 points
The concept guide was somewhat professional and easy to
follow.
0-6 points
The concept guide was either professional or easy to follow –
and not both.
MUGS
(Mechanics, Usage, Grammar, Spelling)
4-5 points
Work contained minimal (zero to two) errors in mechanics,
usage, grammar, and/or spelling.
2-3 points
Work contained few (three to five) errors in mechanics, usage,
grammar, and/or spelling.
0-1 point
Work contained many (six or more) errors in mechanics, usage,
grammar, and/or spelling.
