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Behavior Intervention Case Study

This case study examines Elsa, a 6-year old first grade student who lacks self-control and displays problematic behaviors such as not paying attention, playing at inappropriate times, and distracting other students. The author uses the IOSIE method to address Elsa's behaviors, which involves identifying the problem, setting objectives, determining a solution, implementing the solution, and evaluating the results. The objectives are for Elsa to focus on the teacher and stay on task. A sticker chart incentive system is implemented to encourage these behaviors. Through this intervention, Elsa's time on task increased and disruptive behaviors decreased.

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129 views5 pages

Behavior Intervention Case Study

This case study examines Elsa, a 6-year old first grade student who lacks self-control and displays problematic behaviors such as not paying attention, playing at inappropriate times, and distracting other students. The author uses the IOSIE method to address Elsa's behaviors, which involves identifying the problem, setting objectives, determining a solution, implementing the solution, and evaluating the results. The objectives are for Elsa to focus on the teacher and stay on task. A sticker chart incentive system is implemented to encourage these behaviors. Through this intervention, Elsa's time on task increased and disruptive behaviors decreased.

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Kathryn Borchardt

ED619 Elementary Classroom Management and Discipline


Katy Spangler, Ph.D.
9 December 2017

Behavior Intervention Case Study

For this assignment, my host teacher selected Elsa, a six-year-old first grade student. Elsa

is adopted and lives with her two loving parents as their only child. Her father works full-time,

while mom is a stay-at-home mom. It is evident that she is coddled, as she often throws a fit

when she doesn’t get what she wants. For this case study, I used to IOSIE Method, a behavior

intervention method with an anacronym for “identify the problem, the objectives to be achieved,

the solution, the implementation, and the evaluation.”

According to the IOSIE Method, the first step is to identify the problem. I identified the

main problem as lack of self-control, as she displayed several problem behaviors such as not

paying attention to instructions, playing or talking at inappropriate times, not keeping hands to

self, and distracting other students from their learning tasks. The second step is to state the

objectives of this intervention, so with the guidance of my host teacher, we were able to come up

with two goals that pertain to Elsa’s work habits and self-control. Elsa’s goals include (1) Focus

attention on the teacher or speaker, and (2) Stay on task/ in her seat. (Scarpaci, 2007)

During the third step, in order to reach the desired solution, I chose to take the guidance

approach to keeping Elsa focused with minimal verbal prompts throughout the day. I would give

her little reminders when needed, words of praise when she was able to show me what being

focused looks like, and words of encouragement if I caught her off-task. (Scarpaci, 2007)

The next step is implementation, which I asked my host teacher for guidance, as I wasn’t

exactly sure what to do. My host teacher provided a wonderful resource for me to read. The book

was called The Tough Kid Book (Rhode, 2010), and came with an accompanying supplemental
book entitled, The Tough Kid Tool Box (Jenson, 1997). Although this resource had a lot of really

good information about dealing with challenging behaviors, I felt like the “tough kids” described

and the techniques for dealing with them in this book did not fit the profile of Elsa. After

discussing this with my host teacher, we decided to try a simple sticker chart. I created a sticker

chart with 16 empty spaces for stickers on the front, and Elsa’s goals on the back. We decided to

give Elsa one sticker if she could meet her goals (focus on teacher/speaker and stay on task/in

seat) through an entire subject/lesson (which lasts about 20 minutes each). My host teacher

suggested that we do a tier-rewards system. For one card (16 stickers), Elsa would receive a

special pencil. For two cards (32 stickers), Elsa would get a “Grizzly Buck” (a school-wide

behavior reward program). For three cards (48 stickers), Elsa could have lunch with the teacher

and a friend. (Scarpaci, 2007)

The final step is evaluation. During my post-assessment, I observed an increase in the

amount of time that Elsa could stay focused and remain on task. I also observed a decrease in the

number of times she would jump up out of her seat to go talk to classmates. She still has an issue

of blurting out or singing at random and inappropriate times, but we didn’t focus on that

particular behavior. I was hoping that with the guidance technique, she would realize that

blurting out or singing randomly was a distraction from her focus, and that this behavior would

diminish on its own as she focused on meeting her goals. (Scarpaci, 2007)

In conclusion, my interactions with Elsa were consistent with my philosophy of

discipline, which includes self-control, and an understanding of your rights and responsibilities

as a student. As a teacher, I have an obligation to guide my students to align their behaviors with

the moral code of our community. I was able to guide her (even if minimally) to have slightly

more self-control for slightly longer periods of time. Before the implementation stage of this case
study, during one of our meetings, I discussed with Elsa about student rights and responsibilities.

I told her that her classmates have the right to learn, and that it was her responsibility to respect

the rights of her friends. I think this was a simple yet effective way for her to understand that her

behaviors were having negative effects on others. As a result, she was able to stay in her seat for

much longer than she had before.


References

Jenson, W. R., Rhode, G., and Reavis, H. K. (1997) The Tough Kid Tool Box. Sopris West:
Longmont, CO.

Rhode, G., Jenson, W. R., and Reavis, H. K. (2010) The Tough Kid Book: Practical Classroom
Management Strategies. Pacific Northwest Publishing: Eugene, OR.

Scarpaci, Richard T. (2007). IOSIE: A Method for Analyzing Student Behavioral Problems. Heldref
Publications.
https://egan.ezproxy.uas.alaska.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire
ct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.30192132&site=eds-live&scope=site

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