Pendidikan Khas

The first time I met Jamie was when he came with his parents to visit my classroom. He was five years old and his parents were considering sending him to the Center (a tuition center for children with Down Syndrome). Jamie walked slowly around the classroom with his hands grasped behind his back. He had the demeanor of a school headmaster/principal. His sharp eyes were observing and evaluating every little thing that went on in the room. I guess the class got Jamie’s and his parents’ approval because he joined the class the next day.

Everything went smoothly on his first day. He was an independent child who did not cling to his mom when she dropped him off. I do not recall any significant problem behavior on his first day. When the class was over, his mom came to pick him up. As soon as he left, a mother of another student, with a rather terrified look, rushed into the room. She questioned me if Jamie was really joining the class and when I said yes, she told me the whole story. Apparently, Jamie had quite a reputation at the early intervention center that most of the kids in my classroom had attended or were still attending. According to her, Jamie would push or hit other children at the other place, and her daughter was scared of him. She requested that I keep Jamie a safe distance from her daughter. That was quite surprising to me since I did not observe any aggression while he was in the class.

Few days later, I had my first glimpse of him pushing another student. Later, I noticed that he only pushed or hit at the end of class when all the mothers came up to pick up their kids. And as soon as it happened, there would be a big commotion in the room: his mother would rush to reprimand him, the mother of the victim would rush to comfort her child, and the other mothers would watch in horror. As the mothers watched, they probably told themselves to remind this Cikgu (teacher) to keep a careful watch over their children.

It was tricky at first. When he pushed, everyone would watch to see how I would handle the situation. It was obvious that he only pushed the other children when the mothers were in the room, and he gained lots of attention from doing that. The expected course of action was for me to punish or reprimand him and then have him say “sorry” to the other child. Even at that time, I dislike doing that. It felt so contrived and I could see in his face, the triumphant grin of having gained all the attention in the room.

Eventually, Jamie stopped pushing. I do not remember if I did anything specific to reduce and eventually eliminate the pushing. It could be the positive attention that the assistant teacher and I poured on the students, so he did not have to misbehave to gain our attention. Aside from his end-of-class aggression, he was a sweet boy the rest of the time. He was attentive and very helpful. He loved to be the leader and be put in charge of keeping the toys and whatever tasks I gave him. He was also bossy with the other kids, but he got along well with them. Even the little girl, who was supposedly scared of him, was fine sitting next to him in class. He did not hit her and she showed no signs of fear.

When Jamie entered standard one (first grade), he stopped coming to the Center. One day I received a call from his mom. She told me that Jamie wanted to talk to me and she handed the phone to him and he proceeded to “talk” to me. Since he did not have good verbal skills, I had no idea what he was saying. But it was really sweet of him to remember his Cikgu.

Now that I know a little more, what could I have done differently or the same:
1. The positive attention (catch them being good) is a good move. Pay attention to the kids when they are being good instead of paying negative attention (e.g., scolding/reprimanding) only when they misbehave.
2. I would make sure that the other kids are a safe distance from Jamie at the end of the class. And I would request the other mothers that when they go in to pick up their kids, to first go over and say something nice to Jamie, even if it is just giving him a pat on his head. This way he gets the attention before he pushes, and that may prevent the pushing behavior.
3. If he does manage to push another child, I would also request the other mothers to not react to that but to just pick up their child and leave, while I would take him out of the classroom to another room till the other kids have left. This way he would not get any attention from the mothers when he misbehaved. I would only tell him once that what he did was wrong and we would sit quietly in another room.
4. I should also have social skills lessons during the class. The assistant teacher and I could model to the kids appropriate and inappropriate classroom behaviors. Teach them which is good and which is bad. Then we could model the behaviors again and have the kids judge the behaviors. Lastly, if they were able to, I would have the kids show me the good and the bad behavior. Hmmm, maybe not the bad behavior….

Buzzword for this intervention:
Antecedent intervention
Social skills training