Children who often display behavioral problems tend to be put into the classification of “At-risk”. These children may exist in any grade level and may display multiple signs. These “at-risk” behaviors may range from slight behavior trouble, such as bad grades and disinterest, to more sever behavior, such as violence and rage. These children risk not only failure in school, but failure in life as well. They may drop out of school, become members of gangs, act in fits of violence, and become drug addicts. Teachers must be aware of signs and intervene when a child shows such behavior.
In this assignment our case study is a sixteen- year- old tenth grader which could be male or female since there is no specific gender description. For this paper we will refer to our student as a girl named “Sally”. Sally demonstrates behaviors which include defacing school property, reading at a sixth-grade level, sleeping in class, and refusing to answer direct questions in class. Sally does not have many friends, and is living in a single parent home with siblings.
A particular behavior which Sally demonstrates that is particularly troublesome is her poor reading skills. She is probably likely to feel as though she cannot join in with her peers. Erik Erickson believed that students feel he or she is distracting themselves by “defacing school property” to act out her frustrations in her inability to keep up with the class (Erikson). As her teacher I could assign her special books, and reports which cater to her level of abilities. She could attempt these special assignments at home so she is not singled out. Also, I could make class assignments to include students reading aloud in class, so that she may be able to follow while she hears others aloud. Additionally, I would spend time outside of class or during specific exercises in class which she may not need to be fully