Eli had been going to school since he was 3 years old.
By first grade, many of his habits were well ingrained and difficult to change. That was because the boy was not able to communicate, and tantrums had become his way of getting what he wanted.
But when Eli was placed in a specialized unit for children with autism, he blossomed.
Initially, he learned to communicate through pictures. Over time, he was able to speak and say what he wanted with simplified words.
Eli even started to read, with the help of such programs as Edmark, News 2 You and the SMART Board.
The child progressed steadily during most of his elementary school years. Then, the unthinkable happened. Eli began to regress.
Suddenly, he started making an obnoxious “eeee” sound whenever he made a mistake during classwork. So the teacher and staff found ways to make him more successful.
But the “eeee” sound returned when he didn’t get his way. After a while, Eli began to make the “eeee” sound for hours on end.
The teacher and staff were growing frustrated. They knew the dreaded sad face, the quiet center and the loss of the usual rewards were not working.
Something had to change, because Eli was not. They were going to have to modify the methods they were using on Eli.
The staff found different ways to help Eli when he became frustrated if he answered incorrectly in class.
Still, the teacher recognized that the problem had to be more than that. New children had come into the room over the years. Eli was growing up, and sometimes staff attention needed to be centered on the younger children who were just learning the classroom routine. The many daily rewards usually were enough for most of the children. That apparently wasn’t the case with Eli.
After speaking to Eli’s parents, the teacher discovered that his home routine had changed a great deal recently.
His mother, Abby, had begun working again because Eli had been doing better at school. His mother said he had started to make the “eeee” sound at home, too.
It became obvious that the boy was having difficulty with the changes at home and with the number of new students whi had entered the unit at school.
The teacher realized something had to change, and soon. The “eeee” noise was irritating not only the staff, but the other students, as well. Some days went well, as the teacher tried to find different methods to help Eli during class time. But even that did not always work.
She knew Eli loved dragons, anything and everything about dragons. The Disney movie “How to Train Your Dragon” was his favorite. That movie had been a reward for the boy to watch during choice time. However, Eli was used to that reward, so the staff began to search for some of the toys associated with the movie. They bought a few dragon toys to see how the boy would react. The mother had found some stickers with the dragon characters on them, so the stickers could be used for immediate rewards during the day.
The teacher put one of the dragon toys up on the bulletin board for Eli to see, along with a daily calendar. She made it clear to Eli that if he did not make the “eeeee” sound for just one day, he would get the first toy.
He got to hold it at first, just to look at it. Eli really wanted that toy. The first day was a great success. Then, the teacher put a second toy on the board and wrote down that Eli had to have two days without “eeeee.”
He did well the first day, but the second day was less successful. Eli thought he would get the toy anyway. When his mother came in, the teacher showed Eli and his mother that he did not earn the toy. Eli cried but realized that it wouldn’t help; he would not get his toy.
The next day, Eli was reminded about not making the dreaded “eeeee” sound.
Some of the students also tried to help Eli do well. They had a vested interest, because everyone would get an extra trip to the toy box if Eli did well. He succeeded.
Over time, dragons of various sizes appeared on the bulletin board and the time span increased for Eli to earn the “special” rewards. Some days he did slip back into the “eeee,” but gradually, by the end of the year, it had become less frequent.
Eli’s love of dragons had become one tool to help educate the child in reading and writing more words.
Pamela Gross Downing, a special education teacher, can be contacted at
downpamg@aol.com.
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