Allisence: What’s Up with Felipe?

Meet Felipe. Felipe is one of the most adorable little kids you’ll ever meet. He has perfect curls and long, long eyelashes. Teachers and administrators he meets out in the general education world fall for his charm all the time. They come up to me and say, “Aww, Felipe is just so cute!” Sometimes, I’ll even find myself battling to be the disciplinarian when he plays around, doesn’t finish his work, and has to stay in during recess to do it.

With a little bit of encouragement, Felipe is usually very compliant and willing to work. Recently, however, I’ve noticed a complete change in his behavior. Felipe needs constant redirection for every task.  He’s less willing to work with the classroom aides. He shortcuts in line and is not willing to share, and there are times when he has simply been rude toward both adults and other students.

What’s baffling is the fact that the change in Felipe’s behavior has not affected him academically.  In fact, he continues to excel. In the beginning of the year, Felipe could only write two sentences in his journal, but the other day, wrote an entire story that was a page and a half long and had a complete beginning, middle, and ending. Felipe’s reading has also improved and he is now reading on grade level. Math is Felipe’s strong suit and he’s been attending math in the general education classroom since the beginning of the year.

What’s not baffling, however, is that there have been changes recently in Felipe’s world, both at home and in school. At home, there’s been a change in after-school care, and at school, there’s been a change in the speech pathologist. The other day, Felipe mentioned a sibling that I know he doesn’t have and he very uncharacteristically had a bathroom accident as he was coming back from Speech with my other students.

I’ve mentioned this change of behavior to his mom and we’re in the process of setting up a time to meet. She says she’s also noticed a change in his behavior at home and mornings have been especially hard.

Personally, I feel like Felipe’s been showing a pattern of regressing to little kid behaviors, but maybe I’m being overly sensitive and too concerned. It’s not uncommon for all students to test their new surroundings and get a feel for how far they can go — this I know. However, my gut tells me that there’s something more to the change in Felipe’s behavior than just a kid testing his new environment.

Not having any of my own kids, I’m having a hard time comparing what I see in Felipe to other kids. I know talking to Felipe’s parents is the right thing to do, but I also don’t want to make something out of nothing if he’s just being a kid and will figure things out for himself soon enough. What do you think? Does it seem like Felipe is simply exhibiting behaviors that any other kid would in his circumstances? Or does it seem like there’s something more going on?

Comments

[YoungA]

Allisence
I think that it is a great idea to approach the parents first. I can agree with the idea of a mood disorder but I think that there may be more going on at home than just a chnage in afterschool care. Remain patient with his parents because the more comfortable they are with you the more they will open up to you. The more information you can get form them the better chance you have of helping Felipe.

[Comment submitted to CEC via email]

Allisence you are very in tune with your students. I think that you need to investigate this, most likely the change in after school care. Who is taking care of him now, what is their relationship to the mom? You should most pull in your SSW or School Psychologist. The bathroom incident is most troubling to me. These behaviors could be as you say just a way to figure things out, but you also have a responsibility to rule out any kind of abuse that could be happening at home. I am not sure about what to do about the LSH pathologist. If you could figure out a way to go to the sessions and observe their interaction. This is very tricky to do with a colleague, but often the specials are not as adept at dealing with the Spec. Ed. population as we wish they were. You could maybe explain that you are looking to monitor Filipe's behavior outside of your classroom with a behavior contract and could you try it out in Speech? Do not envy you that one, but again you are only looking out for your kids and so you have every right to inquire about his progress and behavior during speech class. Again SSW might be a good choice to discuss with Filipe his feelings towards this new teacher. Lots to think about, good luck, hope you see this and get advice from others also.

[allisence]

@Angel He has never been diagnosed with a mood disorder, but certain behaviors he exhibits on a regular basis even when he is doing well do make me wonder. Thanks for the tip!

[Angel Read]

Has he ever been diagnosed with any sort of mood disorder? As the weather gets colder, the lighting patterns change, and the holidays are coming up, a lot of people (including children) with anxiety, depression, etc, start feeling out of whack. If Felipe has an undiagnosed mood disorder, he could be acting out because he's feeling down or anxious lately and doesn't understand why or know how to express it.

[Theresa]

I think it never hurts to talk with his parents. For things like this, I usually see if the social worker at my school will check in with the student and the parents as well. Make sure that you are documenting the new behaviors, this way you'll have some thing concrete to share with his parents.

[Richard]

A great start is to talk to his parents. It may also be time to do an unofficial FBA on him to determine if something is causing this behaviors. Is he doing it to escape the changes he has had in his life, does he have separation anxiety that is causing the problems etc. This is definitely a red flag and you are on the right track to determine what has caused these new behaviors!

[Citation Maker]

Yes it right to talk with Felipe's parents.