Date of Report: November 10, 1997

Evaluation Procedures and Dates:

Observations 10/27, 10/31/97

Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist 11/2/97

Teacher’s Report Form 10/24, 10/30/97

Burks’ Behavior Rating Scales 10/24/97

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children — III 10/27/97

Draw- A- Person 10/28/97

Early School Personality Questionnaire 10/28/97

Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement 10/29/97

Sentence Completion Test 11/4/97

Reason for Referral:

Colt was referred for a psycho educational evaluation by his classroom teacher because of behavioral concerns. Specifically, the teacher reports that Colt is disruptive, non-compliant, talks out in class, is our of his seat, is off task and is aggressive towards classmates. Colt’s behavior has been such that he has to be removed from the classroom on a regular basis because he is a distraction to the instructional process.

Colt has served 2.5 days of in-school suspension and 1 full day of out of school suspension for punching a child in the stomach, poking a child in the eye, biting a child on the buttocks, slapping a child and refusing to come to the teacher. Numerous interventions have been implemented which include behavior modification, contract agreement between student and teacher, parent conferences and meetings with the guidance counselor.

Background Information:

Hearing, vision and speech screenings dated 10/1/97 were within normal limits.

Colt is a seven year, one month old boy who lives with his parents and younger sister. The Health and Developmental History as filled out by the mother from which the following information was obtained. Colt was the product of a full term pregnancy that was complicated by diabetes. At birth, Colt was jaundiced and also required a partial blood transfusion. He suffered from reflux from birth to one year old. Developmental milestones were accomplished within normal limits. His mother reports that Colt’s overall health is good by that he does suffer from enuresis.

Colt was previously diagnosed with ADHD and has tried numerous medications to treat the disorder. His mother reports that the medications worsened Colt’s behavior. He was last seen by the psychologist, who changed his diagnosis form ADHD to Defiant Disorder. Currently Colt is not seeing a psychologist or on any medication.

The mother characterizes Colt as a very intelligent child who angers easily but is very emotional and loves affection.

Behavioral Observation:

Colt was observed on 10/27/97 in his classroom during a lesson on letters. During the activity, Colt tapped his pencil, stood up, walked around the room, wrote on his desk, played with items on his desk, talked to neighbors, took thins off his neighbor’s desks and made noises. Colt did not respond to the teacher’s attempts to redirect and or ignore his behavior. When asked to participate, he responded, "No. I’m playing with my swan." During the observation Colt remained off task 90% of the time.

Colt was observed a second time on 10/31/97 right before his spelling test. The class was instructed to get ready for the test. Cold responded, "I’m not," and began to chastise a child in the class for no reason. He was given a pencil and paper by the teacher, which he threw on the floor. He then began to walk around the room, taking the papers off the other children’s desks. During the test, Colt repeated the sentences and spelled the words out loud. His outbursts were a disruption to the class. The class was instructed to ignore his behavior. When the test was over, Colt took his paper and began to stab it with a pair of scissors. After the test the class sat in the front of the room for circle time. Instead of sitting, Colt walked around the room and picked up pencils off the children’s desks. He did not respond to the teacher’s directions to put the pencils back and sit quietly. Instead of joining the class on the floor, Colt went to the back of the room, plugged in a cassette and listened to a book on tape. During the observation, Colt talked out a total of 41% of the time compared to the average child who only talked out 3% of the time. Colt was our of his seat a total of 7% of the time compared to the average child who did not leave his seat at all during the observation.

During the evaluation, Colt was cooperative and compliant. When he didn’t know the answer, he would remain silent and put his head down. He worked well one on one with the examiner and the present testing appears to be an accurate reflection of his current level of functioning.

Test Results:

Wechseler Intelligence Scale for Children- Third Edition (WISC-III):

To obtain a current understanding of Colt’s cognitive abilities, the WISC-III was administered. The WISC-III is an individually administered test of general intellectual ability, which is typically used to predict a child’s ability to perform in school. Currently, Colt is functioning in the average range of intelligence. On both the verbal and performance portions of the test, Colt scored in the average range. Scores would suggest that he is equally developed in both areas.

Within the verbal realm, Colt’s ability to see relationships, his judgment in social situations and his word knowledge are all within the average range. He also has good mathematical ability and short-term memory skills. Colt’s knowledge of factual information is slightly below expectations.

In the performance realm, Colt’s overall strength was his social planning ability. His visual motor coordination, visual motor dexterity and his ability to organize concrete parts into meaningful wholes were in the average range. His ability to be alert to details and his abstract conceptualizing skills were also good.

Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement- Revised (WJTA-R):

To obtain a current understanding of Colt’s academic skills, the resource teacher, administered portions of the WJTA-R. Achievement scores range from average in Broad Math, above average in Broad Written Language to superior in Broad Reading. Based on current ability level, Colt is achieving up to his ability in math and over achieving in the areas of reading and written language. Overall, based on the results, colt has the ability and knowledge to do well academically.

Behavior Rating Scales:

The Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist is designed to record in a standardized format the behavioral difficulties and competencies of children as reported by their parents, teachers or other adults who know the child well. The instrument identifies several specific problem areas. The degree to which Colt displayed these problem behaviors was rated by Mrs.(mother), (classroom teacher) and (math teacher). Out of a total of eight behavior categories, Colt was rated in the clinically significant range by classroom teacher on "anxious/depressed," "delinquent behavior," and "aggressive behavior." Additionally, "social problems," "thought problems," and attention problems were rated the borderline clinical range.

Rating was consistent with the mother’s rating in that she too rated "delinquent behavior" and "aggressive behavior" in the clinically significant range. All other behaviors were rated within the average range by .

Mrs. Arithmetic has Colt one period a day for Math. She characterizes him as being distant, withdrawn and lacking motivation. He stays to himself, doesn’t join in-group instruction time and makes no eye contact. Mrs. reports that he doesn’t complete class work or homework. Based on her rating, the "withdrawn" and "thought problems" factors were in the clinically significant range. No other behavioral difficulties were rated as significant.

The Burks’ Behavior Rating Scales, an additional measure given to both parent and teacher to record behavioral difficulties yielded a very significant rating in poor impulse control, poor anger control, excessive aggressiveness and excessive resistance by both parent and teacher. Excessive self blame, excessive anxiety and poor ego strength were also rated as very significant by the mother and the teacher rated poor attention and or social conformity as being very significant. Other behaviors that were rated as significant were: excessive withdrawal, excessive dependency, poor coordination, poor academics, poor reality contact, poor sense of identity, excessive suffering and excessive sense of persecution.

Based on results of the behavior rating scales, Colt is having considerable difficulty with his emotions and behavior on a consistent basis. His difficulties are manifested across settings, environments and people.

Projectives and Questionnaires:

Colt’s social and emotional development was further evaluated utilizing the early School personality Questionnaire, Sentence Completion Test and Draw- A- Person. Based on Colt’s responses, his personality is characterized as aggressive, domineering and tough. He likes to be competitive, but at the same time he is self-indulgent and disregards rules. On the other hand, his responses did indicate that he is bright and an abstract thinker, which is supported by, standardized test results.

A recurring theme Colt’s spontaneous responses was one of remorse for misbehavior. For example, "I feel ashamed………when I’m bad," "I feel disappointed……….when I’m bad" and "I feel terrible………when I’m bad." However, while remorseful for his misbehavior, other factors are present which continue to surface resulting in continuous behavioral difficulties.