Opinion ID: 6497375
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: C.M.’s First Month of First Grade in the Summit

Text: Public School District In September 2015, C.M. started first grade in the Summit Public School District. Despite Dr. McGuffog’s admonition that it was “very, very important to notify the school up front,” C.M.’s parents did not alert the school district or his teacher to his meltdowns in kindergarten. Hr’g Tr. at 51:1–2 (June 8, 2018) (testimony of Dr. Carolyn McGuffog) (JA1241). Similarly, before the start of school, C.M.’s parents did not inform anyone at Summit that they had retained Dr. McGuffog to evaluate C.M. But even without that upfront notice, by the middle of September, Summit’s staff recognized that C.M. was displaying behavioral problems in class. He got angry quickly, and in frustration he would shout, push desks and staff, throw materials, leave the room, hide under his desk, or refuse to talk. He was removed from the classroom twice for disruptive behavior, but after speaking with the school psychologist, he calmed down and was able to return to the classroom and participate. After one of those incidents, Summit’s staff contacted C.M.’s parents and learned for the first time about his behavioral issues at the end of kindergarten. By the end of C.M.’s first month of first grade, Summit had assembled a multidisciplinary team to examine potential 4 interventions in the classroom. That team consisted of the school principal, the school psychologist, a special-education teacher, a basic-skills teacher (who provides general-education supplemental instruction), and C.M.’s general-education teacher. They met in late September to identify and implement the least restrictive classroom interventions that would stabilize C.M.’s behavior. After developing an intervention plan, the team implemented several interventions. Those included having places in the classroom for C.M. to go when he became upset, having C.M. participate in a lunch-time social-skills group once a week, and placing a card on C.M.’s desk to remind him of certain rules, such as to use kind words and to avoid hurting his friends. The intervention plan also called for rewarding C.M. with Pokémon cards for following those rules. In addition to those behavioral interventions, the team implemented interventions to assist C.M. academically. The team realized that C.M. had begun to experience academic difficulties, and it arranged for him to receive extra reading lessons four days a week and participate in an after-school basic-skills program twice a week. Finally, the intervention team established a plan for monitoring the effects of these interventions, and it scheduled a second meeting for November 18 to assess the effects of the interventions.