Week 6

Lisa is now 15 years old, and the last several years have continued to be a rollercoaster for her family. They have had some intensive in-home therapy which they found marginally helpful, and Scott and Marsha have been attending couples therapy with a local therapist who charges on a sliding scale. They scarcely have the money to support the family, but they feel they need the support.

Lisa is in high school, and she is in Special Education classes for most of the day. While it is challenging to get an exact number owing to Lisa's difficulty with testing environments, it is thought that her FSIQ is around 70. Sometimes, however, Lisa demonstrates incredible insight and thought, but then, quick as that, it seems to disappear into her usual moodiness. Now that she is a teenager, her medications that had been helpful in the past have not been as helpful. Her parents have struggled to get her on medications that will benefit her with the changes brought on by puberty.

Scott and Marsha understand that there is a special school in a nearby town that offers to work with children like Lisa. They have considered selling their house to go live in a trailer in order to pay to send her there. They have heard that kids can be "turned around" at the facility and, while they have accepted Lisa's disability, there is a part of them both that wonders if Lisa could grow out of her autism.  Even if they could send her for a year, they feel like it would be worth it.

* What is the Faison School for Autism? How much does it cost to attend and who typically pays the tuition? What kind of program does the school have for children with Autism?

* Describe the typical developmental milestones for a 15 year old girl.

* Write a narrative of how Scott and Marsha might have explained menstruation to Lisa.   
* Describe three goals that might be found on Lisa's IEP at this point in her life. What transition goals might also be there?

DECISION POINT: Do the Penningtons sell their house and send Lisa to the school?

Week 5

Lisa is now 9 years of age and has been diagnosed as a student with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or a student who is Intellectually Disabled. Her parents, with the assistance of a local child psychiatrist, placed her on medications two years ago. 

* What medications was Lisa likely prescribed given her diagnoses Have the medications you indicate been approved by the FDA for use in children?

* Write a narrative “interview” in which you communicate with Lisa in an effort to get to know her.

* Write a narrative “interview” in which you talk with Lisa’s parents about her.

* Who is Lisa? What kind of child is she? What might someone expect upon meeting her for the first time? Base Lisa’s imagined personality on what you know about she and her family so far.

Week 4

Lisa Pennington – Week Four

Lisa is now 6 ½ years of age and has been attending her local public school as a first-grader. The schools in this part of the state are good – that’s part of why the Pennington’s wanted to live here – but they are increasingly worried as to how they are going to keep the house. Scott and Marsha went to couples counseling and individual counseling, and Scott has been able to change most of his patterns of relating to Marsha. Still, they have their moments, and Marsha has not yet been able to forgive Scott for the way he treated her. She is not sure that she will ever be able to do so. Yet they stay together “for the kids” and, on occasion, for the care they are somewhat able to show to one another.

Scott and Marsha met in college and graduated the same year. Scott was trying to start his own business, and Marsha was working in retail while she tried to find work in the marketing field. They had been able to buy a house because of money Scott had inherited from his uncle – it wasn’t a huge amount, but enough to give them a nice down payment and a bit of a financial cushion. Until, of course, the market tanked, and they lost “everything” as Scott was often heard saying. Marsha knew it wasn’t that bad, but Scott took it terribly. His business was just beginning to turn a profit, and it seemed like there was no hope. In the midst of the turmoil, the Pennington’s welcomed their first child into the world – a healthy baby boy. Without insurance, the Penningtons still have medical bills they are paying on the birth of their children, and this debt contributes to the stress. Scott and Marsha’s house is small, but they could possibly sub-let the basement to someone. It might help Scott’s high blood pressure to ease just a bit.  

Lisa’s brother is now 9 y/o. He is doing well in school. Lisa, however, is another story. She was identified as a student needing intervention last year while in Kindergarten. She was simply unable to sit still. When teachers would attempt to work with her, she would scream and throw a tantrum, kicking and flailing on the floor. One time, she picked up a stapler and threw it at the teacher’s aide. Incredibly, the school did not carry out a full scale evaluation for Special Education but instead implemented pre-referral interventions. These have proved to be useless in the face of Lisa’s increasingly “out-of-control” behavior.

* Describe some pre-referral interventions that a school might implement with a student like Lisa. Consider her age, cognitive development and socio-emotional development.

* Describe typical developmental milestones for a 6 ½ year-old.

* What is the next step in the process of Special Education assuming that pre-referral interventions have failed?

DECISION POINT

* Do Scott and Marsha decide to sub-let their basement?