Assessments on the behavior of a child with Angelman Syndrome Essay

I am seeing a client at Greene Valley State School for the Severely Disabled. My clients name is Kim, she is a 16 years old, female, diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome. The client has intellectual/ cognitive impairments, impaired language and communication skills, fine and gross motor delays, and shows aggressive behavior. She is in a classroom setting with six other students, a teacher and two aides. The clients information was gathered from the occupational therapist that I was shadowing. My client had a multi-disciplinary team working with her which included an occupational therapist, a behavioral analyst, and her teacher. The multi- disciplinary team meets together with the clients caregiver every six months to update her IEP, which is an interview style with her caregiver. Also an observation of the client was done as well. Observation of the client was done separately, the behavior analyst did her own observation in the classroom and the occupational therapist did her own observation in the classroom. There was a sensory profile done for this client by the teacher and also her caregiver. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy states that the Sensory Profile for caregivers is a very reliable source. (Ohl et al., 2012)
Assessments that have been completed on Kim
Child Behavior Checklist caregiver reposts about child's behaviors.
Bruiniks-Oseretsky Test of Motor- Proficiency (BOT-2) gross and fine motor function
Sensory Profile the ability to process sensory information and the effects of function
Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) sensory processing abilities in the home or school.
These assessment tools are reliable because they give the same results each time they are being tested. Their results are consistent.
The behavioral analysts and the occupational therapist are working on her behavior, because she is frequently hitting, scratching, biting, and pulling other people's hair. Her sensory profile showed that she has a hard time showing correct behavior when she is overstimulated. When she gets overstimulated is when she starts hitting, scratching, biting, and pulling others hair. Because she has impaired language and communication skill she has to resort to acting out behaviors like hitting, scratching, biting, or pulling hair. By doing this behavior it gives her time to stop all of the stimulation and be by herself. Right now in the classroom when she does one of these behaviors, then she has to go sit away from her peers for about five minutes and then she can come rejoin the group. This acting out behavior is showing me that this is the only way she knows how to communicate that she is being overstimulated and that she needs a break. Dunn (2001) describes how every person has different thresholds for responding to and becoming irritated with sensations. A person's sensory threshold effects their behavior. Kim's behavior is a message that she is trying to communicate with us the best way that she knows how to. As the occupational therapist, I need to understand the reason behind her behavior so that I can help her communicate more effectively.