Chelsea Smaellie

Written Summary of Progress

12/11/15
ECSE 425- Strategies

Alexander Jackson

Demographics:
Name: Alexander Jackson
School/Grade: Preschool at Kidz Corner and Jefferson School District
Date of Birth: 2/10/2012 (Made up by Nevada State)
Age: 3 years 10 months
Date of Evaluation: September-October 2015
Family: Jamie (dad), Sherrie (mom), Brandon (brother), Nick (brother), Ashley (sister), Jocelyn
(sister), Krissy (sister), Sabrina (sister), Austin (brother), Andrew (brother), Nathan (brother),
Alex, Caleb (brother).
Alexander Jackson is a 3 year 10 month old boy who has Downs Syndrome. He is one of
eleven children in a very loving family. Two of the children in this family are biological and the
other 9 are adopted. Alex was born in California. His birth mother dropped him off at a Safe
Haven hospital where they take newborn children into their care with no questions asked. There
is not much information that was given from the birth mother, but we know that he comes from
Mandarin decent and the mother was having trouble feeding him. He was given the diagnosis of
Downs Syndrome at the age of three months.

Case Study Review:

Reason for Referral: Alexanders parents Sherrie and Jamie Jackson have referred him because
of their concerns in areas of speech/language as well as adaptive self-help and safety. Alex is
three years old and struggles communicating his needs and emotions.
Alexander has made such incredible progress in these short couple months. Our case study
began with two assessments; the Battelle Developmental Inventory administered: 9/30/2015,
10/07/2015 and the Vineland II administered 10/16/15.
Implication statement: From observations and assessments we find that Alex is low in many of
his developmental areas specifically in his receptive and expressive communication and his
adaptive self-help skills. Based on the age equivalents of each domain Alex is around the
developmental age equivalent of a 20 month old. Since he is diagnosed with Downs syndrome
this age equivalent of development is common in other children with Downs Syndrome as well.
From the information attained in BDI-2 as well as the Vineland we have reason to be concerned
for the development of Alex in multiple domains. His gross and fine motor skills seem to be
coming more easily with activities and the implementation of intervention by his parents. Alexs
speech and language delays are going to need some intensive therapies and interventions
Summary Statement: Alex is a 3 year 8 month old boy who is showing delays and he been
previously diagnosed with Downs Syndrome. He has a large loving and supporting family that is
continually guiding him to improve his skills. Alex can say the words up, hi, and dad.

Other than those words he can sign multiple signs including help, more, cracker, and
finished. From observations, interviews, and assessments, we have found that Alex is in the
low range for most all of the developmental domains including communication and adaptive. His
gross motor and his cognitive areas are in the below average area. He is constantly learning new
adaptive skills such as drinking from an open cup and unscrewing a bubble lid. His mother and
father are most concerned with his ability to communicate and keep himself safe. We recommend
speech, occupational, and physical therapies. Alex is eligible for preschool services based on the
data that has been found.
GOAL #1
Alex will communicate using five different signs in a 30 minute time frame with a verbal
prompt.
There were many ways that we helped Alex learn new signs. There were times when we had to
look up signs on the internet to use them in the moment when Alex was playing with a toy that I
didnt know how to sign.
With this goal we employed different interventions that always accompanied play. Since we
found out early on that Alex had a limited attention span we knew we had to follow his lead. We
would give suggestions of what things he should play with so that he could practice the signs we
were focused on. We really focused on the following signs: help, please, ball, give, car, more,
play, and stop. Since he was already really signing please, it was a good sign to start with and
then try to add on other signs. We were in constant communication with his mother throughout
the process. His mother told us what they were working on when he was at speech. We wanted to
implement his goals in speech to our interventions. So we decided that we would prompt Alex to
sign multiple signs in a row and not just new signs which we had initially decided to do.
From our data gathered you can see that Alex made great progress with communicating his wants
and needs through signing multiple signs. When we learned of his goal in speech to sign multiple
signs in a row, we knew that we wanted to apply it to his goal. He started only signing the signs
that he knew well such as please and help. But by the end we were able to get Alex signing new
signs such as car, ball, stop, and bus. He did not get to 100% in all of these words but he was
quicker to sign and quicker to use multiple signs in a row.
Below is a graph of the data of Alexs signing multiple signs. The three areas that I focused on
when making this graph was sign stop please, sign two signs in a row, and sign play ball. There
were other signs and combinations that Alex used but these were the most common ones. The
data of him signing two in a row were not always the same signs. But when we got that data we
were specifically looking for him signing two in a row with limited prompting.

Signing Different Signs

Sign Stop Please

Sign two signs in a row

sign play ball

If I were to continue working with him one of my next steps would be to take a day and take data
about all of the signs that he knows. It would be a little more intrusive and not child lead, but I
think that would be so critical in understanding where he was really at in his signing progress.

GOAL #2
Alex will signal "stop" by putting his hand up when his siblings take advantage of him three
consecutive times within an intervention session.
We have used some different planned activities for Alex to work on this goal. For example we
would invite him to come jump on the trampoline outside or swing on the swings. We would try
to get a ball and throw it or kick it to him. But we found that he really likes to choose what
activities to do. And his attention span is so short that when we did come with planned activities
such as bubbles or play-dough, he would only play with it for two minutes and then want to get
up and leave to do something else. So Brittney and I decided to follow his lead and look for
opportunities where we could prompt Alex to sign stop when he was being taken advantage of
either by us or his siblings. Most of the times Alex would choose to go downstairs and play cars.
Their family has at least thirty different kinds of cars in the basement. They also have a small
plastic slide that the children love to play on. When we were starting out Alex liked to roll his
cars down the slide. When the cars would get to the bottom then we would sign stop and say stop
then see if he would respond.

Throughout the semester we have mainly used interventions that are simple and child centered.
With this goal we wanted Alex to realize that this goal is something that he can use when he is
playing with his siblings. So we would model how to sign stop,
By looking at the chart below it is hard to see the progress that we saw with Alex on this goal.
When we barely started he was only signing stop when he would stop running. We had to go
clear from that beginning to now where he was signing please stop to his little brother Caleb
when he was trying to take a toy from him. When we started Alex needed a direct verbal prompt
as well as a direct model. We would say to Alex Alex sign please, stop while we would sign it
with him.

Signing "Please, Stop"

For the please stop goal I think I would talk to some of the older siblings to create a scenario to
see what his response would be without us in the picture. I hope that he would respond somehow
to stand up for himself by signing and or babbling.

GOAL #3
Alex will recognize the danger of going into the street by putting his hand up signifying stop
when he gets close to the road.
For this goal we thought that we could combine the idea of having him sign stop to stopping
when he got to the road. But we initially tried to get Alex to look both ways and or hold out hand
as he crossed the street. In our first trial intervention Alex did not understand what we meant by
asking him to look down the street. Even with a full physical assist he would not turn his head
either way. He didnt understand what he was supposed to look for. This is when we decided to

try and make it simpler by having him practice stopping when he got to the edge of the driveway.
We would let him ride his bike around and then I or Brittney would race him as we learned that
was something he liked to do with his siblings. Alex thought this was really fun and would have
a big grin on his face from racing us.
Throughout the semester we have tried many different types of interventions. We have tried
activities that would get Alexs attention and that he would enjoy. At his house there are many
toys and objects that we were able to play with. These interventions included direct instruction,
prompting, modeling, and using different hands on materials.
Alex was not as responsive to this goal and the interventions as we wanted him to be. He liked
playing outside when it was warm and would often play the things that we invited him to. I think
that he knew he wasnt supposed to go to the street so it was hard for us to even practice there
because he didnt want to go. I guess this is suggesting that he has been listening to what his
mom told him to do. When we initially asked his mom about this goal she said that he would
often run out to the road. In these past three months I never saw Alex run out to the street. I am
thinking that this goal may need to be changed or improvised for the future.
Below I have a graph that shows that data we collected on this goal of staying in the yard and
signing stop where he knew he needed to stop when he go to the end of the driveway. You can
see that Alex started off making progress on this goal, especially when he was willing to practice
multiple time. We see the drop off about half way through when it started getting colder outside
and Alex would refuse to go play.

Stay In The Yard

For his goal to stay out of the street I would repeat the intervention of having him ride the bike
down the driveway at the beginning. But I think next is I would work on having him practice
holding another persons hand while crossing the street. Another thing that I could do is to be a

little intrusive by teaching Alex how to turn his head with a physical assist. But this goal might
take some time and more work. But we are starting to see him understand the danger of the road.
We are optimistic that he will understand in the future.
As conclusion I want to say how incredible it was to work with Alex. To be able to see the
progress that he has made in a short three months is very encouraging. Alex is signing for his
needs and wants much more than he was when we first started. He has learned how to stand up
for himself by signing please stop when one of his siblings try to take a toy from him or bother
him. And when Alex is outside riding on his trike he knows where he is supposed to stop so that
he will not enter the street where there may be cars. I feel that we have made great progress with
him.