Vignette: Melissa

Melissa exhibited classic symptoms of ADHD. In particular, she would run about the classroom, disrupting her fellow students throughout the school day. Mrs. Bonner, Melissa’s teacher, brought her concerns to the building assistance team at Woodrow Elementary and discussed the problem with Melissa’s parents. This team made several recommendations after pinpointing and defining the behavior. Mrs. Bonner was told to praise Melissa for in-seat behavior and use proximity control (stand next to Melissa when she was seated at her desk to decrease opportunity for “escape”). Unfortunately, these pre-referral interventions failed (based on careful data collected by Mrs. Bonner for the team). Following this, Mrs. Bonner made a formal referral. Based on this referral, Melissa was determined to be a candidate for further evaluation. Melissa was evaluated using a variety of assessment procedures. The team, including Melissa’s parents and physician, determined that Melissa had ADHD and qualified for special education services under the OHI category. Thus, the ADHD was determined to be a health problem which resulted in limited alertness and adversely affected her educational performance thereby requiring the need for specially designed instruction. An IEP was developed and implemented.