Conditions Associated With Risk: Within Child

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Juan

Juan walks into his new elementary school with a tight grip on his mother’s hand. He soon hears children talking and laughing as they line up and wait for their teachers to come and get them. Not one word sounds familiar to him. He feels as if he is having a bad dream. His mother finds his line and stands with him until his teacher comes. His teacher smiles at him and reaches for his hand. Juan turns to his mother with a look of fear and uncertainty. His mother gently takes his hand and places it in his teacher’s hand.

Charles

Charles opens the book during reading time in his second-grade classroom and stares at the page. He does not know one word. Furthermore, he has no idea how to phonetically decode words and is completely lost when he is prompted to determine word possibilities using context clues. Lately, when it is time to read, he sits with the class and pretends to read. When the teacher calls on him to read, he says he has a headache. On other days he may say he can’t see the board, or he will just begin to whine. If these tactics don’t work, he will yell or cry. His behavior usually allows him to be dismissed from the activity. He has outstanding math skills and impeccable verbal skills. Charles just doesn’t know where to begin when it comes to reading. It is almost the end of the second-grade school year and Charles has very limited reading skills.

John

John attempts to jump over a little girl in the hallway. She stands up before he has completely cleared her body and the two tumble into some lockers. His first-grade teacher hears the noise and speculates that the commotion is related to John. The teacher asks a peer to walk the little girl to the nurse’s office and calmly confronts John about what has happened. John shouts, “You hate me!” He then throws himself on the floor and begins to cry.

Jamie

Jamie is in trouble again. Her third-grade teacher calls Jamie over to her desk to discuss her behavior. On her way to the teacher’s desk, Jamie bops three children on the back with her pencil. When she arrives, Jamie asks if she can go to the bathroom. Her teacher says no and states that they need to talk about Jamie’s behavioral choices. While her teacher is talking, Jamie notices her teacher’s lips are moving and that she appears upset. However, Jamie is more interested in her teacher’s new necklace. “Where did you get that cool necklace? I love it!” One of Jamie’s friends walks by the classroom door, and Jamie jumps in the air and yells, “Sally! Hey Sally!” A classmate in the front row is staring at Jamie. Jamie says, “What are you looking at, four eyes?” Jamie is in trouble again.

These examples represent behaviors and characteristics that may place children at risk for failure in school. In some cases, if children’s characteristics are understood and interventions or supports are put in place early, then they will not experience failure in school. However, in other cases, children’s risk for failure due to within-child characteristics is greatly increased because they enter unresponsive school environments. We will discuss the many environmental factors that interact with children’s behavior later in the chapter.

For the purposes of this book, four within-child characteristics were selected based on three main considerations. First, the specific within-child characteristics were chosen because they have been associated with significant failure in school. Second, within-child characteristics were selected according to the profiles of children who have historically fallen through the cracks due to inadequate resources to address their needs. Third, characteristics were selected based on their prevalence in primary grade settings. Based on these criteria, the four within-child characteristics addressed in this chapter include attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, challenging behavior, limited English proficiency or English language learners, and low achievement. Each section includes a description of children’s characteristics and their academic and social problems.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The most prevalent disorder in children is attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Barkley, 1998; Zentall, 2006). Children with ADHD are most commonly identified in early elementary grades and are most often educated in the general education classroom (McKinley, 2003; Zentall, 2005, 2006). Although children can be identified as having a disability under specific learning disability, emotional disturbance, or other health impairments, at least half of children with ADHD are not identified as having a disability and do not receive any special services (McKinley, 2003; Zentall, 2006).

To be identified by a licensed psychologist or medical doctor as having one of three main types of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, children must manifest specific characteristics according to the revised fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychological Association, 2000). According to the DSM-IV-TR, children can be diagnosed with Inattentive Type (ADHD-I) if they manifest at least six of the nine inattention characteristics, Hyperactive-Impulsive Type (ADHD-H) if they have at least six of the nine hyperactive and impulsive characteristics, or Combined Type (ADHD-C) if they meet the criteria for both Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity. Most school-age children have Combined Type ADHD (ADHD-C; Barkley, 1998; Zentall, 2006). Boys are at least two to three times more likely than girls to have ADHD (Raymond, 2004; Zentall, 2006). Children with ADHD typically have significant problems in school academically and socially.

Educational Characteristics

Children with ADHD are much more likely than peers with similar intelligence to experience failure in school (Barkley, 1998; Zentall, 1993). By the time these children reach the late elementary grades, many are years behind in several areas, and as many as one in three will have repeated a grade. Without early understanding and support, children with ADHD may continue on a course of failure in school upto 30% of children with ADHD will repeat a grade and 35% will drop out of high school (Barkley, 1998).