Behavioral Observations Gone Awry

By Susan Rubinyi-Anderson

Sept. 7: Little Jason entered the classroom today declining seven nouns, singular and plural, in Latin. Then he persistently refused to participate in free choice, totally ignoring the Play-Doh table, the happy-face cutouts, the sponge prints, and the blocks. Definitely not age-appropriate behavior. Note: Keep an eye on Jason, bring in school specialists to observe.

Sept. 17: Today, Jason persevered in studying a Sanskrit dictionary, deliberately ignoring circle time on the carpet despite numerous attempts to engage him. I called in the Child Development Specialist, the Language Specialist, the ERC teacher (I still can't get used to the way they change the terminology every two years--what's wrong with remedial?). They all assured me that Jason's behavior is definitely not age-appropriate and that we should request permission for special-ed. testing.

Oct. 1: Bad news--parents refuse to give permission for testing, showing extreme resistance to possible handicapping conditions. They don't seem to be bothered by Jason's peculiar interests. When the Language Specialist asked them if Jason understood how to use a subject and verb, they laughed at her, even though she has an M.A. in early-childhood developmental linguistics. So we'll have to proceed with Strategy #2--amass such a huge body of behavioral observations that they'll have to cave in. It'll just be a matter of time before they begin to...