Homework answers / question archive / PII and PAI Interviews *The numbers in parenthesis correspond to the questions from the Behavioral Consultation in Applied Settings text

PII and PAI Interviews *The numbers in parenthesis correspond to the questions from the Behavioral Consultation in Applied Settings text

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PII and PAI Interviews

*The numbers in parenthesis correspond to the questions from the Behavioral Consultation in Applied Settings text.

PII

Consultant: Hi, thank you so much for doing this interview with me.

Consultee: Of course!

Consultant: (1) Is there a student in your class that exhibits behaviors of concern?

Consultee: Yes, someone came to mind right away, a Junior at our high school.

Consultant: Great, let’s call them Johnny for the purpose of this interview to remain confidential.

Consultee: Okay

Consultant: (2) What behavior concerns you about Johnny?

Consultee: His anger

Consultant: (3) When you say anger, what does that look like?

Consultee: If he doesn’t get his way, he will grimace his face, he makes a deep voice, and is confrontational with teachers and staff.

Consultant: What else does he do that makes you think he is angry? Does he ever yell, throw items, or become aggressive?

Consultee: No he’s not aggressive, but he will raise his voice sometimes and walk out of the classroom and ditch school often.

Consultant: What does he do that is the main concern to you?

Consultee: I guess that he is so disruptive and disrespectful. He often walks out of class just to go interrupt another teacher’s classroom to demand to talk to his girlfriend in private.

Consultant: So, he walks out of classrooms and he disrupts other classes. Then is your main concern him walking out of your classroom?

Consultee: Yes, because its disruptive to the whole class.

Consultant: Is there anything else you can tell me about him walking out of class?

Consultee: Not really, if he gets upset or doesn’t like something he’ll just walk out.

Consultant: On a scale of 0-10 where 0= no problem and 10= severe problem how severe is this problem to you?

Consultee: Hmm, that’s hard. Maybe a 6, I’d say 6.5.

Consultant: Okay so he walks out of your classroom and it disrupts your class?

Consultee: Yes

Consultant: And you’d say the severity is about 6.5?

Consultee: Yes

Consultant: (4) Where does Johnny’s elopement take place?

Consultee: I think only at school

Consultant: Does this only happen in your classroom? Or with other teachers as well?

Consultee: Oh it happens with all of his teachers. They all know he does this, even the principal is well aware. His parents know too.

Consultant: (5) What happens right before Johnny walks out of a classroom?

Consultee: If he doesn’t get his way, for example he hates assigned seating and if he walks in and he’s told where he has to sit, he’ll complain and try to get his way. If he doesn’t, he’ll walk out. Sometimes the teachers have to pick their battles with him because they want him to stay and learn something.

Consultant: Can you give me another example?

Consultee: If he’s in class with his girlfriend, which he often is because it’s a small school, he will demand to talk to her in private outside. He does this right in the middle of class, and if I say no, or another teacher doesn’t allow him to, he’ll walk out as well. Sometimes if he’s trying to get his girlfriend’s attention in the middle of class and she’s actually trying to pay attention and ignore him, he’ll get so angry and stomp out of class.

Consultant: (6) Have you noticed a pattern with when him walking off is happening?

Consultee: Not really, so many things can trigger him. It doesn’t really matter what subject or what activities we are doing in class, just whether he gets what he wants. He also gets really mad if his girlfriend is in the class and she gets in trouble because of him. He’ll yell and say it’s his fault and she shouldn’t be a part of it.

Consultant: Can you give me an example when she got in trouble?

Consultee: Yes, she was helping him cheat on a test and I caught them so I had to fail both of them on that test. He was yelling that it was unfair and walked out because I wouldn’t change the grade.

Consultant: Who does it usually happen around? What should he be doing when it happens?

Consultee: It happens usually depending on his girlfriend. If she’s there and not giving him her attention he’ll get angry and leave. But also if she is in another class, he will walk out of my class saying he has something really important he needs to talk to her about and then walk into another teacher’s class and demand they let her talk to him outside.

Consultant: So it happens when he’s with his girlfriend or trying to gain access to talking to his girlfriend?

Consultee: Yes

Consultant: What should he be doing instead?

Consultee: Paying attention in class. He’s a smart kid, and we all just want him to do well.

Consultant: (7) What happens after he walks out of the classroom?

Consultee: Sometimes he’ll ditch, and I won’t see him for the rest of the class period. Usually he’ll go for a walk and come back like 30 minutes later. Or he will go to the class his girlfriend is in and the teacher’s now he does this so more often than not they will let his girlfriend go out to talk to him for a bit. That happens a lot just because they don’t want to deal with him but then it’s problematic because I’ll stand my ground and he’ll just walk out.

Consultant: What do you do when he walks out? What do your students do?

Consultee: The students will just watch everything happening and get really distracted from their assignments and start talking amongst themselves. I usually just try to get back on track and continue with my lecture. If he doesn’t come back I’ll call his parents.

Consultant: (8) You’ve said if he’s trying to talk to his girlfriend and she’s not attending to him he’ll walk out, and if she’s in another classroom and he wants to talk to her he’ll walk out. He will also walk out if he’s denied access to his choice of seating within the classroom. Is that right?

Consultee: Yes that’s usually when it happens

Consultant: You also said teachers will typically let him talk to his girlfriend when he disrupts their classrooms and his parents only get called if he completely ditches school and doesn’t return to the classroom. Does that sound right?

Consultee: Yes everyone just kind of picks their battles with him. I’ll usually tell him he has 5 minutes to talk to her.

Consultant: Will he return to the classroom after those 5 minutes?

Consultee: I have to remind him that he agreed to those terms and then yes he will go back inside the class.

Consultant: (9) How often would you say Johnny walks out of your classroom?

Consultee: It can be every day, every other day, every class with different teachers. It just depends what triggered him that day.

Consultant: How long is he usually out of the classroom when he walks out?

Consultee: It varies a lot too, it can be 30 minutes or the whole class period, or if he skips school he’s just gone for the day.

Consultant: (10) So you’ve mentioned Johnny will walk out of class at least every other day but it can happen as often as every class period. You also mentioned he usually comes back after around 30 minutes. Is that correct?

Consultee: Yes that’s right

Consultant: (11) How frequently do you think Johnny should be walking out of class for it to no longer be a problem?

Consultee: Zero would be great, but realistically if he would just ask to step outside for a moment to calm down once per class that’d be amazing.

Consultant: (12) What do you think are Johnny’s assets? Or things he does well?

Consultee: He’s funny, he can be really helpful and a leader in the class.

Consultant: (13) That’s great! What procedures are in place now for him to appropriately request to leave the classroom?

Consultee: We don’t really have anything in place. Like if they want to leave I guess they ask to use the restroom or ask to go up to the office if something is wrong.

Consultant: (14) Okay so the problem is Johnny frequently walking out of the classroom and this happens irregularly. Is that correct?

Consultee: Yes that’s mainly it

Consultant: (15/16) I know you can’t actually record data at this time since schools are still closed. If you were able to I’d suggest something called event recording. That way you could track how many times Johnny walked out of your class throughout the week and how long he was gone.

Consultee: Okay that makes sense

Consultant: (17) Let’s say if you were able to, you’d take data for a week on the days Johnny was in your class. Any time he walks out you’d record a tally, other than if he’s just going out because he asked to use the restroom. You can also record what happens right before and right after he walks out. Does that sound like it’d be okay in a classroom setting?

Consultee: Yes, that’s doable. So just a tally every time he walks out of my class?

Consultant: Yes, you’d be able to write the day, tallies of how many times he walked out and also its important to include what was happening before and after.

Consultee: Okay that’d be okay I think

Consultant: Great, is it okay if we take a 10 minute break and then move on to the second part of the interview? We can also schedule it later this week if that’s better.

Consultee: Oh yes, no worries. Today is fine. It’s about the same thing right?

Consultant: Yes just a continuation of what we’ve been discussing. Thank you so much I’ll see you in a bit.

 

PAI

 

Consultant: (1) Okay I’m back, like I said this part is just a continuation talking about Johnny. Some of what I’ll be mentioning is hypotheticals if we were actually in a situation where data could be tracked.

Consultee: No problem

Consultant: (2) Let’s say we are going to review the record on Johnny’s elopement or walking out of class.

Consultee: Okay

Consultant: If you can think back to one of the school weeks, can you tell me how many times he walked out of class in one week? How many times a week would he have your class?

Consultee: He was in my class 3 days a week Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Uhm, okay let me think about it a bit it’s been awhile

Consultant: Of course, take your time

Consultee: Okay I would say 4 times. He walked out once per class on 2 days during one week and one day he was upset and left came back then left again and didn’t come back that period.

Consultant: (3) Okay perfect, so let’s say he walked out 2 times on Monday, 1 time Wednesday, and then 1 time Friday.

Consultee: Okay yes that sounds about right

Consultant: (4) What is something that may have happened right before he walked out?

Consultee: One time he asked if he could talk to his girlfriend who was also in my class outside because it was really important. Sometimes like I said I’ll just tell him he has 5 minutes but one day she looked like she didn’t want to talk to him. And we all know it’s not a good relationship, but his girlfriend looked really uncomfortable so that day I told him no, not today and to please sit back down.

Consultant: What happened after that?

Consultee: He got really mad and started demanding again that I let her go out to talk to him. I didn’t, so he stormed out of class.

Consultant: Did you do anything when he walked out? Was there anything you can remember that may have been happening in class during that time?

Consultee: Not really, at least I can’t remember anything that sticks out. I was probably just lecturing like usual. I don’t think there was anything big like tests or projects going on, I think I’d remember that. And I think I just returned to the lecture; it happens so often that we only call his parents if he completely leaves school.

Consultant: (5) Okay so it seems like in 1 week he walked out of your class 4 times. He wanted to talk to his girlfriend, and he was not allowed to. He walked out of class, and there was really no consequence for him walking out. There also wasn’t anything specific going on in the class that coincides with when he walked out. The goal would then be for him to not walk out of class every time he’s upset. Does that all seem about right?

Consultee: Yes that sound correct

Consultant: (6) Why do you think Johnny walks out of class?

Consultee: When he’s upset, like he didn’t get what he wanted. Which happens so often, he can’t always get what he wants and he’s going to be out of high school soon that becomes worrisome.

Consultant: That’s definitely a concern. There would need to be a plan in place to allow him to control when he is upset without missing out on his class time. What could we try in the class that wouldn’t be as disruptive to the class?

Consultee: Hmm, I don’t know. I’d still like to give him time to calm down, so maybe an appropriate way to request that. I think the teachers need to be united and not let him interrupt their classes to talk to his girlfriend first of all.

Consultant: Yes I completely agree that’d help. How would you like to request time to calm down when something upsets him in class?

Consultee: Honestly, if he would just say “I need a minute” that would be great and I’d let him have 5 minutes right outside my class window so I can see him. I really can’t keep letting him talk to his girlfriend though, that’s more disruptive.

Consultant: (8) Okay great, so if he gets upset about something happening in class he can just let you know he needs a moment outside where you can see him and we could see if there are any issues with him coming back in or of you find its still disrupting your class. I know you can’t actually collect data, but let’s pretend you would track data for another week. You would track tallies again each time he walked out after being upset without saying anything, you would also track how many times he asked for a moment outside appropriately. Would that be okay?  

Consultee: Okay uhm so I just tell him he can tell me he needs a moment outside. Track tallies again but this time it’d be 2 different things?

Consultant: (9) Yes so what you could do is make 2 columns. 1 side for walking out inappropriately and not saying anything. And 1 side for appropriately asking for time outside to calm down. When either happens make a tally on its corresponding side for that day. You would do that for a week again.

Consultee: Okay yeah that seems easier now.

Consultant: (10) Great, so I’d say I could check in on you again in the middle of that week to see how the data collection is coming and answer any questions you may have. So that’d be on Wednesday.

Consultee: This is hypothetical right?

Consultant: Yes definitely. That’s actually all for my questions. Thank you so much again for taking the time to do this!

Consultee: Oh of course!, I hope it was helpful.