General description: Tanya is a 6-year-old who is currently in kindergarten in a half -day program. Her parents opted for half-day kindergarten due to their concerns about Tanya's ability to function in a regular education setting. Tanya displays autistic tendencies such as rubbing her hands together, humming quietly, and rocking back and forth. These behaviors occur most often when Tanya is not involved in an activity. Tanya is getting ready to make the transition into first grade.

Academic functioning: Tanya recently participated in a psycho-educational test battery that indicated she was slightly below average academically for her age. She is able to write and spell her first and last name, and point to all of her shapes and colors upon request. In attempting to do counting with colored beads, Tanya gets upset when the beads of different colors get mixed in together.

Social skills: Tanya does not associate frequently with other children in free-play times. When toys are put out to work on in a group, such as completing puzzles, she will sit beside other children.

Behavior: Aside from the "self-stimulation" behaviors (e.g., humming, rocking), Tanya does not pose any behavioral problems. She follows directions well and listens attentively when the teachers are reading to the class.

Physical: Tanya is a petite 6-year-old with dark hair and eyes. She is always meticulously dressed and gets upset whenever any dirt gets on her clothing. Her parents have to be sure there is always a clean set of clothing for her to change into at school; these are used when she gets dirty at recess or in an art activity.

General description: Peter is a 16 year old junior in high school. He has been in special education since the age of 8 for behavior problems. He has been attending regular education classes, but he is often defiant and noncompliant in the classes. He attends a resource room one period a day but will often walk out of his regular education classes to go there. Peter recently had a psychological evaluation, which tested him at average intelligence. However, the psychologist noted that Peter demonstrated inappropriate behaviors during the testing situation (e.g., throwing papers on the floor, breaking pencils). The regular educators want Peter placed in a self-contained classroom because of his behaviors, and the special educators feel he should remain included in the regular education classes because of his academic needs.

Academic functioning: Peter frequently fails to complete assignments, although he successfully answers some of the questions. Intellectually he is able to do the work expected of an 11^th grader. The classes Peter seems to do best in are those that involve working with his hands (i.e. art, woodworking, etc.) He also enjoys his English class because the teacher focuses on creative writing.

Social skills: Peter lacks acceptable social skills. He bullies other students in almost every setting – classes, cafeteria, and gym class. He has recently begun hanging around with an older group of students. His parents report that lately they have been more concerned about Peter. Many of the problems seen at the school for the past 3 years had not been reported at home until the last 6 months.

Behavior: Peter is defiant and noncompliant in most circumstances. The exception to this is during the classes he likes and when he is around teachers that he likes from those classes.

Physical: Peter stands at about 5’ 6" tall, has dark brown hair. He sports a ‘grunge look", and has had both of his ears pierced.

Vocational: Peter had a paper route for 4 years, until the age of 15 when he attempted a job at a local fast food restaurant. He was fired from the job after 3 months for blowing up at his boss one night. Peter’s parents are concerned about his future vocational plans.

General description: Mary is a 9-year-old fourth grader with a diagnosed disability of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Mary has attended regular education classes up to this point. Her teachers have concerns about Mary’s distractibility. They feel that medication would help Mary’s difficulty in remaining on task; however her parents are not comfortable putting her on medication.

Academic functioning: Mary is functioning in the average to above average level of intelligence. Her grades currently do not reflect her ability. Her work often does not get completed because she is often out of her seat. When she does complete her work, it is usually of acceptable quality. There has been a pattern to Mary’s good grades. Whenever Mary sits by herself in a quiet environment she is able to complete her work with ease.

Social skills: Mary is very sociable and easily makes friends. However, her friends often get frustrated with her on the playyard because she is constantly moving on to a new game before the old one is completed.

Behavior: Mary greatest difficulty is her " fidgeting" during class time. She often interrupts the teacher with questions while the teacher is attempting to give directions. At other times the teacher will notice Mary staring off into space when oral directions are being given. When it is time to complete the assignment, Mary is never sure what to do beyond the first step.

General description: Ned is a 10 year old, 4^th grade student with a learning disability. Ned has been attending regular classes for the past three years with one or two periods a day of resource room. In the resource room he gets assistance with assignments, "re-teaching" of material, and extra time on tests when he needs it. Ned has not had a psycho-educational test battery completed in three years.

Academic functioning: His learning disability manifests itself in reading, spelling and math, with reading giving him the greatest difficulty. Ned has mastered basic skills up until this past school years, when he has experienced increasing difficulty as moves from "learning to read" (acquisition of basic reading skills) to "reading to learn" (e.g., reading textbooks for information).

Social skills: Ned has a few close friends with whom he shares similar interests. He loves computers and science. Ned enjoys watching most sporting events, and would rather be a spectator than a participant.

Behavior: The only difficulty Ned’s current teachers’ experience with him involves working on the computer. He would like to spend more time on the computer in the classroom and complains when it is time to do other tasks. Ned has a computer at home and when the teacher is having difficulty with the classroom computer, Ned often helps solve the problem.

Physical – Ned is an average looking 10 year old, who wears glasses. He had some problems as a child with recurrent ear infections. These ended at about the age of 5. Ned had some speech therapy due to some minor speech delays from the time he was 3 until the age of 5.

General description: Tammy is a 7 year old female with Down’s syndrome. She has curly brown hair and is somewhat large for her age. She has completed one year of inclusive post-kindergarten, a class designed for students who have completed kindergarten but are not yet ready for first grade.

Academic functioning: Tammy is able to recite the alphabet and is able to recognize the letters in her first and last name. She is able to count to 20 with little prompting. She recognizes colors and shapes with ease. When she is not able to do a task she tends to get frustrated, exhibited by putting her head down on her desk or lap.

Social skills: Tammy is very friendly and outgoing. She makes friends easily with children her own age. She often wants to be friends with older children on the playground to the point that it is bothersome to them. Older children therefore tease her. She is a "helper" in the classroom, always asking the teacher how she can assist her.

Behavioral: The only behavioral problem Tammy displays is her "bothering" of other children and her frustration at her inability to do certain tasks.

Physical: Tammy’s parents have always encouraged physical activity, enrolling her in swimming and gymnastics classes at the local YMCA. This past winter she participated in a local Special Olympics swim meet.

General description: Patrick is a 16 year old high school sophomore with moderate to severe mental retardation. Patrick’s current placement is a self-contained classroom. His academic classes are taught with in the self-contained classroom and he eats lunch in the main cafeteria in the school.

Patrick recently had two evaluations, one with the school psychologist and one with a speech therapist.

Academic functioning: Patrick is reading at below a first grade level. He is currently involved in a life skills curriculum which includes: 1) reading and answering questions about menus, signage, and basic forms, 2) using money with basic addition and subtraction, and 3) completing basic forms that include writing his name, address, and other personal information.

Social skills: Patrick does not engage easily in conversation. He speaks only when spoken to, and needs to be reminded to look at the person he is speaking with. When he does speak it is usually mumbled unless reminded to speak clearly. Despite his limited communication skills, he has a great sense of humor. When talking with a particular teacher, who tells him jokes, he will laugh easily and heartily. He often seeks the staff person out to tell him jokes. His peers have noticed this about him and will often repeat the jokes just to hear his infectious laugh.

Physical attributes: Patrick stands 6 feet tall with sandy blond hair. He has an awkward gait, mainly due to looking at the wall while walking to avoid eye contact with others.

Vocational: Patrick is currently involved with a supported work situation within the special education classroom. He goes to a local office once a week with another student and staff person to do general cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, emptying trash, etc.). Patrick does very well at this job, often receiving praise from the people in the office. Patrick’s tasks on this job are well defined, and repetitive. He does extremely well remembering his job duties from week to week.

General description: Brian is a 7-year-old child who is in the second grade. He is enrolled in Gateway, an enrichment program for gifted children. Brian has severe dyslexia that was diagnosed in the first grade. His parents are concerned about his educational program because the school is suggesting a part time day in a resource room. They report that they find it difficult to understand that he can be both high intelligent and unable to read simple text.

Academic functioning: Brian functions at the genius level of intelligence for his age. However, when presented with written material, he confuses the letters b, d, p, and q. This is also manifested in Brian’s writing. He is able to tell wonderful stories, but when he attempts to get them down on paper, the task is arduous and filled with misspellings. He does very well when he is able to use a computer to type any of his academic work.

Social skills: Brian has no difficulty in the social area.

Behavior: When called upon to read orally in class he has great difficulty. This often results in snickering from his classmates. When this occurs he will close his book loudly and tell the teacher he will not continue.

Physical/Medical: As a child Brian was very late to speak; he said his first words at the age of 2.