Maurice
Maurice at age 6
Maurice is a small, 9 year old boy who has just moved into the district of residence for your school. Maurice lives with his mother and two brothers (one older and one younger) in a Federally subsidized housing unit in inner city Baltimore, Maryland. His mother never finished high school and works as a clerk at a local convenience store 30 hours a week making minimum wage. Despite his mother's efforts to supplement her salary, the family income is below the poverty level and they receive subsidized housing and food stamps. Her income is supplemented by working as a house cleaner whenever she can find this type of work. Maurice's father was killed in a gang-related shooting when he was 3 years old and, since that time, his mother has had a series of live in boyfriends. The current live-in boyfriend abuses alcohol and will verbally and physically abuse the children. Maurice's older brother is diagnosed with mild mental retardation and attention deficit disorder (ADHD).
Maurice attends a local public school and the team wants to provide services in your resource room. Diagnostic evaluation scores indicate that he has a full-scale IQ score of 62. His academic program consists of direct instruction in all academic subjects. Maurice's former teacher stated that Maurice has particular difficulty with reading and written language. He is reading at a pre-kindergarten level and cannot seem to remember how to spell words, has difficulty constructing meaningful sentences, and does not appear to understand the conventions of grammar (capitalization, punctuation, etc.). Maurice also has difficulty with peer relationships. He frequently misinterprets social cues. For example, he recently mistook a peer's joking for ridicule about a patch on his jacket and attacked him. Other staff members at his school and his mother report that Maurice does not understand personal space (he stands much too close to people when talking) and will frequently hug complete strangers. One final part of Maurice's educational program involves personal hygiene. He frequently comes to school without showering or changing his clothes. His teachers often remark that he looks as if he "slept in his clothes" and appears to wear the same clothes day after day. Other students frequently remark about his strong odor. His communication abilities do not seem to be significantly impaired. He is able to speak clearly and make his wants, needs, and desires known. He does not appear to have difficulty with understanding spoken language except when it becomes more abstract. Maurice does, however, have trouble making choices, completing tasks (he gets distracted and cannot remember what he was doing), and in problem solving.