Does anyone have any suggestions for working with a TBI student?

Question

This student has frontal lobe damage and is acting out sexually in the halls and lunchroom. He grabs parts of girl's bodies and if they object, he curses them using sexually explicit words. This student is in special education and included in all of his classes. He has a teacher who accompanies him. The student is 18 years old and in 11th grade. His accident happened 2 years ago. He was in a coma for three months.

I am concerned that eventually he will get arrested. We are working on some social skills lessons about feelings and behavior, but we aren't seeing enough results.

Answer 1

He definitely needs a behavior plan and a behavior specialist to manage his case.

Answer 2

This behavior although common with TBI people, is so frustrating. It should be addressed by the school's social worker and occupational therapist. A behavior modification plan should be written, included in the student's IEP, and distributed and discussed out to all the student's teachers. Make sure each teacher understands what steps to take when this behavior occurs. Consistency is very important.

Best wishes!

Answer 3

This is going to take a long time and a lot of patience. Does the student see a psychologist? A psychologist would probably be able to help with some strategies for managing these behaviours. The student is going to have to be made aware of when these behaviours are inappropriate like in public for example and they should only be done in private. Have you tried social stories with him. I use them with children like this and although you have to go through them hundreds of times eventually they do start to get the message. You must make sure also that every one is consistent with their handling of him and that people who come into contact with him regularly just ignore these behaviours. It is going to take a long time and a lot of effort and you won't see the results straight away, but do keep working with him. Good luck.

Answer 4

You need to narrow the boundaries.  By that I mean that you need to allow this student even less freedom until he learns how to act appropriately (and that could be a long time).  His "world" is too big, too wide for him and he can't handle it.  He might need to be restricted to the classroom and going to the bathroom when no other students (or many fewer) students are around.  To be honest, it amazes me that a teacher ("who accompanies him") is allowing the behavior you describe.  Perhaps he needs a new teacher or instructional aide.  (A male might work very well.)