Case Study: Emotional and behavioural difficulties – Sandra

Image of girl sitting.Sandra is 15 and is in foster care. She has had a history of being in trouble in class and has had outreach support which appeared to be successful as she is aware that her behaviour can at times be inappropriate. She does want to do well at school and produces good work when she is interested in the subject. However, she often has bouts of bad temper when she becomes aggressive. When she is like this she cannot control her language and will carry on an argument until the other person gives up or she is removed from the situation.

On one occasion she asked if she could make tea and when the teacher said no, she went ahead and did it anyway when the teacher was attending to someone else. When she was rebuked for disobeying she started to raise her voice and accused the teacher of treating her differently from others and shouting at her. She then went on to become upset and depressed. At the next class she was very cheeky to the teacher, argued with him about the content of the work and would not stop talking. She then reported back that this was the fault of the previous teacher who had upset her.

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