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Reflecting on Sexual Development & Behavior: Elementary School Case Study

Read the case study about Avery, then complete the activities on the following pages. Reflect on your responses with a colleague.

Avery is a 7-year-old student in your classroom with delays in social-emotional development and communication. An intervention specialist and a speech therapist come to the classroom once a week to fulfill services on Avery’s individualized education program (IEP). The family has mentioned that Avery goes to weekly speech therapy at an outpatient clinic, too. Avery is the youngest of five children, and the school staff think the parents “baby” Avery. Staff have discussed that the family let’s Avery “walk all over them.” Adam, Avery’s father, has shared that they feel bad for their child because of Avery’s difficulty with speech and the family feels the need to “spoil” Avery.

Avery primarily uses gestures, grunting, and long strands of “gibberish” sounds to communicate. It seems like Avery has a lot of thoughts but isn’t able to get them out. The school staff observe that Avery accesses the learning environment and physically engages in play similar to the other students in the classroom. Outside time seems to be Avery’s favorite activity.

Avery is interested in interacting with peers but is often ignored, likely due to peers’ difficulty understanding Avery’s speech. When Avery wants to play with another student, staff observe Avery doing the following: licking other student’s faces, giving unwanted hugs, and sometimes touching other student’s genitals over clothing. Avery thinks it is funny when children respond to these behaviors. Staff have noticed that these behaviors primarily occur during recess. When this happens staff respond by saying, “Stop, friends don’t like that.” While Avery stops in the moment, the behaviors have continued for several months now.

Think about Avery’s sexual development-physical changes, knowledge and beliefs, and behaviors and record the information in the table.

Record your thoughts on the following factors to reflect on Avery's sexual behavior.