K. M Case Study Psychology

Question 1 Three months ago, a fictional preschooler who will be referred to as K.M. experienced a traumatic event. While K.M. was in the kitchen with her mother and her 2-year-old brother, A.M., she witnessed A.M. spill a hot kettle of water all over his body. This spill resulted in burns on A.M.’s chest and neck, which caused him to start screaming and crying. K.M. was very frightened, but was not able to be comforted, as her mother was tending to A.M.’s wounds and calling K.M.’s father to let him know that they were going to go to the hospital. Following this incident, K.M.’s teachers have noticed that she has been acting out more in the classroom, including behavior like aggressively taking toys from her peers and yelling at her teachers.
is watching another child play with blocks, instead of waiting for K.M. to lash out before intervening, the teacher could say to that child, “Wow, that’s a really impressive tower that you made—it looks like K.M. is impressed, too. Can you show her how you made that tower?”. By encouraging the student to play with K.M., they can both support K.M.’s social development while also providing her the opportunity to learn through play. However, if a teacher is not able to prevent K.M.’s aggressive behavior in a specific instance, I would suggest that alternatives to punishment, such as showing K.M. how to make amends with the child she was aggressive towards or by clearly stating their expectations for behavior, which has shown to be effective in the trauma research (Faber and Mazlish, 1999; McInerney & McKlindon,
During these discussions, I would encourage those present to discuss any concerns they have about K.M. with me and with each other, and facilitate a path towards a solution for the concern. Additionally, I think it would be important for me to meet directly with K.M., both so that I can directly observe her progress and so that she has a space to share anything she may be struggling with that she hasn’t shared with any of her other support