Non-Compliant Student

I have a non-compliant student in my 2nd grade class. The first day in class I could tell there was something going on with him. He refused to do most of the assignments the teacher gave. Sometimes he would pretend like he was working, but when it was time to turn in the assignment, there was nothing on his paper except for his name. Other times he flat out refused and spent the time laying on his desk or bothering other kids. The teacher made him stay in from recess to complete any work he didn't do in class, so I brought him to the back table to see if maybe he just didn't know how to do the work. That was not the case at all. He is very bright. I didn't have to really help him with the content, just offer some encouragement and all of a sudden he started working! Later I found out that this student was going through some very rough times in his life outside of school. His father had left the family and they had just lost their home. He was waking up in a different place every day. He had no stability in life outside school. I think we know that typically, kids at this age want to please their teachers, so if you have a student who is non-compliant, you can be pretty sure that there is some other issue that needs to be dealt with. In this case, this student just needed to feel loved and safe. He just needed some attention. In other cases, students may not understand the content and rather than feel embarrassed or ashamed in front of the class, they will become defiant or non-compliant.