IDS 1 Running head: Individual Differences Student Profile

Individual Differences Student Profile Jenny Villarreal Kae Jensen EDUC 205: Development/Individual Differences Online Fall 2012

IDS 2 Individual Differences Student Profile Every person is different and that is what makes each of us special. In the public school system being especially different is a challenge. The public school tries to meet the differences of the students, but it is a challenge. Public schools have created programs to help those students who are especially different, to help them achieve in their school. In the following paragraphs I will be profiling a Caucasian child who is in the progress of developing an IEP. I will be dividing my information in five different categories: general information, physical development, cognitive development, socio-emotional development, and a summary of conclusions and implications. General Information The young girl I have observed for this profile is Angelina Wald. She is five years and eight months old. She lives with her mother, younger sister, her aunt and two older cousins. Angelinas mother is a single parent (the father is not in the family picture at all) who works two part time jobs. Angelina spends the morning with her aunt while she does her morning routine to get her day started. Her morning routine includes have breakfast, getting dressed, doing any homework if she had some, and making sure all her papers for the day are in her bag. She is in the afternoon portion of kindergarten, so her school day doesnt start until twelve-thirty in the afternoon. Once school is done she is then taken to daycare until her mother can pick her up. Since her mother works two part time jobs she doesnt get to pick up Angelina until seven or eight in the evening. When they return for the evening, Angelina has dinner and goes through a basic bed time routine. Physical Development Angelina is light skinned, blue eyes, and has light brown hair. If you were to look at this little girl, she would look like every other five year old girl. The only significant mark that is on

IDS 3 Angelina is a birth mark on her left forearm. You cant notice any physical delays or disability when you are look at this little girl. Her only physical impairment is her vision. Angelina is supposed to wear glasses because she has myopia and astigmatism. Angelina does not have glasses because her family cannot afford to buy them. This is a huge problem because it has allowed for delay in her learning. Angelina would also benefit by seeing a low vision specialist. I have seen Angelina use both hands while she writes, but she is uncomfortable using both. She uses scissors in her right hand, but while cutting paper she was the only student in the classroom, that I noticed, that cut towards her. I did not get a chance to see her exercise her large muscles. I do not know any information on her physical activities and nutrition habits. The only time I saw the child eat was during snack time and it was a rare for her to take the snack that was offered. Cognitive Development Like I have mentioned previously, Angelina is in afternoon kindergarten. During the three hours she is in a regular classroom setting. During these three hours she does what all the other kindergarteners are doing to create full inclusion. During my observations I was able to pull Angelina to a private table to help her improve with items such as the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors. She was not able to recognize any of the letters even when I used a prompt; this is a problem that the teacher, her mother, and her aunt have been trying to help her with. She is only able to count to thirteen and can only recognize the numbers one through five and seven. For shapes, she only could recognize a circle and mixed up square and rectangle. When it came to recognizing colors she was able to recognize every color. During my one on one time with Angelina it was very hard for her to sit in one spot. Angelina was diagnosed with AD/HD one month before entering Kindergarten. She was

IDS 4 constantly moving and she couldnt stay on the topic at hand. I had to continuously ask her to stop touching things and remind her that we needed to be quiet because we didnt want to distract the others in the classroom. From what I saw she was only able to stay focused for, at most, five minutes. Because she had a hard time staying focused for long periods of time, it was difficult for Angelina to be involved in the class activities. Socio-emotional Development Angelina is a very friendly little girl but lacks self-regulation. She is friends with everyone in the classroom, but acts with aggression. When she gets upset or mad she becomes physical. She has a hard time using appropriate communication skills to express her needs and wants. She has a hard time listening to the teacher and is constantly breaking the classroom rules. She is repetitively reminded that she needs to follow the classroom rules. She continuously ignores what is said by the teacher when she was explaining the assignment. Angelina would definitely benefit from a behavior intervention plan. According Eriksons Stages of Psychosocial Development, Angelina would be in the very beginning of the Play Age stage because she has a hard time communicating and initiating activities. When Angelina was in a group setting she became very disruptive. She always needed to be touching something or someone. She constantly shouted out to be heard; speaking when there was no need for it. During a period of the day all the kids had to sit on a carpet. While sitting on the carpet Angelina had many problems, she would scream when another student was too close to her. According to Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development, Angelina would be in Stage 1 because she is still developing the understanding of avoiding punishment and has a hard time listening to authorities. A functional behavior assessment may give some ideas as to why Angelina behaves this way.

IDS 5 Summary, Conclusions and Implications Angelina Wald is a little girl who is delayed in her education because of her AD/HD, vision and other unknown medical problems that she is being assessed for currently. Because Angelina cannot identify the letters of the alphabet, shapes, or numbers she is already behind in her education. Another thing that came to my attention was Angelinas behavior in a group setting. Angelina has a hard time being in a close group surrounds. I believe once her IEP is completed she will have a very normal educational experience. A huge plus about Angelina is that she loves being at school in a learning environment. The fact Angelina wants to be in school shows that she is willing to learn. A downfall to Angelina in her schooling is her behavior towards teachers and peers, making at times difficult to continue instruction because of the interruption in the class. Another downfall is her lack of being able to recognize shapes, numbers, and letters, which may result in Angelina falling being her peers. The developmental task for Angelina should include more one on one interaction with a teacher-aid and using positive reinforcement to help with appropriate behaviors. Angelina should be reassessed every quarter to check for improvement and changes in leaning. Regular feedback from Angelinas mother and aunt would help the assessment.

IDS 6 Work Cited Taylor, R., Smiley, L., & Richards, S. (2009). Exceptional students: Preparing teachers for the 21st century. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.