Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE 1

Individual Differences Student Profile

Jesee Thompson

Instructor: Natalie Raas

EDUC 205: Developmental/Individual Differences

Fall 2016
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Individual Differences Student Profile Essay

I have had the opportunity to observe and work with a 7 year old male, who I will refer to

as Matthew. Matthew is in the first grade at a school in West Ada School District. Matthew has

been formally diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as well as Autism

Spectrum Disorder and has been placed on an Individualized Education Plan to assist him in

successfully growing academically and socially.

General Information

Matthew comes from a very loving and supportive family. He is an only child and lives

full time with his mother and father. I had the pleasure of meeting his parents during parent

teacher conferences. It was apparent to me that they have an adequate understanding of

Matthews diagnoses and are working cooperatively with his teachers, the school and the district

to make sure he is being educated in his least restrictive environment.

Matthew is brought to and from school via specialized transportation provided by the

school district. His special education teacher is unsure if he attends a childcare facility or if child

care before and after school is done in the home. While at school, he has a dedicated

paraprofessional 90% of the day, who provides coaching during structured time (in general

education room, specials- PE, computers, library and music, and resource room) and

unstructured time (recess, lunch, transition time). The majority of his instruction is given in the

general education classroom. He does spend a total of about 1 hour 45 minutes in the extended

resource room receiving specialized instruction for reading, math and social skills.

Physical Development

In talking with teachers in the special education department at the school Matthew

attends, I was asked to exclude descriptive physical details of this student (i.e. hair color, eye
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color, skin color, ethnicity, etc) in order to protect his privacy. I will say, his general physical

appearance matches the typical first grade student. His physical build and stature is as it should

be for a child his chronological age.

Matthew large and small muscle development appears to be on par with his peers in first

grade. He is a very active seven year old. I was able to observe him at recess, where he enjoys

playing wall ball and is able play as well as any of his classmates. When it comes to his small

muscle development, I was also able to observe that he functions at an appropriate level for his

age. He is able to hold a pencil correctly, tie his own shoes, and zip his own coat. Matthew

appears to be right handed.

In regards to his health, Matthew appears to be a very healthy young boy. As it was

previously mentioned, he qualifies for special education services due to having a diagnosis of

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder. His special

education teacher indicated that Aspergers is no longer an official diagnosis used in the schools,

but he would have previously fit into this diagnosis. During a vision screening done by the

school nurse, it was suggested that he have an evaluation by an optometrist. I have since noticed

him wearing glasses while at school.

Cognitive Development

Matthew is in first grade at the same school he attended kindergarten. I do not have

information available regarding any preschool programs he may have participated in, however

the school he attends does have an Early Intervention preschool program that he may have been a

part of.

In observing Matthew, academically, he is significantly behind his peers, but he is eager

to keep up with them. Matthew often has a difficult time staying focused on the task at hand
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long enough to stay caught up with the class during times when the class is working together but

each student is writing their own answers. This tends to lead to extreme frustration for Matthew,

which can cause an emotional outburst. Matthew spends approximately 90% of his time, in his

general education classroom, so in addition to learning the content of the lesson, he is also

having to learn how to manage his frustrations. His general education teacher has created

accomodations in his assignments, by reducing the number of questions he needs to complete, in

order to help prevent him feeling as though he has not completed all of the assignment. This is

an example of partial participation.

Matthew receives his reading and math instruction in the extended resource room. He

receives about 45 minutes of leveled reading instruction and 30 minutes of leveled math

instruction each day. In addition to reading and math, Matthew is also a part of a social skills

group, meeting for 30 minutes, 5 days per week. The intent of this group is to help Matthew

develop the skills needed to properly interact with his peers as well as with adults. Matthew also

has a dedicated aid with him for much of his day who is able to assist him.

I spoke with Matthews general education teacher regarding what we have both observed

as his academic strengths and weaknesses. We agreed that math is probably his strongest

subject. He can count and has great number sense. He does struggle with place value and

decomposing numbers. He is able to add and subtract with the help of a number line. In reading

he knows all his letter sounds and is able to identify 15 kindergarten high frequency words. He

really struggles with blending letters together to make words and needs a lot of repetition to learn

high frequency words. When it comes to written language, Matthew can sound out short vowel

words but is not able to write a complete sentence independently.

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Having a diagnosis of ADHD as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Matthew struggles to

stay focused on a task for any real length of time, however he also struggles with transition and

needs to be well prepped prior to changing activities. This can lead to frustration for himself,

the teachers as well as other students who are around him. In observing Matthew, at times, it

seemed like if we could find the right balance of change and consistency, Matthew would be able

to excel. His teachers seemed to have a great understanding of this as well and have

collaborative consultations together, along with his parents to ensure they are all on the same

page and working together for Matthew. I was able to observe him early in the semester and

then again recently, and it seems as though they have made great progress with him. Most

recently when I was observing him, I watched him work independently on a worksheet that his

peers were also working on. The instructions asked the student to write each word in reverse

order to make a different word. Matthew, did not follow the directions, however he did work

independently and re-wrote all the words in less time than his peers. He was then able to read

every word to his general education teacher. This was a huge improvement from where he was a

few weeks prior. In the previous weeks, he would not have sat long enough to re-write the words

and would have reached a level of frustration where he would have had to completely stop what

he was doing and move on to something else (and possibly even leave the room to regain his

composure).

Matthew is in the Preoperational stage of Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development. He

is beginning to understand how his current actions may impact him in the future, but this is still a

difficult concept for him. An example of this is, he is learning that an emotional outburst and

refusal to complete his work during class time may cause him to miss recess and have to

complete it then when he would rather be out playing. He is able to communicate his thoughts to
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his teachers and classmates, but struggles to accept the fact that someone else may have a

different thought. Participation in his social skills group has helped him advance in this stage.

This group spends a lot of time focusing on what is an acceptable behavior and how to respond

in different situations. The students begin to learn the cause and effect of their behaviors and that

they can control them. Matthew (and his teachers) has gained behavior management tools to

help control his aggressive outburst during school.

Socio-emotional Development

Matthew has developed a good relationship with his peers. While in the general

education classroom I observed him in many interactions with the other two students that sit at

his table as well as with the rest of the students in the classroom. I observed that he would at

times have communicative intent when he was participating in casual conversations with his

peers. I did not see him initiate many conversations, but he would join in and participate

frequently. Many of his peers are aware that he is behind academically and enjoy working next to

him to help him, peer tutoring. Matthews teacher is very cognizant of the relationships he has

with his classmates and makes sure she keeps students sitting next to him that he works well with

and that respond well to him. All of this being said, I did notice that Matthew was more

frequently upset by his peers and their actions (intentional and unintentional) and his responses

were much more dramatic than that of a typical student.

When interacting with adults, I noticed Matthew having more issues than he did with his

peers. I noticed that if he was interacting with an adult that he is comfortable with he would

have one of two reactions he would either behave very well or he would have a complete fit or

meltdown. He did not seem to have an in between. When he was interacting with adults that he
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does not know or is less comfortable with, he was very reserved and timid. When pushed to

open up or interact with these adults it would usually result in him having a fit or meltdown.

There was one instance in the beginning of my observations where the paraprofessional

assigned to work with him was at lunch and his general education teacher asked me to help sit by

him and try to help him stay on caught up with the class. He was not yet familiar with who I was

or what my role was, and he made it clear he was uncomfortable with me. When I would try to

help him he would turn away and avoid me. If I or his general education teacher would try to

pull his attention back to the assignment he would resist and ultimately he ended up screaming at

me to go away. When I turned away from him and acted as if I was helping another student he

eventually settled down, and by the end of the assignment he was letting me provide him

minimal help. It was as though he saw that his peers trusted me and he trusted them so he was

slowly willing to let me in.

During my observations of Matthew I noticed him being extremely critical of himself.

There were many times that when he was frustrated he would make comments like I cant do it

or I wont ever be able to do it. He seemed to give up on himself frequently and was hesitant

to put too much effort into something out of fear of having to do it again because he did it

wrong the first time.

I was able to talk to Matthews special education teacher and asked her about his socio-

emotional development. She reported that this is definitely an area that he struggles. In an

attempt to help him in this area Matthew is a member of a social skills group that meets every

day for 30 minutes. In this group they spend extra time reinforcing behaviors that are hidden

curriculum for the general school population (how to walk quietly in the hall, playground

expectations, etc). In addition to the repetitive teaching of school wide expectations, they also
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work on things like good sportsmanship, social cues, making friends, and identifying emotions

(his own as well as other). This group gives Matthew the opportunity to learn adaptive

behavior skills he can use in any social setting. In reviewing Ericksons Stages of Psychosocial

Development, I would say that Matthew is in the Purpose stage, that of a preschooler. He is

trying to develop an understanding of is it ok for me to. Is it ok for me to walk around the

room when others are sitting on the carpet? Is it ok for me to play on the iPad when I am

supposed to be doing the worksheet? Matthew is still determining socially and academically

acceptable behaviors that his peers have already developed.

Conclusion

Overall, I feel that Matthew is a bright young boy with amazing potential. He struggles

academically due to becoming easily frustrated and not understanding why he is not the same as

his peers. He thrives from positive reinforcement and working toward rewards. As he

progresses through school it is going to be critical that his teachers; general education, special

education, past, present and future, all work together to keep a consistent routine in place.

Having ADHD, Matthew needs to have short sessions of each subject throughout the day. This is

complicated by the fact that he also has autism, and does not handle transitions well. Therefore,

it is critical that a very structured schedule is maintained each and every day with little to no

variance. In the little amount of time I have known him, Matthew has already grown and

progressed so much socially and academically. I am grateful that I get to continue to work at the

school he attends so I can continue to watch him grow.

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References

Hallahan, Daniel P., Kauffman, James M., Pullen, Paige C. (2015). Exceptional Learners: An

Introduction to Special Education (13th Edition). Pearson