Running Head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE 1

Individual Difference Student Profile

Karen Hernandez

Professor Natalie Rass

EDUC 230: Development/Individual Differences

Fall 2017
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Individual Difference Student Profile Essay

Few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to observe a little exceptional student to whom in

this writing I will refer to as Jaz. The exceptional student I observed was a preschool student.

She was attending a Migrant Seasonal Head Start program, which was from June through

November. Jaz is a Mexican American girl who suffers a developmental delay in speech. In the

following paragraphs, I will discuss Jaz’s general information, physical development, cognitive

development, socio-emotional development, and provide a summary of important findings.

General Information

Jaz is a four years and eight months old Hispanic girl. Jaz’s only impediment is that she

suffers from speech delay. Jaz lives with her family, her mom, sister, and grandmother. Her

older sister is fifteen years old. When her sister was little, she also had a developmental speech

delay but with therapy, she is now able to pronoun words and talk clearly. Jaz attended the

preschool program from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM most of the days, except for Tuesdays and

Wednesdays when she would go with therapist for two to three hours for her speech progress.

Her mom would take her to school and pick her up. When at home Jaz would play with her little

cousin who attended the same program as well. Jaz primary language is Spanish, however she

also understands English.

Physical Development

The little four year old, girl with her bright and black eyes got people to smile because

she conveys happiness. The color of her hair is a shiny black. The little girl had dark skin color.

She had a birthmark on her left arm. It was the only visible mark she had. The physical

maturation for her was the same as any non-exceptional student of the same age as hers. She

has good general health, except for her vision. She wears glasses because she needs them for her
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vision. However, she could hear really well and she does not have any chronic health problems.

As I observed the girl doing school activities, she used her left hand to accomplish most tasks.

Then I asked to make sure and yes, the teachers said she was left handed. Although, she

accomplished most of the tasks with her left hand she will also use her right hand. For her

physical fitness, she was placed in a nutrition program because she would not know the texture

of some foods however, now she is not in the program anymore because now she is able to

recognize most textures of foods. She is a slow eater and does not eat the entire size portion, as

other kids of her same age will do. That is the only thing but other than that, she is physically fit.

For her large muscle development she was able to play kickball with her other friends but she

kicks the ball with the left foot. She can play in the seesaw and slides without any complications.

She can write, color, paint, cut, and do other activities on her own. Her large and small muscles

are well developed.

Cognitive Development

When observing little Jaz. I observed unique qualities in her. Jaz is a four-year-old

student whom I observed very closely. She is currently in a head start program, a preschool

student. Jaz spends about eight hours each day in the preschool classroom. However, she is

placed in a special education program because she has some speech delay; currently she is not

able to make certain sounds of certain words. She goes with a speech therapist twice a week for

2 to 3 hours where she gets help for her speech. She has been making progress and with the help

of the special education teacher, they hope she will reach her annual goals.

In terms of academic strengths, she has plenty of them. She is very talented and is a girl

who learns at the same pace as her other peers, the only exceptionality is her speech but other

than that, she is very smart. She learns plays, participates, and do things her peers do. In the
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classroom, she learns very easily, she knows what the letter of her name is, she knows her mom’s

name, she writes out her name, she knows some colors, and she knows the numbers from one to

10. She is dedicated student who even help her friends figure out things. The students were in

their free playtime and they were playing with puzzle, and little Jaz was one the first ones who

finished her puzzle and then she helped her friend find the missing pieces for the friend's puzzle.

Jaz pays close attention when the teacher is delivering a lesson. She stays quiet and focus in

other to learn. She participates in academic activities. As I mentioned previously she is engaged

to learn when the preschool teacher is delivering the lesson. She follows in the Preoperational

Stage of the Piaget Cognitive Development Stages. I had two markers and asked her which

marker was bigger she said, "both" meaning that they both were the same and yes they both were

the same. She is very attentive and pays attention to close details. Her attention span is as of

those typical students. Jaz is one of those outstanding students who goes to school ready to learn

each day.

Socio-Emotional Development

Jaz is a girl with a warm heart full of emotions. She is a kind friend who talks and plays

with all of the students in her class. I saw that many other classmates go to her to play together.

They enjoy playing with little Jaz. Her interactions with peers seem to be all-good. However, I

have to observe some interactions with her mom as she would take her to school and pick her up

to go home. In the mornings Jaz’s mom would leave Jaz and her little cousin, the cousin would

always tell her aunt, “adios Tia, te quiero”, (bye aunt, I love you). While Jaz would not even say

bye to her mom. Another time, the mom came inside the classroom and told Jaz to get her stuff

to go home, Jaz was still playing but she could hear her mom but instead she decided to ignore

her mom. Until the teacher told Jaz to get, her stuff was when she cleaned up her toys and got her
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backpack. After those scenarios I talked to the preschool teacher and ask her if that was a

common thing and yes she told me that Jaz’s mom has tell her that she doesn’t know why Jaz

acts very different with her. Those were the only family interactions I was able to observe.

In terms of Jaz’s self-esteem I could observe, she was very confident the way she is. She

was always happy, I personally think Jaz is happy the way she is. Unless in the future she may

change in attitude or perspective but at this point I can say she has a good self-esteem. Jaz is in

the Early Childhood: Initiative vs Guilt of Erickson Socio-Emotional Development Stage. As I

observe Jaz when she was playing in the playground, she seems to have the initiative. She told

her friends to go to the slides and they went after her. Those specific actions shows that she is

developing in that stage.

Summary of Findings and Implications.

After observing Jaz for fifteen hours, I was surprised of her abilities. She functions

perfectly fine that if I did not know I would never thought she has speech delay. The therapy will

definitively help Jaz with her speech and eventually she would not need more therapy.

Assessing if Jaz is typical student in all of the categories mentioned before, I will say that she is

for most of them. For the general category, she demonstrates to be a typical student; she lives

with some of her family members and lives in a healthy environment. For the physical domain,

she can also be considered a typical student because she looks and is physically normal. She does

not have any genetic or accident deformities, neither a physical disability. For her cognitive and

socio-emotional domains, she could be in the non-typical student because of her developmental

delay. Her speech delay is associated with her cognitive development and since she is not

completely developed with, her speech she can considered an untypical student. Those strange

interactions with her mom can lead to say she could also have some socio-emotional deficits. It
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is not so common to observe a preschool act that way with her parents. In the majority of the

cases, young children always tend to appreciate their parents and love them without condition.

Everything they do at school they save it for their mom and/or dad. If Jaz continue with a

behavior like that towards her mom, she may need some behavior management. Jaz’s strengths

are she is an attentive student who is always willing to learn, she perseveres until she meets her

goals, and she takes initiative on things. She excels in almost everything. At her young age, her

only needs are that she needs to be constantly reminded to eat her full serving of food, if people

do not remind her she will not eat her food. We can implied that her strengths are due to the

capacity most left-handed people have. She is definitively capable of achieving whatever she

may want. As the child progresses with her speech, she can be observed from time to time to see

that she actually have excelled in her speech delay. If Jaz continues to have those negative

behaviors towards her mom, she could be evaluated before it becomes something chronic.

Observing Jaz made realized many things that students with a learning or intellectual disability

may have.