Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE

Individual Differences Student Profile

Crystal Mireles

Instructor: Natalie Raass

EDUC 230: Intro to Special Education

Spring 2019
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Individual Difference Student Profile Essay

I met a little girl whom I will refer to as Amy. I was able to meet with her in her

extended resource (specialized placement, offers instruction in academics, pre-academics, pre-

vocational, and help students that require a higher level of support) classroom in a local public

school. Amy is six-years-old Hispanic American who is non-verbal and is only able to

communicate with hand gestures and one-word responses. Amy has autism spectrum disorder

combined with a language learning disability. The following sections will be discussed in the

paper; general information, physical development, cognitive development, socio-emotional

development, and summary of findings and implications.

General Information

Amy in in kindergarten. She lives with her mother, father, and two siblings in one

household. When Amy’s mother drops Amy off at school, she will bring Amy’s youngest

sibling for therapeutic 30 minute family interaction. I have witnessed the way they

communicate and treat each other. Their family interactions are caring, warm, and sincere; her

mom is a stay home mom and is involved in her academic life. These interactions are crucial for

family bonding and social growth

Amy requires a Behavioral Interventionist (BI) accompany her to her general education

classroom at all times. A BI is a qualified person who helps children with autism or other

development conditions. A BI supports Amy by helping her develop social skills, reduce

negative behaviors, and help her ability to learn in a classroom setting. Amy struggles with the

following types of communication; 1. Receptive language which involves understanding words,

sentences, and the meaning of what others are saying or what is read to them, and 2. Expressive

language, a form of communication a person uses to communicate what they want and need.
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Since Amy has limited receptive language and expressive language, she is not able to join social

groups or participate in daily routines as easily as other kids in her age group. These deficits

significantly affect her to ability to process information in and information out which in turn

affects her ability to progress in school socially and academically.

Amy has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and learning disorder. To

help assist Amy in age appropriate development she meets with a speech therapist to help with

communication barriers, and an occupational therapist to help with age appropriate

socialization and motor development. Her current communications include hugging, pushing,

facial expressions (mad, happy, sad), pulling, and other kinds of touch. She enjoys hugging

others and is extremely affectionate with people. She understand basic commands such as “sit

down and throw your trash away,” and only uses one to two word responses when

communicating (e.g. sit down, trash, no, it’s ok, pick-up). In addition to verbal communication,

she uses facial expressions when she wants items or toys, and makes sounds through her voice to

get others attention. To help Amy communicate, her BI developed a communication board

clearly outlines her needs based on verbal and non-verbal reactions, which helps staff know what

exactly she wants. Her communication board has interests she enjoys such as her dolls, play-do,

toy house, and snacks but also facial expressions such as happy, sad, mad, and excited. This

communication board helps alleviate stress caused by communication barriers.

Physical Development

Amy has long dark brown straight hair, brown eyes, and light brown skin. She has a

petite body, she doesn’t like to wear shoes and stands on her tippy toes at all times. She uses her

communication board to express her feelings from happiness to sadness but uses no eye contact

when communicating. Amy uses her right hand to eat food, grab dolls, and to touch other
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people. Amy’s large muscle development which involves the movement of the arms or legs

continues to grow as she develops awareness. One example is when we play go noddle on the

television (video shows people singing, and dancing used for imitating) Amy will dance and use

her hands to grab someone’s else’s hand and dance. She can grasp the concept when others are

dancing to music, she can also dance to music. Amy is an active little girl, she enjoys playing

outside and kicking the ball to others, and she also enjoys going down the slide with other

children. When Amy is ready to eat or have a snack, she will use her small muscle development

which helps her feed herself with a spoon, open the lid to her food container, and unzip a zip-

lock bag on her own. Amy currently is not able to use scissors to cut paper with without the

assistance of her BI or another adult present, but she can trace with a pencil when given the

materials. When Amy is ready for recess, she walks over to the bin and grabs her coat, puts it on

and zips her coat. These signs of progress show her fine motor skills are being developed as she

grows.

Cognitive Development

Amy is enrolled in the extended resource room and attends her general education

classroom less than 40% of the time she is in school. She participates in the schools

mathematical thinking and is responsive to the work. Amy can count her numbers when told to

repeat and combine each color card with the correct color number, and she can identify the

numbers given to her. During class, Amy can stay focused while working. However, she must

have her communication board with her this helps her view her end goal when she is finished

with her work. Amy is currently able to match a variety of shapes, picture cards, school items,

animals, and the letters in her name. Her primary motivation to complete work is being able to

play with her toy dolls when finished. Also, other rewards she enjoys include a doll house, hand
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slime, candy, and free time (walking around the classroom). The activities last less than 3

minutes at a time because she can’t focus for a longer time. At this time Amy can only

participate in one-on-one activities due to her attention span.

Amy’s current cognitive development aligns with Jean Piaget’s preoperational stage, in

which children use symbols, such as playing and pretending using their imagination. For

example, she has a mom, dad, and two other siblings, when she gets her toy dolls to play with,

she interacts those dolls as if they were real, sitting them next to each other, helping each other,

and hugging each other. This represents role-playing which also becomes important to children

because they understand the differences between past and future, most often children play the

role of “mommy” or “daddy.” In this example, she uses objects to represent something such as

family, which is typical in egocentrism, where children’s thought process is self-centered and

based on only personal experiences.

Socio-emotional Development

Amy struggles socially due to communication barriers which impact her ability to interact

with peers and adults. Amy is around kids her age in school but struggles to play and interact

with them because she is non-verbal. The students' in her classroom treat her with kindness and

respect but have difficulties engaging in social interactions with her due to Amy’s

communication barriers. For example, when Amy gets the opportunity to play with her

classmates outside for recess, she will take turns going down the slide but appears to be unaware

of others around her and will often bump into students if they don’t move as she slides down the

slide without saying a word. Although, she struggles socially students are aware of her

communication barriers and are understanding. Through the use of related services which

include her speech therapist, occupational therapist, special education teacher, she receives the
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support needed to communicate in a school setting. The communication she exhibits in the

classroom is limited, but through the use of her communication board, she can express her

desires and wants.

Amy’s self-concept and self-esteem are still developing through interactions with her

teachers and students in her classroom. In Erik Erickson stages of development, he discusses

when awareness of self-concept and self-esteem begin in humans. Self-concept begins in

Erikson’s initiative vs. guilt stage. In this stage, children attempt to do new things when an

opportunity arises. However, if they are made aware of doing something wrong, they

demonstrate a sense of guilt. Amy will attempt new tasks and is motivated to do well because

she receives rewards. However, when she does not complete a task or is asked to restart a task,

at times will demonstrate being angry by screaming or crying. According to Erickson, self-

esteem begins in his industry vs. inferiority stage which he argues is when children start to

develop their sense of accomplishments and abilities. At this stage, children look up to others for

encouragement and reassurance. Similar, when Amy is tasked to match items and is told she is

doing very well, she smiles and laughs which demonstrates a sense of positive self-esteem.

Amy’s development is delayed, but she is showing progress.

Summary of Findings and Implications

When Amy first started this school year, she’d through tantrums, screamed, pushed, and

kicked she quickly learned that she wasn’t going to be allowed to act that way in class. She

slowly was introduced to the communication board that helped her communicate with her

teachers and family. Amy is a sweet little girl that loves hugs and holding hands. She doesn’t

interact much with her peers but is aware that they are in the same room together.
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Amy has a great support system at school and at home. She gets that help from her BI, special

education teacher, general education teacher, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and her

family. Her ability to understanding sit, no, eat, dolls, grab, etc., has been incredible. She is on

track to achieving her goal according to her Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) and taking

the next steps to stay on track.

When Amy doesn’t get what she wanted she will scream, but this stops typically within

seconds of saying no and waiting for her to cool down. She is intelligent and bright but struggles

with self-control and is learning each day how to manage on her own with the help of her BI. I

think that with the support and encouragement from her teachers and family Amy can be

successful in school.
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References

Kirk, S., Gallagher, J., & Coleman, M. R. (2015). Educating Exceptional Children (14th ed.).

Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.