INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE

Individual Difference Student Profile

Chris Dixon

Natalie Tau

2022SP-EDUC-230-002W: 22SP - EDUC-230 - 002W - Intro to Special Education

Spring 2022
 Individual Difference Student Profile Essay

Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to work with an amazing little boy

who I will refer to as Eric. I was privileged to observe Eric in his kindergarten class in one of our
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local public schools. Eric is six-year-old Hispanic American child who speaks fluent English

who also suffers from a learning disability. In this essay I will be discussing the general

information of Eric along with his physical development, cognitive development, socio-

emotional development, and present my findings.

General Information

As stated in the beginning of my essay, eric is 6 years and two months old. He is in kindergarten

in a regular classroom. He is a Hispanic American boy. His main disadvantage is that he is

diagnosed with Autism which causes some delays in his learning habits and his social

interactions. Eric attend full day Kindergarten Monday through Friday at one of the local public

schools. His day in school starts at 8:50AM and goes until 3:35 when the final bell rings for the

day. When school is finished, Eric goes home where he lives with his mother and father and one

younger sibling. I was unable to observe any of his family interactions and because of that I do

not have much information about his family life only the little bit that his teacher told me which I

stated earlier in this essay. His teacher says that she and his parents having regular meetings to

make sure that his Individualized Education Program (IEP) is being utilized in the proper

way. She says that the discuss his progress and goals each time they meet.

Physical Development

Eric has brown eyes, long black hair which was always kept in a long braid in the back of

his head each time I saw him. He seemed to be about average size compared to his classmates.
He seemed to be physically healthy with no major physical problems to impede his everyday life.

The only physical problem that can be noted is that he wears glasses, but I never found out if he

was near sighted or far sighted. Eric eats school lunch provided by the school each day. His
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teacher said that he has never brought a sack lunch and is not sure if that is because he likes the

food more here or if it is better for the family because all lunches are free at this elementary

school. Eric is a right-handed boy who is able to do coloring, writing, and cutting on his own

most of the time. He did need a bit of help sometimes to keep him on course with the different

activities that we did in class. While helping him with different writing activities I did notice that

he was still developing his small muscle skills but from what his teacher told me he has

improved quite a bit over the school year. Eric is not a very social boy but does like to go to

recess and play by himself. He likes to play on the playground but does not run around like most

of the other kids do at recess. He is not as active as most 6-year-olds that I have known. He is

physical able to do what most kids are able to do but does them at a pace that suits him best.

Cognitive Development

While in kindergarten, Eric participates in most of his daily learning with the whole class,

but he does get one on one time with a helper each day to work on his handwriting and reading.

He seems to respond well to learning one on one with his teacher. This seems to follow Lev

Vygotsky’s The More Knowledgeable Other theory, which states a "more knowledgeable

other" is a person who has greater knowledge and skills than the learner. Often, this is an adult

such as a parent or teacher who provides educational opportunities (Cherry). During class eric

does have a little trouble keeping up with the work that the teacher gives each child. I noticed

that he does not always follow the instructions given to the whole class because he likes to do

things at his own pace. He does participate more when he is asked to demonstrate or answer a
question but once he has participated, he will go back to doing what he wants to do in his own

way. He enjoys doing the art projects that the class is given and when I asked him, he likes to

color he said that he “Loves it.” He does not like to participate in math and does most of the
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math work as a one on one with the teacher or a class helper. He can read and does it very well.

He can recognize the letters in the alphabet and can tell you what each one is. He is often seen

humming to himself while the rest of the class is participating as a whole.

Socio-emotional Development

When it comes to social interaction, Eric has much to learn. he seems to have no interest

in playing with any of his classmates or being in groups with them. When most of the kids are

separated into groups, he is placed at the table next to the teacher and has one on one time with

her while she helps him to the activity that the other students will do with each other. It seems he

may have trust issues with other kids, and we learn from Erik Erickson’s Trust vs Mistrust

stage that this it is the most important period of your child’s life, as it shapes their view of the

world as well as their overall personality (Cherry). The other kids in class have learned to not

bother him during group times because he will simply ignore any kids that talks to him. Because

of this most of the other students will avoid making any kind of contact with him. Eric will do

what his teacher and the teacher helpers ask him to do, and he seemed to let me help him with

many things as well with no behavioral issues. From what the teacher has told me he does not

cause problems for the rest of the class and is a well-behaved student and does not have to be

disciplined. Since he has problems working with other students, I had to learn not to try to get

him to work in a group or else he would ignore what I was saying. Eric seems to have good self-

esteem as far as I can tell from a six-year-old and will talk to me and answer basic questions and
even demonstrate what he learns but when he is done talking, he lets you know by not answering

or acknowledging what you say.

Summary
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Eric will definitely need more help as he continues his education. He will need help from

his educators as well as his family in order to help him overcome many of the obstacles that a

child who has learning exceptionality faces. Many of the challenges that he faces will come

from his diagnosis of Autism and also from the fact that he is of Ethnic decent which gives him

even more disadvantages. Even though he has overcome some of his struggles from the first of

the school year he will surely have more as he continues to learn more advanced material as he

goes on in his schooling. Overcoming his social behavior will be a goal that he and his teachers

and parents will want to work on.

Conclusion

Eric can be classified as an atypical student for a few varied reasons. One is that he is a

child who has Autism, and he is part of a minority group. Despite being physically average his

actions are that of a younger student. From everything that I learned while working with Eric it

seems that he has a great support system at his elementary school. His teacher wants him to be

successful and you can see that she does care about him. She offers praises when he participates

and does things correctly. She treats Eric with the same respect that she treats the rest of her

students and it show because he does seem to love his teacher. With this support he will continue

to get the help that he needs to overcome his issues even though it may take a long time.

Implications
 Eric is a genuinely nice little boy who does enjoy coming to school and does like to be

around his teacher. Because he is a child who has autism, he needs more help learning to interact

with his peers. Erics teacher needs to continue to help him and make sure that he is a part of the
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activities in class and continue to praise him for a well-done job. She needs to stay connected

with Erics parents and make sure that the goals that are set within his IEP are met and changed

according to how he progresses and make sure that new resources are being used to help him

improve even more.

Eric also needs to be meeting with other professionals who can help him work on his

social interactions and learn to play and work with other students his own age. He can do this by

using related services like special education teachers and other helpers.

In conclusion, Eric is capable of being a successful student and has the capability to

overcome many of his issues that he has with the correct help and support of his educators and

his family. Being diagnosed in kindergarten has given him the best chance of being a successful

student and keeping him from falling to far behind in his studies. As long as his teacher and

family members and other helpers are willing to keep working with him and provide the

interventions necessary to help him, he will have no problems learning all that he needs to know

and be a great and successful student.

 References

Cherry, K. (2021, March 7). Trust vs. Mistrust: Psychosocial Stage 1. In Very well mind.

Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/trust-versus-mistrust-2795741

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Cherry, K. (2022, April 2). Lev Vygotsky’s Life and Theories. In Verrywellfamily. Retrieved

from https://www.verywellmind.com/lev-vygotsky-biography-2795533