Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE 1

Individual Differences Student Profile

Paige Gurney

Instructor: Natalie Tau

EDUC-230 Introduction to Special Education

Fall 2022
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Individual Difference Student Essay

This semester, I have had the opportunity to observe a sweet boy that I will refer to as

Andy. Andy is an eight-year-old second grader in a general education classroom at a public

school. Because he is a younger student, he is identified as simply having developmental delay.

However, the school’s resource room teacher explained that Andy will need a hard, specific

diagnosis by the age of ten. In this paper I will discuss Andy’s general information, physical

development, cognitive development, socio-emotional development, and make a summary of

findings and implications through the perspective of an educator.

General Information

Andy is a well-behaved, eight-year-old second grader in the general ed. classroom at a

public school. He has sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes. Andy lives at home with both of his

parents. I was not able to observe Andy’s home life, so I do not have any insight on this part of

his ecology. Andy does not require any assistive technology for sight, hearing, mobility, or

communication. For now, he is identified by the school as having a developmental delay. So, at

this point, the school does not use specific evidence-based intervention; rather, intuitive goals

have been set by Andy’s general education teacher, resource teacher, and parents in an

individualized education plan. An IEP is a written guide that outlines a student's strengths and

weaknesses and describes measurable goals that both the school and parents desire the student to

meet in school.

Physical Development

Andy is a physically healthy eight-year-old and appears to be just as physically developed as

his classmates. He is not smaller or larger than any of his counterparts nor does he have any

physical abnormalities. As mentioned above, he does not require any assistive technology. Andy
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does have repetitive movements that include any combination of flapping his hands, shrugging

his shoulders, or pinching his cheeks. This typically happens when he is excited but did appear to

occasionally happen at random. During some observations, the repetitive movements appeared to

happen more often while none occurred during other observations. I observed two recesses over

the course of fifteen non-consecutive hours. Andy does enjoy the outdoors, but I did not see him

play any games or seek them out. (I will discuss this further later in this paper.) During one

recess, he walked back and forth along the edge of the bark area. He occasionally hopped,

skipped, or flapped his arms. During P.E., Andy participated in the day’s game and appeared to

be having a lot of fun! Andy appears to have typical motor memory.

Cognitive Development

Andy’s cognitive development is where he appears to differ slightly from his second-grade

counterparts. During my observations, Andy did not often raise his hand to participate or ask

questions in his general education or specials classes. However, during one session, I observed

him participate for vocabulary! During transitions, Andy glances at the daily classroom schedule

even if his teacher has given instruction on what to do next. This observation was particularly

insightful to me. Andy exemplified healthy semantic memory and self-management in taking

control of his education by making sense of his environment and applying that knowledge in a

way that works well for him. Andy does not immediately acknowledge that he has heard or

understood directions. Despite being a few-steps behind his classmates during classroom work

and transitions, he does not need reminding or cueing. However, his classmates do occasionally

lean over to remind him of something like a page number. Andy is competent on his laptop and

online educational programs. It is important to note that Andy communicates well and can

express himself like his classmates. However, Andy does not speak often. It was so rare
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throughout my observations, that when he did suddenly speak up, it was very surprising to me.

This was not because I did not believe him to be capable but because it seldom happened. Andy

does not require any differentiated instruction yet. He works on assignments and projects along

with his classmates but at a slower pace. From what I observed, he does not struggle with his

schoolwork. He takes frequent quiet breaks to wiggle his pencil or look around the classroom.

(He often appears to be off in his own world yet not out of touch which his environment.) Andy

does not appear to have malfunctioning mirror neurons. These are the “monkey-see, monkey-

do” cells that allow a person to imitate speech and action. I mention this in my findings because

I observed him frequently peering over at what other classmates were doing during transitions or

after instruction. I made another observation that I am not sure whether is related to cognitive,

socio-emotional development or both. I had substituted in his class twice and had already

observed a handful of hours before Andy was able to look at me with recognition and say my

name. This was significant to me because his classmates knew me after the first day and

remembered me well the next time they saw me.

Socio-emotional Development

It is in this area that Andy appears to have significant interindividual differences. I

mentioned before that during recess, Andy does not seek out games or interactions with

classmates. This is one of the more apparent observable traits. Occasionally, classmates would be

near him and although this does not bother him, he does not choose to interact with them. On one

occasion, his teacher attempted to facilitate an interaction between him and one other student.

She instructed him to ask this student something and he only took a half step in the direction of

the student and appeared to be very hesitant as if he lacked the schema to assimilate social

interaction. Jean Piaget theorized that when an existing schema does not work for a situation, a
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typically developing child will accommodate to adjust or create a schema or “recipe” to

effectively navigate a situation. The interaction between Andy and the other student did not

happen despite the teacher’s facilitation and scaffolding and she ended up asking the question for

him. Andy appears to struggle with both assimilation and accommodation when it comes to

social interaction. However, when another classmate speaks to Andy, this does not appear to

upset him, and he is responsive though not verbally. Apart from social interaction, Andy is not

disruptive and did not become overwhelmed in any way during my observations. He follows

directions and is a very sweet boy! Andy has a big smile and enjoys Junie B. Jones, art projects,

and P.E. class. On one occasion, Andy finished a math diagnostic for progress monitoring and

excitedly announced this to his teacher! Although he is not a social child, he seems to have

healthy emotional development.

Summary of Findings and Implications

Andy’s teacher keeps a wonderful learning environment that is supportive of all students and

sensitive to Andy’s interindividual differences. She is patient and even attempts to facilitate

social interaction between Andy and his classmates. It is apparent that she does this for the

inclusion of Andy but also to build understanding and acceptance in his classmates. It is unclear

what tier of a response to intervention Andy will need as he gets older and moves up the

academic ladder. However, it is obvious that he will need to develop confidence and may even

require scaffolding for social interaction. While this doesn’t explicitly fall under key common

core standards, healthy social interaction will greatly benefit Andy’s academic development and

be critical for his transition to adulthood. Bronfenbrenner described a child’s development as a

result of a complex and interwoven ecological system. A child’s interaction with their

environment directly affects the response of the environment back to the child and each
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concentric system (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem) is

impacted by the others. These systems are inherently connected by the child and their

interactions within and between the systems. From the perspective of an educator, it appears that

Andy will need patience in the classroom and from his teachers but will benefit most from a

focus on social development and creating meaningful relationships throughout school and for his

lifetime. “Teachers should not assume that only what is measurable is valuable,” While Andy

will no doubt go through a lot of performance assessments throughout his time in school, his

socio-emotional development should be nurtured as naturally and wholly as possible by his

educational team.
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References

Guy-Evans], [O. (1970, January 1). [Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory].

https://www.simplypsychology.org/Bronfenbrenner.html. Retrieved December 13, 2022,

from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Bronfenbrenner.html

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

Cengage Learning: CT

Mcleod, S. (2020, December 7). Jean Piaget's theory and stages of cognitive development. Jean

Piaget's Theory and Stages of Cognitive Development - Simply Psychology. Retrieved

December 13, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html