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William Joseph

Natlie Tau

Educ-230

5/8/2023

Individual Differences Student Profile

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Introduction

This semester I had the opportunity to observe an 8th-grade math resource room. The

students who were in this class were on individualized education plans (IEP). An IEP is a plan

put in place to ensure students with specific disabilities succeed in school. For the students to

succeed, the plan includes accommodations, modifications, and resources for the students.

Accommodations are changes that are made to the environment and format of the curriculum but

the student is still expected to succeed with the same goals as their peers. An example of an

accommodation is letting the student who has trouble with social situations work on their own

when it is time for group work. However, a modification is a change in the curriculum to meet

the student's needs. This may include making the assignment easier depending on their learning

disability. During my observation, I also had the opportunity to observe a student who was on an

IEP. At the end of my observations, I was asked to discuss information about the student. For

confidentiality, we will call him Stu Dent. In this paper, I will give general information about

Stu, his Physical development, cognitive development, and Socio-emotional development. There

was some information I was not able to get but I will discuss what I was able to observe on those

topics.

General Information

The first day I walked into the math resource room I had to find a student I wanted to

observe. There were a total of six students that day, three boys and three girls. The students were

loud and comfortable in this classroom. But one student stuck out to me and I wanted to do my

paper on him. This student was quiet and sat in the middle of the classroom. Stu Dent is an

eighth-grade student and he is around the ages of 13 and 14. I was not able to get the exact years

and months. Stu is a male and his ethnicity is Hispanic. I was not able to get much information
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about Stu’s family but I do know that both parents are in his life. I know this because the teacher

asked him if he knew how to use a tape measure from working with his dad and he also asked if

his mom was coming to parent-teacher conferences. So I can conclude that his parents are

present but I do not know if Stu has any siblings at home. For his schedule, I know that Stu went

to school the same amount of time as his peers. I do not know what his schedule looked like out

of school but bringing it back to what the teacher asked him about his dad. I wonder if he worked

with his dad when he was not doing school which could affect his schooling.

Physical Development

For his physical development, Stu has brown eyes, black hair, and brown skin. Stu has a

scar on the left side of his head that is a few inches long. He looks like he is developing similarly

to his peers however he is bigger than most of his peers. He is the same height and has similar

features to his peers but he is more overweight than his peers. Stu does not have any chronic

health problems that I know about and from observing outside features he looks fairly normal.

He sits in the middle of the class and seems to see just fine without glasses so he does not have

any visual impairments that I know about. Stu does not look physically fit but I was not able to

attend his physical education class so I do not know the extent of his physical fitness and health.

Stu’s small muscles for motor skills like the ones for holding pencils work normally. I know this

because he holds his pencil in his right hand and can write just fine when they do tasks in their

workbooks. He also uses his fingers when he is typing and playing games on his computer. His

large muscle groups work well from what I have observed. He walks fine and the teacher

mentioned doing an outside activity with those students, so I am assuming he can run and use

those large muscle groups.

Cognitive Development
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In Stu’s resource math class, his math level starting this year was 4th-grade math. He

would do this material on his own during class time on a Chromebook. The way they set up the

class period is twenty minutes of the workbook that has materials they are learning in their main

math class. Then the rest of the period they did online self-paced work based on their math skill

level from a pre-test at the beginning of the year. Stu was passing that resource class when I was

observing and I was not able to get his grades but I did notice that Stu was not in the ELA

resource room. So this observation tells me that Stu mostly struggles with math. Stu was also a

very motivated student when it was time to work. When I mentioned that he played games that

was only when there was free time for the last five minutes of class. Out of the whole class, I

would say Stu was the most motivated one there. I say this because the other students would be

talking and Stu would be working. The teacher even told me that Stu was one of the students

who made the most progress this year. During teacher instruction, Stu would be paying attention

and would fill out the worksheet. Sometimes he would shout out answers but only if he was

certain that they were right and He seemed hesitant at times. But then there were other times he

was just answering every question so that is why I think he answers when he is certain he knows

the answer. His peers on the other hand tend to blurt out answers without thinking about the

question. For Stu’s cognitive development, I will be focusing on his learning in mathematics and

his stage of Piaget's theory. Jean Piaget was a theorist who believed there are four stages of

learning and each stage has an age at which they normally start. I was having a hard time trying

to figure out which stage of Piaget’s cognitive development Stu should go into. Because his

learning characteristics are all over the place. But I am deciding to put Stu in the Concrete

operational stage. In his math class, he is able to put equations together, put numbers in order,

and understand the steps of equations. But I do not think Stu is in the Formal operational stage
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because I know he struggles with math that requires abstract thinking or a lot of equations. But

on the other hand, I saw Stu using strategy in his video games so it is hard to say where Stu is in

his cognitive development stage. But again I am going to put him in the concrete operational

stage because he also has a hard time with planning to reach his goals without the teacher’s help.

Socio-emotional Development

Stu only interacted with his peers before class, during free time, or after class. Again

when it was time to work Stu focused on his work until the teacher said he was good to have free

time. When he did interact with his peers he would communicate with them for a little bit but

his peers were mostly holding the conversation. He also talked with his peers when they did

Cooperative learning which is also known as group work. I also think that the other students in

the class were his friends because they would be competitive with each other and see who passed

the most checkpoints on their online work. Stu had a good relationship with his teacher. He was

not afraid to ask for help when he was stuck and was not afraid to answer the teacher’s questions.

With me in the room, however, he seemed a little cautious in a way. This is understandable

because there is a stranger who is sitting close to you and looking at you. We never talked to

each other but his peers would often ask me what I was doing in their class. From my

observations, I think Stu is mostly to himself but still is able to create relationships with his peers

and teachers. For Stu’s Self Esteem, I think he was cautious around his peers at times. For

example, I mentioned that Stu would only answer questions when he fully understood the

answer. When he got an answer wrong he would put his head down and look at his notes. Almost

shielding his face from everyone for a moment. So I think there were times he was embarrassed

for getting things wrong or he got bullied in the past. I also do not know what his self-concept

was. Erick Erickson was another theorist and he came up with psychosocial stages of
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development. These stages are like Piaget’s theory but they are for socio-emotional

development. There are 8 stages and I think Stu fits into the Industry Vs Inferiority which is

stage 4. Stu fits this stage because he is motivated by the teacher’s praises. I know this because

Stu will tell the teacher when he passed a checkpoint in his online program. I also see him smile

when the teacher congratulates him for getting the correct answer. I think the recognition is

where Stu gets the most motivation from inside of school because he wants to keep working hard

when he is told he did a good job.

Summary, Conclusions, and Implications

For the general domain, Stu is at a typical domain for the most part. But I will say that a

lot of his peers have single parents so if he has both of his parents, I would say he is above the

typical in that domain. In the Physical domain, I would say Stu is most typical. He is a little

overweight but with puberty and everything he will most likely lose all of that before high

school. So overall he is doing well in that domain because he can use his large and small

muscles, does not have health problems that I know about, and is similarly physically mature to

his peers. For the cognitive domain Stu is behind and I know this because the math that he

started with at the beginning of the year was Fourth-grade math which is not age-appropriate

math. So Stu needs a little extra help in this area. For Stu’s Socio-emotional domain he is a little

behind I think because he is highly motivated by recognition (stage 4) and not in the stage he

should be in regarding his age.

Stu’s strengths include motivation and his attention to getting tasks done when he is told

to. When Stu was asked to work he was quiet and worked the whole time. His weaknesses are

understanding harder math concepts. Trying to put those abstract concepts together is a challenge

for him.
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If Stu was in my class I would do several things to support him. First I would have him

start learning how to plan on his own. Starting with a little plan for the class period, then the

week, then maybe even the month. I would let Stu plan out his homework schedule so that he

could practice that skill. I want to teach him self-determination and self-management so he can

set his own goals and strive for them and be responsible for his life and consequences. I would

also use praise as a reward for Stu often and remind him that he did great and that he worked

hard. I would also encourage Stu to not be embarrassed when he gives a wrong answer. That

failure is a stepping stone to success. I would also have to give Stu clear instructions on what I

want him to do for the day because once he understands them he does them. It would not be as

specific but I could use an explicit teaching method which is delivering information concisely

and to the point. Lastly, I would just talk to Stu and ask him how he is doing (not prodding of

course) . I think this is an important aspect because these kids are going through a lot mentally

and physically and need someone to at least ask how they are doing and if they need any support.

That concludes my paper, I am happy I had this opportunity to observe this classroom

and this student. I think this paper and this class opened up the Special education door and I

might pursue that in the future, thank you.

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References

● Educating exceptional children, 14th edition - cengage. (n.d.).

https://www.cengage.com/c/educating-exceptional-children-14e-kirk/9781285451343

● YouTube. (2018, August 1). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhcgYgx7aAA&pp=ygUOcGlhZ2V0cyB0aGVvcnk

%3D

● YouTube. (2017, April 23). 8 stages of development by Erik Erikson. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYCBdZLCDBQ&pp=ygUPZXJpY2tzb24gdGhlb3J