Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE 1

Individual Difference Student Profile

Tania Agurto

Instructor: Natalie Raass

EDUC 230: Intro to Special Education

Fall 2017
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Individual Difference Student Profile Essay

I had the opportunity to observe an amazing boy that I am going to name Jim. He is

American and attends to a public school. In the following paragraphs I will share Jim’s general

information, physical development, cognitive development, socio-emotional development and

some additional information to provide a wide description about him.

General Information

As I mentioned in the introduction, Jim is 14 years and eleven months old American boy.

He was diagnosed with Severe Autism Spectrum Disorder nevertheless one of his special

education teacher told me that they thought Jim had Asperguer syndrome because he had

normal intellectual abilities, but He had problems with his social skills. According to Hallahan,

Kauffman and Pullen “ a general rule of thumb is that persons with ADS whose intellectual and

verbal abilities are relatively high but who still have problems with social communication and/ or

repetitive/ restricted behaviors are often referred to as having Asperger syndrome” (p.217).

Jim attends school from 7:40 a.m. until 2:40 p.m., every day except Wednesday because

the school has early release. Jim’s parents are divorced therefore after school he goes to his

father’s house three days of the school week and the remaining two days he goes to his mother’s

house. His father got married again and Jim lives with him, his stepmother and his siblings. In

total there are four siblings, including Jim.

Physical Development

Physically Jim has blue eyes, short hazel blonde hair, white skin and freckles. He

is tall, I would say a little more than the average of his classmates. He has coordinated

movements, but on some occasions, he seems to have movements a little slower than his peers of

the same age. Jim’s pronunciation sometimes seems to be difficult, however, usually he can
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express appropriately. Most of the time Jim’s workspace looks chaotic because he seems to be

messy with his books. He seems to be very big to the space he has to study, what I mean is that

he seems to be always uncomfortable in his seat as if he did not have enough space.

Jim needs to wear glasses all the time. He is right handed, and he can use scissors and can

color perfectly fine, therefore he has mastered his small muscle skills. Related to Jim’s large

muscle development I could not observe him in that area since Jim does not have physical

education in his schedule, or participate in any additional sports activity at school. He does not

have breaks outside of school. Students cannot go out to the playground in recesses, I think it is

because they do not have long breaks, the longest is the lunch hour that lasts about thirty

minutes. Jim has lunch at school hence he eats healthy food.

Cognitive Development

Jim is an eighth-grade student and most of his placements are in regular classrooms.

About three weeks ago Jim attended most classes in regular classroom and complemented it with

a resource room that he attended once a day. However, after having his IEP meeting it was

decided he needed a more restrictive environment and he was referred to a special program.

Currently, Jim attends classes in regular classrooms but also attends the Planning Center three

times a day, one at the beginning of the morning, another half a day and then the final block. Jim

also have lunch at the casino that is only set aside for exceptional children, who are required to

have lunch in that place.

During classes Jim usually behaves well and focus his attention only on things he

considers interesting. Jim has a great imagination, so it is very easy for him to be distracted by

anything, however when his teachers ask him to concentrate on the subject they are studying he

does it without problems. Due to his great imagination and ability to draw, the classes he seems
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to enjoy are Language Arts and Art. Jim manages to concentrate on science, he reflects on the

content as he asks questions and makes statements about the contents. Mathematics seems to be

the class he struggles with and many times he feels frustrated (noticing his frustration), but

although it is difficult for him, he perseveres until he can understand what is being asked of him.

Because of what I observed in different classes, I can say that Jim is in the adaptation process of

formal operation stage according to Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development because he can think

hypothetical way and have deductive reasoning in most of the subjects, but he still feels

troubled with classes like math. I would like to report that Jim is accompanied by a teacher aide

to some classes with the objective of helping him to understand and focus on contents, but

unfortunately this is not a permanent accommodation, this depends on the available staff.

Socio-emotional Development

Social interaction is one of Jim's weaknesses. During the time I was observing him I

realized that he has no friends. He has classmates with whom he coincides in more than one

class, but he does not maintain friendship with them. He has a cordial relationship with his

classmates, they know Jim by name, sometimes they greet him and exchange some words, but it

is just that. On some occasions I noticed that some of his classmates felt upset or uncomfortable

with Jim's presence, especially when he had a mess around his work place, or when he made

some noise or repeat words (echolalia) or could not concentrate on classes. In some

opportunities when the above happens there are teachers who allow him to have a break and go

out to the hall to calm down.

Jim usually behaves appropriately in classes, follows instructions from his teachers and

relates well with his peers but still the interaction with adults is not close. Most of his regular
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classroom teachers do not differentiate between him and the other students, even when the class

is very large as the social studies class, it becomes extremely difficult for Jim to focus and fulfill

his assignments and often there is no an aid teacher to accompany him. When Jim is with his

special education teacher everything is different, since he cares to help him, and Jim responds to

what is asked of him, it shows that he feels comfortable, while in the other classes he often seems

to feel out of place. Jim seems to have good self-esteem, but this is only an inference since he is

not very communicative, therefore it is not easy to know how he feels. Regarding to his Socio-

emotional Development, according to Erik Erickson, he is in Industry vs. Inferiority stage

because although Jim is big in stature he is emotionally more immature than his peers, his

personality is of a child younger than he is and he is in a constant battle between work and play.

Summary

Jim is a student who behaves very well at school. His academic performance is normal

for what I was told, and even higher than the average of his peers in some subjects. His biggest

challenge is the social interaction with his peers and with adults. His life has not been easy, he

has suffered many changes that would emotionally affect any boy of his age. However, despite

all the difficulties he achieves good academic results and works daily to improve his social

challenges.

Conclusions

Jim is part of a minority group and he is an exceptional student because of his Autism

Spectrum Disorder (nearest to Asperger Syndrome). Jim’s greatest difficulty is social interaction.

I cannot assure that his family relationships are pleasant, however, what I can say is that he lives

with his father, his stepmother and siblings and has a regime of visits to his mother's house each

week. Jim receives all the support the school can provide, according to its available resources.
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Implications

Jim is an incredible child, he is very nice and funny. He tries to develop in all areas in the

most appropriate way, however despite his effort he often seems out of place.

Jim’s regular classroom teachers should make an effort to better integrate him to the

activities of each group, especially when he is not accompanied by an aid teacher. On the other

hand, it is very important he could be placed in classes where there are not many students, as it

is detrimental to his effort to focus and socialize appropriately, besides the teacher does not have

the capacity to help him in a full classroom. Another important point to highlight is the

importance of Jim's need to be accompanied to regular classroom classes, especially those that

have many students.

Without a doubt, Jim is a child who will succeed if he receives the necessary help from

his family and the school. At the moment, they have done a great job, they just need to put a little

more attention on him, and expected objectives will be achieved.

References

Sutherland, P. A. A. (1992). Cognitive development today : piaget and his critics. Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Hallahan, Kauffman, Pullen, . (2015). Exceptional Learners. United States: Pearson