1 Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE

Individual Differences Student Profile 218912 Adriana Snchez Instructor: Dr. Tracey Meyerhoeffer EDUC 205 Development / Individual Differences Online Spring 2013; online

2 Individual Differences Student Profile For his individual differences student profile, I had the opportunity to interview Langdon and his mother about the different disorders he has. He was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), Sensory Processing Disregulation and an Anxiety Disorder at about the age of two. Currently, at the age of six, Langdon is operating at Eriksons Stage 4: Industry versus Inferiority, which is a theory of psychosocial development. In this paper, I will investigate Langdon's physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development and then include a summary of my different findings and the implications they may have for the classroom setting. General Information The young boy I observed for this profile is named Langdon. Langdon is six and a half years old. He currently rotates between living with his mother and eleven year old brother, Jalen, and with his father and his eleven year old sister, Jay. He rotates between both parents houses because they are currently divorced. When he is with his father every other weekend, they tend to do lots of outdoor activities; his favorite activity is riding his 4-wheeler in the South Hills. According to my Educational Psychology textbook, Langdon responds to the divorce pretty well, but almost every day he asks, Where am I going in the morning? So, he does get confused every once in a while. Langdon is a half-day kindergartner. He starts his day off at 7:30am at one of the local day-cares in Twin Falls called Kids Can be Kids. Then, at around 11:30am, he gets on their little bus and heads to the elementary school he attends and stays there until the end of the school day at 3:30pm. On Wednesdays, he participates in AWANA, which is a program offered by his church. When he is at home, he enjoys playing video games with his brother as well as playing Bakugan, another children's game. In addition, when Langdon arranges his room, he is able to

3 put things in different classifications. Physical Development Langdon has brownish hair, blue eyes and light skin. He is dominant in his left hand. After interviewing Langdons mother, I learned that originally she thought that he was autistic because of his delayed speech and growth patterns. After being tested, it was found he was not autistic; however, he was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), Sensory Processing Disregulation, and an Anxiety Disorder. After being on medication, his home life has improved says his mother. He takes a pill three times a day for his medical needs. He takes Resperidone, which is an anti-psychotic pill, but is also used to calm people down which is why it is used in his case. Also, when interviewing his mother she said when he is sick and not feeling well and she has to give him cough syrup, she has to hold him down to take it. He doesn't do well taking medicine. However, now before going to bed, he can swallow pills like Melatonin. He doesn't mind drinking down pills, but drinking cough syrup is a completely different story. After observing him, once at school and once at home, I noticed evidence of the disorders he has. In his home, I encountered him receiving a surprise in his plan and his mood did a oneeighty. This must have been the result of the Anxiety Disorder as he was unable to prepare himself for a change. One of the things I noticed at school is that he doesn't take criticism or discipline well. Because the classroom is so structured, I think most of his issues occur outside the class. Furthermore, as far as his nutrition level, his mother has told me that he is like a garbage disposal, but he is as skinny as a twig. According to Langdon, his favorite foods are scrambled eggs, pizza, and corndogs. He absolutely drinks no pop; he says he doesnt like it. He likes ice

4 cold water or iced tea. His hearing and vision are pretty good as well. His mother tells me that he has selective hearing; he only wants to hear what he wants to hear. His gross motor skills are not too bad. When he was younger, it took him a while to learn how to potty train. He is also an adventurous child! He always wants to try something new, which I find awesome for a kid his age. Langdons fine motor skills are fantastic, he is always playing with Legos, and those contain very small pieces and parts. When at school, his penmanship is excellent for being a kindergartner. There are some students who cant write very well, but he does very well. Cognitive Development In the classroom, Langdon is a very bright child. Compared to the other kindergartners in his class, he knows all his twenty-six letter names and sounds, and he can count to one-hundred very easily. He has a three on the IRI. IRI is the Idaho Reading Indicator; an assessment measure that gauges a students reading proficiency. Three is the highest a student can receive, so he does very well. When Langdon does homework or reads in class, he uses word decoding and the phonics approach so that he can identify words by sounding them out. When Langdon is in class, he uses social learning, which is imitating and modeling his friends. As I read in the textbook Educational Psychology, I found that by the age of six, a childs vocabulary includes eight-thousand to fourteen thousand words. This certainly seems to apply to Langdon. Additionally, his syntax is strong too. Outside of the classroom, he is able to recall events from the past such as several vacation trips that happened three years ago, and he is only six years old. Private speech comes from Vygotsky's Alternative Perspectives. I have also noticed that he uses private speech, which is when the child talks to him or herself to help him/her think aloud. I noticed he uses private speech when he does his homework. Additionally, while doing math, he is able to do simple

5 math facts without using his fingers or a pencil and paper. In fact, when he does his Minute Math, he breezes right through it. Minute Math is a program that has fifty math problems. A child has to get as many done as he/she can in a minute. Langdon is not a student who needs to go to the special education class; in fact, I think he needs to be challenged a little more! I think that Langdon should be in the gifted and talented program because of his ability to do math easily, but I believe that this program is not available until the student reaches third grade. Socio-emotional Development Langdon is not a shy child; in fact, he is quite open and will speak even when he is not spoken to. Additionally, he has a difficult time taking turns and sharing as he always feels the need to be in charge of the activity or game he plays with his fellow classmates and friends. Langdon has a wonderful sense of humor. For instance, he likes telling me jokes about why the chicken crossed the road. Even though I find these jokes corny, I still laugh with him because he is adorable. Around his friends, I feel that his self-esteem is pretty high and his friends seem to respect him for who he is. In his interactions with his sibling, Jalen, he struggles to be his equal. When Langdon is with his brother and they play, they exhibit David Elkind's theory of adolescent egocentrism. While observing, I noticed they like to use the personal fable when they talk about being the hero of the game they play. Additionally, he always wants to be like Jalen and do the same things Jalen does, such as going to the skate-park. Langdon has many friends in class; several of them are different ethnicities. In school, his disciplinary issues are not bad at all. In class, he is one of those students that if he knows the answer, he calls out the answer and does not raise his hand and wait to be called on. I think that he needs to work on this behavior a little bit because I know the first grade teachers do not care for that in class. For the most part, Langdon is a respectful

6 young boy around the adults that his parents talk to, but if Langdon knows them, he is the goofball that he normally is. Summary of Major Findings Langdon has a wonderful family that helps him out when needed. In conclusion, cognitively speaking, he is beyond that of his peers. He has a wonderful personality and is serious when needed. He enjoys school because he excels at it. His favorite thing to do at school is recess and he loves going to P.E. because of all the fun and different activities that are done in class. Langdon's strengths outnumber his weaknesses. While interviewing his mother, she said, he doesn't do well taking medicine. However, now before going to bed, he can swallow pills like Melatonin. He doesn't mind drinking down pills, but drinking cough syrup is a completely different story. For my conclusions of Langdon's profile, I found that he really doesn't have any problems with his physical or cognitive development. Overall, I believe teachers need to learn about each child more in depth because some students have more needs than others. After finding which children have more needs, teachers then should be able to adapt to the different learning-styles of the children. In conclusion, although Langdon has some disorders, after taking his medications, he is a normal, annoying little boy who his family and friends enjoy being around.

7 References Bryant (2011). Teaching Students With Special Needs . United States: College of Southern Idaho. (Original work published 2011). Dow, L. D. (2013). [Individual Differences Student Profile]. Personal Interview.