Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE 1

Individual Differences Student Profile

Michele Dimond
EDUC 205 CO4W Development/Individual Differences
Spring 2014
Professor Tracey Meyerhoeffer
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE 2


Individual Differences Student Profile
For this individual differences student profile, I was privileged to interview and write
about Stacey, a beautiful girl I have known since her birth. She has struggled with learning
disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/HD), and auditory problems since
she was a young child. Over the years, I have watched her overcome these obstacles to succeed
in a school setting and not let her disabilities define her as a person. In this profile, I will share
some of her history and how the general information concerning her physical, cognitive, and
socio-emotional development has influenced her academic progress. Additionally, I will provide
a summary of my findings and how this information might pertain to the classroom.
General Information
Stacey is a 16 years and 6 months old Caucasian from an English speaking home. She
has four siblings. A 21 year old sister lives in South Dakota. Another sister, 18 years old, attends
college in Virginia. Stacey also has a brother, 14 years old, and a sister who is 12 years old,
living with her. The three children rotate every other week between their mothers and fathers
homes due to their parents divorce this past summer. Her fathers girlfriend is also frequently
there. This has meant some adjusting for everyone. Stacey is a sophomore in high school. Her
schedule starts at 5:30 a.m. when she wakes. She attends seminary at 7:00 a.m., then school starts
at 8:25 and goes until 3:15 p.m. After school, Stacey has track practice until 5:00 p.m. After
practice, she does homework and chores until bedtime at 10:00p.m. At her fathers house, she
and her siblings are alone until he gets home around 6-7:00 p.m. Staceys mother works at the
school, and is home when the kids are, but then she has her own homework to do. To help her
family out, Stacey is relied on to help with cooking and cleaning. When she has time, Stacey
likes to ride motorcycles with her siblings, hang out with friends, and loves to swim.
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Physical Development
Stacey is a lovely teenager with dark brown eyes that always twinkle and has a smile on
her face most of the time. Her small bone structure makes her 53 frame quite slender. Her
chestnut hair compliments a tan skin tone. Due to an injury to her jaw, she has a scar on her
right cheek and chin. Additionally, she bites her nails when nervous or bored. Staceys physical
maturation falls in the normal range for her age group and is developing at the same rate as most
of her friends.
Staceys general health is good; however, she is a worrier and complains of a pain in her
stomach that could be an ulcer. Furthermore, she has had several broken bones or sprains that
have led to her using her left hand for many things even though she is right handed. Stacey has
had many problems with her hearing due to numerous ear infections and tubes when younger. As
a result, she is in the process of getting hearing aids due to a mild hearing loss. She is excited
and hopes they will help her hear better, but she is also nervous of what the other students will
say about them. Stacey has also had problems with fine motor skills in the past and received
occupational therapy. Her large motor skills are satisfactory although she does tend to be
uncoordinated and slower at developing basic skills such as riding a bike, so she has found that
running during track season is her favorite physical activity. Her diet is not very good as she is a
very picky eater and will not eat much.
Cognitive Development
Stacey is on an individual education plan (IEP) due to learning disabilities in reading and
math, as well as having mild ADHD which she has learned to control on her own. Furthermore,
she has struggled with reading comprehension since starting her schooling. As a result, she has
been pulled-out for Title I services, which is specially designed instruction for reading. She
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has been mainstreamed all through her education, but often missed subjects for pull-out classes.
Additionally, she had speech therapy and used an FM system in elementary school. This was
removed after elementary school due to her progress. Stacey is receiving help in reading
comprehension through special education classes. As a result, she goes to a Basic English class
taught by a special education teacher. In that class, they work on her visual processing and
comprehension as these are her lowest areas of learning. She has progressed enough that next
year she will be put in an intermediate ISAT (Idaho Standards Achievement Tests) class instead.
In addition, Stacey gets some modifications on assignments and tests in her general education
classes. The teachers may modify, shorten, and extend the time to complete them, or she can
have the assignments read to her in a directed studies class. She relies on her mother at home to
help with reading her homework as well. As a result of all her hard work, she has a B average on
her report card. Stacey has made vast improvements since elementary school. At that time, she
was extremely self- doubting and felt she was stupid. Now, she tries her hardest and does not
give up. She has to be reminded to use her modifications as she would rather just be normal
like other students. She is attentive in class and participates when called on, even volunteering
answers in math. She has improved in verbal comprehension and in her writing, but does
struggle in processing visual information which negatively impacts her ability to do math at the
same pace as fellow students. Her reading disability also adversely affects areas of her academic
studies, but she works hard and turns in all her assignments.
Stacey seems to be operating in stage four, the formal operational stage, of Piagets
stages of cognitive development. Stacey is able to use logical thought processing to help solve
problems independently. Generally, she learns faster with hands- on approaches to all areas of
study as she struggles in math and science to manipulate the information to sequentially order
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the visual information given. Stacey does come up with some creative strategies to problem
solving. Essentially, she does well and gains confidence in herself with scaffolding, or breaking
the assignments into smaller sections and building upon them as she gains understanding of the
concepts being taught. Stacey is in equilibration at this time. She is considering options for
college as she wants to be a veterinarian; however, her disabilities cause her some concern.
Socio-emotional Development
In general, Stacey interacts well with her peers; however, she is a little shy and tends to
stay in smaller groups of friends. She has made progress here though, and now enjoys school
more. She has chosen to do track this year which helps give her a feeling of belonging. On the
whole, she tends to group with other students of the same socio-economic backgrounds. Stacey
has always been respectful of adults and often gets along with them better than kids her own age.
This has changed some as she has grown older. For example, she now has a harder time asking
teachers for help.
Stacey is in the stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion. This is Erik Eriksons stage 5 of
psychosocial stage of development. She is trying to find where she fits in at this stage of her life.
First, she is interested in dating and is starting to think more about college. Second, she has had
to deal with her parents divorce and has had to rely on her mom less for help with homework
and problem solving. As a result, she is gaining more independence and self-confidence. As a
result, she is learning that she can handle a crisis by herself. Stacey feels that she has more
control over her future, but knows that her mom will still be there to help if needed. She also fits
in James Marcias Identity station known as the third status, moratorium. She has a desire to
explore her options for the future but is not yet ready to commit to any set goals. Primarily, she
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attends church and tries hard at school to please her parents but she attends school activities to
please her friends.
Summary, Conclusions, and Implications
Stacey is a well-balanced, teenage student with learning disabilities. She does well in her
mainstream classes while working hard to compensate for her learning disabilities. On the whole,
she will still need modifications for her reading and hearing as she moves to a mainstream
English class. She is socially, physically, and emotionally healthy. For the most part, she
struggles with the microsystems involved with moving back and forth each week to a different
house and parental requirements, but she is adjusting. Essentially, she is excited to get her
hearing aids and feels they will help improve her academic skills. She is making new friends and
is more willing to ask for help with her studies at school instead of relying on her mom.
Staceys strengths are her ability to adapt to her learning needs and her perseverance and
desire to achieve success. Chiefly, she does require help to accomplish some of her reading and
comprehension goals, and she needs some adaptations to help with her hearing loss. This will
come in the form of the teachers giving her copies of their lecture notes, providing an FM system
if needed, and using preferential seating in the class. Additionally, she will continue to get help
with visual processing. She is learning reading strategies in small, skill-aligned groups that will
allow her skills to progress. Moreover, she has some strength in her verbal comprehension,
visual motor, and visual spatial skills that are used to help develop ways to strengthen her
weaknesses in processing.
Some strategies for teaching Stacey would be to implement technology such as audio
books. Teachers could make notes available in print for her to use as needed which would aid her
processing skills as this is her weakest area. However, the most important strategy would be to
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communicate with parents and other teachers more. Including Stacey in the IEP meetings and
Parent/Teacher conferences could develop her intrinsic motivation. Being able to provide her
own input on how she feels or what she would like to see happen would give her ownership of
her intellectual growth.
In conclusion, Stacey is a bright teenager with some minor learning disabilities. She is
determined to succeed academically and shows resiliency to do so. Moreover, she has learned to
compensate for her hearing loss as well as her learning disabilities. In the future, she will need to
find out who she is and what she wants to become, but I believe that Stacey is quite capable of
this challenge and will be able to accomplish all she sets out to do in her future.

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References
Berns, R. M. (2013). Child, family, school, community: Socialization and support (9th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Oswalt, A. (n.d.). James Marcia and self-identity. Retrieved from
http://sevencounties.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41164&cn=1310