Running head: IDSP 1

Individual Differences Student Profile

Tayzia E. Stark

Instructor: Natalie Raass

EDUC 230: Introduction to Special Education

Fall 2018
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Individual Differences Student Profile

I have had the privilege of observing a fourth-grade girl, whom I will refer to as Anna, at

one of the local elementary schools. I watched her in both the resource and general education

classrooms to help me get an idea of what she experienced in both environments. I went to

observe her at least twice per week for nearly two months. In that short amount of time, I was

able to see an outstanding amount of growth and see her overcome difficulties not many face.

Anna has absence epilepsy that causes school to be incredibly difficult for her, and because of

this, I will be discussing what I have observed of her physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional

development, as well as her strengths, needs, and strategies to support her continued growth.

General Information

Anna is a nine-year, eight-month-old Hispanic girl. She attends school from 8:45 a.m. to

3:45 p.m. then, after school, one of her older brothers typically meets up with her to walk her

home. She lives with her two parents and is the youngest of seven children. At home, the family

speaks only Spanish, and the parents cannot speak English. This was very surprising to me as

Anna speaks perfect English, without even a hint of an accent, however it may have been a

contributing factor in her struggle with reading. Her Individualized Education Plan (IEP)

classifies her disability as “other health impairment,” because she has absence epilepsy.

Although she has no specific learning disabilities, her seizures make it very difficult to learn at

the same rate as her peers, because of the lapses of consciousness throughout her day.

Physical Development

Anna has long dark hair, big, beautiful brown eyes, auburn skin and is slightly shorter

and heavier than her peers. She is right-handed and by observing her in her physical education

and general education classes, it is apparent that her large motor skills are developing regularly.
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She plays tether-ball and jumps rope with the other students, yet when students were required to

run laps on the track, she ran about one third to one half of the average amount. As I have

continued to observe her however, it has become apparent that this is not because she is unable,

but because she struggles to stay motivated. Her fine motor skills are also mostly normal. At

first, I believed she was behind in her fine motor skills development, as I had seen her cut out her

spelling words without staying on the lines, but again, this seems she may have been having a

rough day, in which her poor motivation was more apparent. On other days I observed her, she

cut out her spelling words perfectly, like the others in her class, but it took her much longer

because of her staring spells and difficulty staying on task.  On the other hand, her writing is

shaky and appears to be at a much lower grade level.  Both her physical and cognitive struggles

seem to be due to her absence seizures or, perhaps, epilepsy medication side effects. I was,

unfortunately, unable to obtain information on her nutrition habits.  

Cognitive Development

Anna spends most of her school day in her general education classroom. For math, she

spends 120 minutes in the resource room per week, and because of her significant improvement

in reading, recently dropped from 120 minutes to 90 minutes per week. She is still a bit behind

her classmates at her current reading level, but the rate at which she is improving shows promise.

Because of this, she now stays in her general education classroom during writing, and with just a

little assistance can complete her writing assignments as well. The main difficulty during

writing time is keeping her motivated and on task. Yet, in math she is struggling exceedingly.

She is currently working on plus and minus one in the resource room. For example, if asked

what number comes after 47, she must think long and hard to come up with the next number, or

sometimes she will start throwing out random numbers in hopes that one of them is correct.
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During math tests and assignments in the general education classroom, where they are

multiplying and dividing large numbers, Anna is usually allowed to complete other assignments

or read on her classroom iPad. When speaking with her various teachers and assistants

throughout my observation times, each of them separately told me the same thing: Anna is a

much better reader and writer than she lets on. Apparently, because of her poor motivation she

often pretends to need help, when in reality, she is capable of doing the work on her own, or with

much less help than she says she needs. This seems to be due to being embarrassed by her

absence seizures. Because of them, things take her a little longer. She misses directions and

zones out during work times and trying to fill in those gaps makes things a lot more difficult.

She seems to feel that because it takes her longer, she cannot do it on her own, and then loses

motivation to complete her work without assistance, encouragement, or constant reminders to

stay on task. Her absence seizures are short, but afterward she has trouble refocusing and often

ends up becoming distracted by something else. Having epilepsy myself, I cannot help but

wonder if any of her behaviors such as having difficulty staying motivated, or often seeming

tired or worn out are side effects of her current epilepsy medication. I felt it would be

inappropriate to ask if she was on any medications, but these are the most common side effects

of many epilepsy medications.

From what I have noticed, Anna falls under the Concrete Operational Stage category in

Jean Piaget’s “Stages of Cognitive Development.” According to Piaget, children in this stage

start to see things from the perspectives of others instead of just their own (Marcin, 2018), and I

have noticed that Anna is far from egocentric and can be very compassionate towards her peers.

In addition, she is able to draw conclusions, reason logically, and realizes there are consequences

to her actions. She thinks and behaves similarly to her peers, and when I first began
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observations, it took me a while to notice her differences. Besides her academic struggles and

her absence seizures, she seems to be a typical, healthy, fun-loving nine-year-old.

Socio-emotional Development

Another difficulty that is most likely caused by being embarrassed by her seizures is that

she is very shy, except for with a select few. These few are aware of her struggle with epilepsy

but treat her the same as their other friends and are willing to help her when needed, so Anna has

opened up to them and created close friendships. Most of the time she avoids her other peers,

but on good days, she is a little more open, shows initiative, and will even answer questions in

class. She is also shy with adults that she is not familiar with, but it is clear that she appreciates

the help and is really trying to open up. While initially she really struggled with her self-esteem,

her recent improvements have given her a new confidence. Last January, she was merely at a

first to second grade reading level, and within less than a year has come to a point where she is

nearly caught up to her peers. In fact, in her last testing session for her regular progress

monitoring, she read ninety-eight words in a minute at a fourth-grade reading level! This is an

amazing accomplishment, and she became so excited that she ran to the resource classroom to

give the resource teacher a hug. That is also a huge deal for Anna. She typically shows little

emotion and is fairly quiet, so for her to show so much excitement shows promise and an

increase in her self-confidence. This event also shows that Anna is currently at the typical stage

of socio-emotional development for her age. According to Erik Erikson’s Stages of

Psychosocial Development, she would be in the Industry vs Inferiority stage, in which

“Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments

and abilities. Children who are encouraged and commended by parents and teachers develop a

feeling of competence and belief in their skills” (Cherry & Gans, 2018). Clearly, the efforts of
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her teachers were successful in helping her to “develop a sense of pride in (her)

accomplishments,” and being able to see even a small portion of that change in her was

incredibly heart-warming.

Summary, Conclusions, and Implications

Anna is at the typical level for her age in her physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional

development; her struggles are due to her absence seizures that cause gaps in her learning, and

possibly medication side effects. She looks and acts like others her age, and though she

sometimes lacks confidence and struggles with her work, she has great friends that are willing to

help her fill in the gaps. Her teachers have done a fantastic job of meeting her needs. Her

epilepsy often gets her down, makes her self-conscious, and causes difficulty with focusing, and

by allowing those she feels most comfortable with to work with her in class, they are allowing

her to grow in her confidence. These peer-tutoring moments promote social growth as well,

considering that she tends to be very timid. Perhaps the only suggestion I have is for when the

other students are working on mathematics in the general education class. During this time, she

is given her classroom iPad to read, but she just switches back and forth between books, apps,

and changing her profile character, never actually reading anything. I feel it would be more

beneficial to have her playing math games on the iPad during this time, because that is the area

in which she struggles most. However, allowing her to get a little extra help with reading in the

resource room, while also keeping her in reading in her general education class and having her

complete assignments on the class reading has clearly paid off.

Although there are times when she struggles with motivation, I would consider self-

determination to be one of her greatest strengths. It is a daily battle for her, but a person cannot

grow as much as she did in such a short amount of time, with or without epilepsy, without being
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incredibly motivated. She is clearly very dedicated to her education, and if her teachers continue

to provide her with the support she needs, she will continue to grow and become a very

successful student.
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References

Cherry, K., & Gans, S., MD. (2018, October 29). Understanding Erikson's Stages of

Psychosocial Development. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from

https://www.verywellmind.com/erik-eriksons-stages-of-psychosocial-development-

2795740

Marcin, A. (2018, March 27). Piaget Stages of Development: What Are They and How Are They

Used? Retrieved November 4, 2018, from https://www.healthline.com/health/piaget-

stages-of-development