INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE

Individual Differences Student Profile

Tarah Chiles

Instructor: Natalie Tau

EDUC 230: Intro to Special Education

Spring 2022
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Individual Differences Student Profile

I had an opportunity to observe a student who for sake of confidentiality I will refer to him as

Jamie. Jamie is a 4th grader in a local public school, he is 9 years old, and his primary language is

Spanish and secondary is English. He has a non-specific learning disability and is in an IEP for

math and reading. Throughout this essay I will go into Jamie’s general information, physical

development, cognitive development, socio-emotional development, and a summary that ties

together my smaller findings into larger ones.

General information

As I previously stated Jamie is a 9-year-old male student with a learning disability and is

developmentally delayed in some aspects of school. He speaks fluent Spanish, and encounters

some issues with English, his ethnicity is Hispanic American. Jamie is in public school from 8

am to 4:30 pm, 1 out of the 5 days Jamie is in the general education classroom with his peers.

On Tuesdays, all students are in specials from 9:30 am to 10:30 am, on Monday, Thursday, and

Friday Jamie is pulled out of class during reading and writing from 10:20 am to 12:00 pm.

Wednesdays are shorter days therefore a paraprofessional comes into the classroom during

reading instead of Jamie leaving the classroom. When he gets pulled from class the technique, I

observed from the teachers to help him better understand the concept is explicit teaching, they

break down the questions and encourage him to give it his best. I also observed, Jamie learns

best from scaffolding, after he saw what was expected and the requirements for an assignment,

he started to take more initiative with minimal guidance. Once the school day is over Jamie goes

home after school whom he shares with his parents and brothers. I didn’t have the opportunity to

observe family interactions but while I was observing him in the classroom, I learned most of the

information about his family while the students were working on autobiographies. He lives with
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both his parents and his older brothers, who are all older than him. The paraprofessional and

teacher informed me while observing that the parents aren’t fully involved in his schooling, and

his learning environments may play a part in his lack of motivation.

Physical Development

Jamie has short curly brown hair, brown eyes, and light brown skin. I observed that his

physical maturation is similar to his other classmates, his height and weight aren’t much different

from the other males and females. I was also able to observe his overall health, he seems healthy,

has plenty of energy and looks like he is growing at a normal rate for his age. Jamie uses his

right hand to write and color, while I was observing I also saw that he used his right hand when

he was throwing a ball between him and another student. Jamie has large muscle development

and is active for a student in 4th grade. Jamie is performing as a nine-year old should be, he

similarly athletic compared to other students. I observed what his nutritional diet was, and he has

a normal diet for a child, he likes junk food; candy, chips, sugar, as well as foods where he gets

his nutrition.

Cognitive Development

Jamie isn’t enrolled in other academic programs other than his IEP plans, which he has

for both math and reading. I wasn’t able to observe how Jamie performed in math because of my

work schedule, but I did get to see how he did in reading each day I was there. He is in a reading

group with other students where he leaves class to attend. These groups usually only have 2-3

kids where the educator can focus on the students’ weaknesses. Jamie receives extra

accommodations on assignments and tests. He needs extra help with writing, spelling, and

reading from what I observed. His weaknesses are writing, reading, math, English connotation,

answering questions, pronunciation is at a lower rate than other students, and staying on task. I
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was able to take note of how he spelled some specific words for example he spelled when as

wend, Idaho as Idoho, and July as jluy, when he was writing a sentence about his life, he chose

the words “I was number 2”, instead of I was 2 years old. Even though Jamie has a few

weaknesses that hinder his academics he has strengths as well, he works well with one-on-ones,

clear and specific instructions, and if he is looking for information for an assignment, he obtains

it effectively.

His teacher informed me that he is not progressing with other classmates, he can read but

isn’t comprehending any of the content. Jamie doesn’t have the same motivation as his peers

although he does attempt assignments but needs extra support and won’t follow through with it

unless he has someone to help him. He takes initiative on his work and has a general idea of what

needs to be done but as stated before he won’t complete an assignment unless his instructions are

broken down and explained thoroughly. From what I saw Jamie is in Jean Piaget’s concrete

operational stage of development, he has the cognitive ability to think on his own. I observed

that his thought process is logical, and he can express it on certain assignments. From Jamie’s

actions I was able to see how he was less egocentric, he listened to the advice classmates gave

him and didn’t argue with teachers when they were trying to help him.

Socio-Emotional Development

Jamie understands social cues and his interactions with his peers is good, he has another

classmate that has helped him with assignments throughout the school year. He also seems to

have a good relationship with other students and isn’t excluded or keeping to himself when it is

time for recess. Jamie responds well to adults, he is cooperative and listens to what they are

telling him, however he does seem nervous and shy, while I was observing he rarely spoke

especially if he had to speak in front of the class. On Wednesdays he works with the
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paraprofessional where she is able to provide him with extra accommodations. Jamie gets

distracted easily by other classmates which creates barriers for him to complete his work. His

teachers and staff are trying to encourage him to work on assignments by himself and learn some

initiative, but his self-esteem is below average for students his age.

From my observations I would say that Jamie falls into the categories of Erik Erickson’s

initiative vs. guilt and industry vs. inferiority. He is transitioning into the industry vs.

inferiority at a different rate than his peers. He has enough confidence to make friends and

attempt assignments, yet when it comes to receiving negative feedback or how to correct

something he goes into that inferior mindset and his head drops and he loses his spirit. After

sitting there and experiencing Jamie work, I wouldn’t say that he has pride in his

accomplishments he waits for approval to make sure he is doing it correctly. Once Jamie gets

further along in school, he will benefit from the industry vs. inferiority stage.

Summary of findings and implications

Jamie will need to stay on his IEP plans until he is at the same cognitive development as his

classmates. This may take some time and could mean he his on these two plans up until middle

school. Although Jamie is behind his other classmates academically, he will continue to stay in

the same grade and move up grades with them. He is disadvantaged with his learning disability

and hasn’t developed academically with his class. Jamie has the same body structures as his

peers, he isn’t falling behind on the physical standpoint. He is almost in the same stage of socio-

emotional development as his peers, as long as he continues to work and stays on track he will

transition into the other stages.

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Conclusion

Jamie is a normal student other than his learning disability, being a minority, and his

language barriers. As I’ve observed and stated his physical maturation doesn’t create any

barriers for him to learn. He is able to play games and be active like other students and his

physical health is good.

There are a few specific strategies that Jamie needs to succeed, he needs the support from

his teachers and peers, peer tutoring would be a good strategy for him because it will allow him

to talk to someone his age and if that student speaks fluent Spanish, they can explain the work

and help him understand it in English. Jamie really benefits from extra accommodations; this is a

way to ensure he is getting all the support he needs. Knowing that one of his strengths are

working together one-on-one I would make it a part of my lesson where he gets one-on-one at

least 3 times a week. Since Jamie gets on the right track with extra explanation and clear

instructions it would be beneficial to check for understanding after he receives an assignment.

In addition to Jamie receiving one-on-one and peer tutoring he needs extra support from

his family as well as the staff at the school. If the teacher were able to encourage his parents to

continue his learning at home, he would have better success advancing with his classmates.

Jamie is a good student with a lot of energy, who just needs extra support and learning to help

him succeed in school and life.

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References

Joel Amidon, A. M. (n.d.). Education, Society, & the K-12 Learner. Lumen. from

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/teachereducationx92x1/chapter/eriksons-

stages-of-psychosocial development/#:~:text=Erikson's%20eight%20stages%20of

%20psychosocial,guilt%2C%20industry%20vs

KIRK, Samuel., Gallagher, J., & Coleman, M. R. (2022). Educating exceptional children

(14th ed.). CENGAGE LEARNING.