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CAEP Assignment - Rebecca Deatherage
CAEP Assignment - Rebecca Deatherage
Rebecca Deatherage
Introduction
For the purpose of this project, a student profile was created of an exceptional student
with autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of the profile is to address the various areas of
development and create an appropriate counseling approach to meet this student’s exceptionality.
I. Student Profile
Jacob Lee is an 11-year old boy in the 4th grade. He attends a public elementary school in
a metropolitan area. He is 20% Cherokee Indian but identifies as Caucasian. His family is
considered typical middle-class and he is raised in a Christian family and attends religious
services regularly.
II. Exceptionality
Jacob was diagnosed at the age of two with Autism Spectrum Disorder. According to
Posar & Visconti (2019) “Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a mostly lifelong condition
activities” (p. 1). Jacob is considered high functioning but presents with the social-
communication impairments.
Jacob is in the concrete operational cognitive development stage. Piaget describes this
stage as a time when children assimilate new information and accommodate existing information
(Broderick & Blewitt, 2020). Jacob should soon transition to the formal operational stage,
however children with ASD often lag in the transition from concrete operational to formal
operation.
Jacob’s physical development is appropriate for his age. Jacob is above average in height
and weight for his age, however, this aligns with a family history of height and weight.
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Jacob’s social and emotional development are below average. Jacob has difficulty with
most social interaction. He is verbal but will not talk to anyone unless they initiate the
conversation. His recent school change has been a challenge. At his previous school, he was
well accepted as he had attended the school since pre-school. At his new school, he is struggling
to make new friends and he feels rejected. When Jacob feels like he is out of control, he cries,
Jacob participates in basketball, baseball, and soccer team through intramural programs
and city leagues. He practices with the team; however, he does not receive a lot of playing time
during competitions. Jacob does not enjoy sports but participates at the request of his parents.
Jacob enjoys math and is very focused on learning new math skills many of which are above
grade level.
progressing. Many children with ASD show atypical language presentations, stereotyped
language, and have stronger expressive relative to receptive language ability (Brignell et al.,
2018). Jacob has a high vocabulary but struggles with the ability to understand words not used
in the context he learned them. He does not understand sarcasm and common gestures.
According to Luke (2010) this is a typical response for children with ASD, perhaps due to the
abnormalities in cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological processes that are involved in the
decision-making process.
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Jacob likes to know the rules and will follow the rules strictly. If there is not a rule in
place, he wants one to be established so that he knows what is expected. He has complete
respect for others and their personal property. In addition, he expects his personal property and
personal space to be respected. He exhibits self-control in most situations unless his personal
Developmental risk factors in the domain of nature include obesity. According to a study
conducted by seven universities, children with autism, are at a greater risk of being overweight
or obese than other children the same age (Levy et al., 2019). At this time, Jacob is above
Developmental risk factors in the domain of nurture include parental divorce. Jacob’s
father has remarried and his mother has remarried and divorced again. Jacob’s primary
residence is with his mother. He does have standard custody arrangement with his father,
however, because of his need for own routine, he typically does not spend the night at his
father’s house. Jacob does have support from extended family and his church.
When observing Jacob in terms of behavioral traits, he falls within the slow-to-warm-up
category. He is very quiet, however struggles with containing his emotions in stressful
circumstances. Jacob perceives his own emotions differently than typical children his own age.
He may be excited about an event but when asked if he is excited, he will respond in a monotone
“yes”. According to Begeer (2005) this is often the case in children with ASD and children with
ASD are often less aware of their own emotions and the emotions of others.
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His academic ability is above average. Jacob is very focused on his studies and strives to
be the top student. It isn’t enough for him to make an “A”; he wants to make the highest “A”.
Erickson’s psychosocial stages of development show this stage as industry vs. inferiority and is
appropriate for his age (Broderick & Blewitt, 2020). In addition, he has an outstanding memory
will be used to reduce social anxiety, improve interpersonal skills, and increase enjoyable social
activities. “Didactic instruction, modeling, behavior rehearsal, corrective feedback, and positive
reinforcement are utilized in the group process to achieve these outcomes” (Corey, 2018, p. 360).
Natalie Rogers in which the child will use various forms of art forms – drawing, painting, music,
According to Broderick & Blewitt (2020) “individuals have a tremendous capacity for self-
healing through creativity (p. 273). This is also true for children with ASD. Vaisvaser (2019)
states that creative and imitative activities may prompt development of emotional expressions
Finally, counselors will use Speech/Language therapy to help with communication and
interacting with others. This could include non-verbal skills such as: making eye contact, taking
turns in conversation, and using and understanding gestures. According to a study conducted by
Wright, Pring, Ebbels (2018) speech and language intervention can be effective for children and
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young people in order to maximize their ability to access social situations and the academic
Summary
In many cases, the symptoms of autism become less pronounced as a child gets older.
Some with autism go on to live typical lives, however they may need ongoing services and
support. Parents, teachers, and counselors should be flexible and able to adjust services to
References
Begeer, S. (2005). Social and emotional skills and understanding of children with autism
Brignell, A., Williams, K., Jachno, K., Prior, M., Reilly, S., & Morgan, A. T. (2018). Patterns
and Predictors of Language Development from 4 to 7 Years in Verbal Children With and
Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2020). The life span: Human development for helping
professionals. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Corey, G. (2018). Theory & practice of group counseling (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage
Learning.
Dakopolos, A. J., & Jahromi, L. B. (2019). Differences in sensory responses among children
with autism spectrum disorder and typical development: Links to joint attention and
org.ezproxy.se.edu/10.1002/icd.2117
Levy, S. E., Pinto-Martin, J. A., Bradley, C. B., Chittams, J., Johnson, S. L., Pandey, J., … Kral,
of Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Study to Explore Early Development. The Journal of
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/244860/Decision-making%20in
%20ASCs_corrected%20thesis_DSpace.pdf?sequence=1
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Posar, A., & Visconti, P. (2019). Long-term outcome of autism spectrum disorder. Turkish
https://doi-org.ezproxy.se.edu/10.14744/TurkPediatriArs.2019.16768
Vaisvaser S (2019) Moving Along and Beyond the Spectrum: Creative Group Therapy for
Wright, L., Pring, T., & Ebbels, S. (2018). Effectiveness of vocabulary intervention for older
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