Running header: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE STUDENT PROFILE

Individual Difference Student Profile

Hailey Spaltro

Instructor: Natalie Tau

EDUC230: Intro to Special Education

Spring 2023
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Individual Difference Student Profile Essay

Over the course of my Spring 2023 semester, I had the opportunity to observe a young

boy who shall be named Ralph for the sake of confidentiality. Ralph attends a local public Title I

elementary school and is in the second grade. He does not have a diagnosis for a learning

disorder or other impairment, but he severely struggles in several academic areas and has a

speech impediment. In the rest of this paper, I will examine Ralph’s general information,

physical development, cognitive development, socio-emotional development, and will conclude

with a summary of my observations and their implications.

General Information

Ralph is a seven year old (I was not given months or his birthday) boy who is white. As

mentioned before, Ralph has not been given a diagnosis for his behavioral and academic

struggles. He is illiterate, has a speech impediment, and several behavioral issues. His teacher

has expressed concern Ralph may be on the Autism spectrum, but his mother cannot take him to

a doctor to get tested. I did not observe any family interactions during my time in the classroom.

According to his teacher, Ralph’s mom has a routine that includes dropping off and picking up

Ralph every day at 9am and 3:15pm. Ralph’s living situation may have changed since his teacher

spoke to his mom, but as of right now, Ralph lives with his grandma, mom, mom’s boyfriend,

younger sister, and a newborn baby. Ralph’s father was in the military when he was younger and

committed suicide a few years ago. Being a military family may have some impact on Ralph’s

learning if they moved around a lot.

Physical Development
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Ralph has dark brown hair, big brown eyes, and has fair white skin. He is a little above

average height in comparison to his peers and a little bigger than his peers as well. His teacher

mentioned no other physical health problems that are of concern. Ralph uses his right hand to

write and color. In the second grade, they are still working on penmenship, but Ralph seems to

struggle more than his peers. He finds holding a pencil to be a challenge at times, especially

when he gets frustrated, in which he turns to snapping pencils in half.

Just by watching him walk, it is very obvious Ralph is uncoordinated with his body. I did

not have the chance to watch him run or play, but his teacher said he is reluctant to participate in

Physical Education. His teacher also mentioned that he does not do well in games like silent

ball where he must throw and catch a ball. This can indicate that his large muscle skills and

small muscle skills are underdeveloped. Ralph has a homemade lunch every day and participates

in snack time every day.

Cognitive Development

While Ralph spends most of his time in the general education classroom, he also spends

time in the special education program where he receives related services listed in his

Individualized Education Plan (IEP). He goes for reading, writing, and behavior four times a

week for 45 minutes each session. Additionally, he goes once a week for 40 minutes to work on

his speech. While in the classroom, he prefers to do anything that is not paying attention to the

teacher and participating in the lesson. Ralph’s short attention span and lack of interest in most

of the lessons may influence Ralph’s distracting behaviors in the classroom. Ralph makes very

loud sounds such as an ambulance siren, crashing sounds, or car sounds and will just walk

around the classroom making these noises, playing with things he is not supposed to play with,
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and walking into desks and chairs. There are some days where Ralph is able to be a contributing

classmate, but all it takes is one thing to ruin is good day.

From my observations, it looks as though Ralph is in Jean Piaget’s preoperational stage.

Ralph’s thinking cannot be rationalized and cannot handle the concept of cause-and-effect of his

actions and is egocentric. For example, while the students were working on a short story,

learning how to compiles the components of a story, I was helping a few students at the back

table. While helping these students, Ralph asked if I could help him write his story, but he had no

paper and pencil to write. So, I responded by saying just that – that I cannot help him because he

did not have paper to write his story. He got very upset and just kept asking why and wanted me

to get him a piece of paper, even though he knew where it was located. In another example, I let

Ralph borrow my eraser so that he could erase a mistake he had made. When he started poking

holes in my eraser, I asked him to stop and explained that it is my eraser and that I do not want

holes in my eraser. When he continued the behavior, I told him if he did not stop and respect by

belongings, I would take the eraser away. He did not like that, but he continued still, so I took the

eraser away which resulted in him crying and scooting away from me saying that he hates me.

Ralph’s least favorite time in class is during language and literacy because he views it as

difficult and does not see the value of trying. During this time is when he would rather play with

whatever he can get his hands on. Sometimes I was able to get him to sit down to read a book

with me, but he had zero interest in learning how to read and just wanted me to read the book to

him. Even then, I could only get him to participate for a page or two before we wanted to go

back to what he was doing.

Socio-emotional Development
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Ralph is a lonely individual who prefers and chooses solitude over having friends. In

class, we wouldn’t really talk to his peers and when a peer would enter his space or touch his

stuff, he would get very angry and resorts to violence much of the time. The teacher has tried to

encourage Ralph to make friends, but he makes no effort and told his teacher he did not want

friends. Ralph and his teacher have a decent relationship, despite Ralph’s behavior issues.

Additionally, his interactions with adults differ every day, and are worse during transition

periods. Ralph’s teacher is concerned about his below normal social development and worries

he will struggle as he gets older.

According to Lawrence Kolhberg’s Stages of Moral Development, Ralph is in the

second stage of precoventional morality. He struggles with individualism and exchange in that

everyone does not agree with him and everyone has different viewpoints. His self-esteem seems

to be good; he feels okay that he does not have any friends and is extremely confident in math

and science, so much so that he will offer help to his classmate if he feels like it. However, his

confidence in English Language Arts (ELA) is much lower and his where he needs the most

support academically.

Summary of Findings and Implications

Ralph will need Intensive Tier 1 support, most likely for much of his education. His

inability to read and write will set him back several grade levels, and with no diagnosis, his

teachers and other staff will struggle in finding how best to support him. He will need help

learning how to use his muscles so he can hold a pencil or throw a ball, most likely from an

occupational therapist. With age, Ralph’s ability to listen to reason may improve as well as

learning others have differing viewpoints.

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Ralph loves to learn when he wants to and when it comes easy to him. His support team

will need to teach him how to overcome the obstacles of education. He will need support in

learning how to emotionally regulate his frustration and anger that does not involve throwing

objects or breaking pencils.

Ralph’s teacher has been stuck in a “learn-as-you-go” mentality because he has posed a

new challenge for her and she does not know how best to support him in the classroom. She has

found the method of “if you do this, you can do this” to be a great motivator for Ralph, but he

still has moments where he cannot take instructions and wants nothing to do with learning.

Ralph’s time receiving related services has helped some, but he still has lots to work on.

Conclusion

Ralph loves science and math and those are his best subjects. However, he needs a lot of

support in reading and writing if he is to catch up to his peers and his speech impediment will set

him apart from his peers. He may also require occupational therapy to help refine his motor

skills. The people in Ralph’s life care for him and want to see him succeed in school, but

financial set backs and family issues impede Ralph’s ability to seek professional help.

All in all, Ralph and his team have a lot to work on for him to be successful in school.

They may have been able to intervene early enough so that Ralph’s needs can be identified so he

is no longer held back, but it will come down to Ralph and if he wants to excel in school. His

support team is doing all they can, but behavioral issues can make Ralph’s education all the more

difficult.
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Resources

Ansorge, Rick. (Mar 2023). Piaget States of Development. WebMD. Retrieved April 26, 2023,

from https://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development#:~:text=some

%20symbolic%20abilities.-,Preoperational%20Stage,and%20engage%20in%20make

%2Dbelieve.

Mcleod, S. (April 2023). Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Simply Psychology. Retrieved

April 26, 2023, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html#:~:text=Kohlberg

%20identified%20three%20levels%20of,preconventional%2C%20conventional%2C

%20and%20postconventional.