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Individual Difference Student Profile

Brenda Arechiga
Instructor: Natalie Raass
EDUC 205: Development/Individual Differences
Fall 2015

Individual Difference Student Profile Essay

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I have recently been given the opportunity to observe at Central Canyon Elementary

School, where I came upon a unique little boy, whom Ill refer to as Drake. I was able to observe

Drake in an Extended Resource Room (ERR), Occupational Therapy (OT) setting where he was

most expressive about his love for Batman. Drake is a five year old Caucasian boy who is

categorized as a kindergartener, who has trouble verbalizing and pronunciation, along with

struggling with using fine motor skills.

General Information

As mentioned early within the introduction, Drake is a five year old Caucasian boy. He

struggles significantly with verbalizing correctly, along with struggles to hold a pencil

effectively, which can be categorized as being able to use fine motor skills. He also has difficulty

with dealing with conflict of interest, which can be as explain as shifting from a different

location, which he finds fun, however when it comes time to shifting back into an academic

setting he struggles to move away from the situation and majority of the time has melt downs if

he is not getting the thing he desires. This results in the involvement of the head ERR teacher,

which can either lean in either direction. Unfortunately I was unable to gather information about

his family interaction, so I do not have sufficient amount of information about his home life or

family history; however I was given some information from both OT and head ERR teacher

about some issues he struggles with: verbalizing, pronunciation, melt downs, conflict of interest,

using fine motor skills, and his history with some weight issues.

Physical Development
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Drake has bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and ivory skin tone. He can be illustrated best

as having a weight issue, which could be something having to deal with some home life issues or

family history. He does seem like he might be older than I further instigated, however I was

reassured by the OT that he was five years old. Drake is still trying to distinguish his dominant

hand, however the OT is working alongside him to better distinguish his skills. He does struggle

to rip a paper, use a pencil, and maneuver things properly. However, when he is in the OT room

he seems to express enthusiasm with jumping on the trampoline and swinging on the inner tube,

which illustrates his ability to use his larger muscles within his body (ex: legs, arms, core, etc.).

Since he is in kindergarten, he is still refining his muscles skills, but is getting further assistance

from outside resources. Im unsure whether he is also involved in Speech Therapy, but most

likely he is because of his struggles with forming and verbalizing properly. He is limited by some

aspects of what he is able to do, but functions normally of what a five year old boy should be at

this age, such as jumping and running around the playground.

Cognitive Development

Along with being placed in the Extended Resource Room, Drake also participates in

Occupational Therapy and most likely Speech Therapy programs where he is strengthening his

fine motor skills and developing words, along with proper pronunciation. During class, Drake

struggled with staying focused, along with interacting with his peers. He is constantly having to

be redirected by the teacher, which upsets Drake and takes away from the other students time to

learn. He also struggles with distinguishing play time with school time, because of activities and

objects that interest him. He is often found zoning out of the world, which can be interpreted as

make-believing, however he can usually be brought back with things that interest him.
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From his actions I can tell that Drake is in Piagets preoperational stage, which

represents the lack of logical operation that forces the child to make decisions based on his/her

own perceptions. Drake displays these certain characteristics by being egocentric in his actions,

such as participating only when its something that interests him. However, Drake is a creative

child that likes visually appealing activities that expand his way of thinking and understanding of

the world around him. For example, he likes making space aliens out of shaving cream and glue,

which expanding his way of creating art and widens his ideas of what textures and crafts to

operate with.

Socio-emotional Development

When it comes to social interaction, Drake needs a lot of assistance creating appropriate

and functioning conversations. He struggles with creating conversations that are understandable

and appropriate in a class setting. Drake has difficulty talking to other students, because the

topics he wants to discuss are uninteresting to other students, which usually leads to crying and

tantrums within the classroom. He has not learned personal boundaries, when it comes to face to

face interactions, touching, and sometimes hurtful comments. The teacher usually has a close eye

on Drake and can often be found doing independent work, along with other assisted programs to

help mold his behavior and speech. However, sometimes his behaviors leads to time-outs, loss of

favorite items, and other class system managements.

From what I have observed Drake seems to have a reasonable amount of self-esteem,

however at this time it is hard to decipher, because of his age. Currently, he is trying to make the

conversion between Erik Ericksons initiative vs. guilt and industry vs. inferiority stages.

Drake is still struggling to learn how to create initiative in his environment. Since he requires
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more discipline, the adults that work with him usually have to be prepared to help him be

escorted out of a room that is a conflict of interest to him and expect some resistance to

cooperate. Once Drake learns initiative, he can then move onto learning how to be industrious in

his school environment. The industry vs. inferiority stage is certainly an important part of his

future success in school.

Summary

Drake will need continued help and encouragement from his teachers and peers if he is to

make progress in school. Since he suffers with speech and motor skill impairments he is facing

two difficult tasks at hand and will need additional help in the future, if he expected to keep up

with his class. It helps him when possible if the OT teacher can meet in his class so it doesnt

disrupt his pattern within the class and makes him feel more comfortable.

Conclusion

Drake can be categorized as an atypical student, because he has a speech impediment,

motor skills are delayed, and is need of outside assistance compared to a regular child.

Additionally, Drake is physically bigger than children should be at his age and acts younger than

his peers around him.

Drake has a strong support system at school, which prevents him from falling behind in

class and assists him in staying focused on his IEP goals. He generally misbehaves in class, but

his strengths lie within his ability to create and discover items within minute objects. Drake

shows clear signs of being in Jean Piagets preoperational stage of development. He is very

social with children that share common interests, but has not completely perfected personal
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boundaries. In addition, Drake is a very emotional child when it contradicts with his conflict of

interest.

Implications

Drake is a social butterfly when it comes to Batman and his favorite snacks. However, he

has an endless supply of energy for things he is interested in. Along with OT and ERR he is

overcoming speech barriers and having trouble communicating with others, which lead to

frustration. He needs helps being able to control his emotions and how to appropriately act with

circumstances surrounding boundary issues.

Drakes teacher needs to be sure to include him in class activities and praise him when he

does well. She can consistently check for understanding to make sure that he can use motor and

speech skills appropriately by attentively paying attention to basic tasks: rip paper, saying of

words, and emphasizing phrases. She also needs to have an open line of communication with

Drakes parents and make available the resources to some alterations that might be helpful for

Drake. The child is already getting the assisted services by attending an ERR, OT, and Speech

Therapy. In conclusion, Drake has the ability to manage and overcome his speech and motor

impairments; however, he will need the proper support in order to achieve in school. Since he is

just starting out, now is the perfect time to prevent him from falling behind his classmates. If his

teachers are willing to work for him and provide him with early intervention, there is no reason

that he cannot become a successful student and individual.

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Reference

Hallahan, Daniel P., and James M. Kauffman. Exceptional Learners: Introduction to Special

Education. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. Print.