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Running Head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE

Individual Differences Student Profile

Zoe Garrison

Instructor: Natalie Tau

EDUC 230: Intro to Special Education

Fall 2021
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Individual Difference Student Profile Essay

I recently had the opportunity to observe an incredibly special human I will be referring

to as Max. I was able to observe Max in the resource room at River Valley Elementary School.

Max is a seven year and three-month-old Hawaiian male in second grade. He is mostly

nonverbal, but will speak one-word phrases, he also has Autism Spectrum Disorder. In the

following paragraphs, I will discuss Max’s general information, physical development, cognitive

development, socio-emotional development, as well as discuss some of his major findings.

General Information

As Previously mentioned, Max is a seven years and three months old Hawaiian Native

boy. He and his family moved her from Hawaii this last summer. His main disadvantage is being

nonverbal, so he is not always able to express needs, wants, and desires, when he does speak it is

in one-word phrases. Max goes to school at the normal hours, from 9:05a.m. until 3:45p.m.

currently he then goes home with his family. While he is attending school it is done fully in the

resource room with more than one teacher. Max lives with his father, stay at home mother, and

with at least two other siblings, that also attend his school. This allowed me to be able to observe

some of his family interactions, which is much different than any other people. Max has at least

one older and one younger sibling, his other sibling knowledge was not provided to me because

they do not attend his school. Max likes physical touch, so when he sees his siblings he runs up

to them and hugs them. For others that he is familiar with he will hold hands, and hug when he is

excited. This was all I was able to observe for his family interactions.

Physical Development
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Max’s eye color is brown, his hair color is brown, his skin color is also brown. There

were no visible birth marks or scares. Max’s physical maturation compared to other is the same,

he could be considered a little smaller than other kids, but they are taking his diet into

consideration, as he doesn’t seem to eat as much as other kids. Despite eating a little less, his

physical health seems to be very good. He does not have any chronic health problems, his vision

is good, his hearing is also not impaired. Max is right hand dominate, for all things like writing,

coloring, and cutting, but uses mostly his left hand when using the iPad. His fine motor skills

seem to be on the right track for a second grader.

Since Max is native to Hawaii, he does not like to wear pants or shoes. His mom will

pack him sweats to put on over his shorts in order to play outside while it’s cold, for shoes the

school allows him to wear crocks, so he doesn’t have to wear socks, and doesn’t feel too

confined. He loves to walk the track, if he sees his siblings, they run up to each other and interact

for a few minutes, he hugs them several times, while stating their name over and over. Other than

that, he does not enjoy interacting with others, he walks the track while holding his supports

hand, Max’s support can change day to day. As far as his physical fitness and small muscle

development are concerned, it seems that Max is on the right track. He likes to run while outside

if it’s not too cold, he can hold a pencil and tablet well. He also plays and builds with Legos

during breaks between his assignments. Max’s large muscle development was not observed, as

he only likes to walk or run during recess, and I was not able to observe during their specials

(P.E., Music, Ect.).

Cognitive Development

As stated before, Max and his family moved here from Hawaii this past summer and

2021. They knew he had Autism, but that was about it, he was not previously on an
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Individualized Education Program (IEP). Since this was the case, it took about two months to

write Max’s IEP, because of this Max’s IEP goals are constantly changing, to truly fit his needs.

Max currently spends all of his time in the resource room, he doesn’t like to socialize, his

attention span was good at first, but that last month or so has been decreasing. They think this is

due to Max becoming more comfortable with his routine and the people that he has now been

around since August. He is able to stay on task for short periods of time, and takes frequent

breaks, though this is normal for a second-grade student.

Max enjoys doing his assignments when they involve lots of color, and even some of his

own drawing. He is often given assignment through his iPad so the programs can provide him

with lots of bright colors. Max displays signs of still being in Jean Piaget’s preoperational

stage, this is because he shows major signs of being egocentric thinking. He is still struggling to

understand others feelings, like happy, sad, and mad. He is also working largely on bettering his

language and thinking, through his teachers, and games on his iPad. Max feels that if he is

feeling a specific way, that others should also being feeling that way.

Socio-emotional Development

When it comes to social interaction, Max has a lot to work on. He does not enjoy

interacting with peers his age besides his siblings. He has no problem interacting with adults like

his parents and teachers. Even after a few days of observations he was okay with interacting with

me. As said previously, Max loves physical touch, when doing assignments, he likes to be close

or even touching you in some way, like holding your hands or arm. When he is given praise, he

likes to cheer and gives hugs. With peers his age also in the resource room he doesn’t interact

unless they are displaying a harsh emotion, like crying or yelling. Even though we don’t want

this, he does it as a term of endearment, if a student is crying, he tries to wipe their tears, while
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this isn’t aloud at school, this is what they do at home, so the support will talk to him about why

it isn’t school appropriate. This can sometimes result in a time-out or a “break” from the chaos,

as Max gets upset when he sees others upset.

Max has good self-esteem, he knows when he is doing well, and cheers/claps when he

knows he did something well. Through his assignments he gets a lot of guidance, and

encouragement, this is the same even when he is using his iPad. This has resulted his getting

frustrated during a test, because he doesn’t receive as much support. It seems that Max is still

trying to adjust between Erik Erikson’s initiative vs. guilt and industry vs. inferiority stages.

He is still working on initiating interactions with peers, when he does and it doesn’t go well, he

tends to feel guilt, or like he did something wrong. Though he is encouraged in his schoolwork

and is able to initiate doing well and completing them. Max is learning to read and write, so he is

doing work with his peers in small groups, typically only one other student. When Max was

learning with larger groups and others would work ahead or understand it faster than him, he can

get upset. His teachers do not want him to become inferior or doubt his own abilities in his

schoolwork, and potentially affect his self-concept.

Summary of Findings and Implications

Max will need continued help in all areas, but especially communicating his individual

wants, needs, and desires. Moving here from such a different state compared to Idaho luckily

hasn’t been as hard on him as his parents expected. They will continue making consistent

updates to his IEP goals in order to work with his Autism as they continue learning about him.

Max enjoys all of his supports but does better when having one that is more consistent. Along

with getting him on a good routine in school they are also working hard to help with is nonverbal

language barrier.
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It’s proven to be important to give Max many breaks in between his assignments he

enjoys playing with sensory devices, but mostly just like to draw. He is an avid drawer, when

given a coloring sheet he will choose to turn it over and draw his own picture, preferably what he

is most entertained by at home that week. Max’s teacher has been sure to continue to encourage

him through all of his assignments. They are always sure to communicate to him that is he needs

or wants anything that he needs to communicate it to them.

In addition to help Max with his communication as well as his other goals his teachers,

faculty, and parents are currently holding monthly IEP meetings, they want Max to get the best

possible help and education that he can. This has also included Max’s Special Education

teachers taking an extra step and attending classes to educate themselves further in how they can

specifically help Max with his disability. Both having the monthly meetings, and Max’s teachers

taking extra classes are at the request of Max’s mother. This is not to say they are not already

fully educated, but they want to do their absolute best in helping Max in any way they can.

Conclusion

Max is extremely bright and is working hard to express is needs despite being nonverbal.

Max’s main disadvantage is being nonverbal, despite this he works very hard and learns well

through his educational assignments with the help of his teachers. Max is at a typical level of

development in general, physical, domains. Max often struggles to understand other feelings, this

is why he is still is Jean Piaget’s preoperational stage of development and can struggle with

boundaries when his peers do show extreme emotion. Max is showing transitional progress

through his socio-emotional development. He has a large support system at school and is

provided with many ways and assistive technology to help him through is education.
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Max’s strengths include being extremely smart, easily able to catch onto his assignments

and do them on his own or with little help. With the proper care and support system he gets, he

will be able to only improve from here out in his development. Max needs to continue working

on a good routine, for schoolwork, eating, and taking good sensory breaks in between to keep his

mind ready to learn. Using things like his iPad will allow him to do his school activities in and

out of school. Also allowing him to take the breaks he needs, like I mentioned before, he loves to

draw, this had become his main way of getting energy and things out of his brain to prepare

himself to learn and being able to do work for longer periods of time, allowing this is critical for

him at this moment.

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Resources

Mcleod, S. (2018). Erik Erikson's stages of Psychosocial Development. Erik Erikson |

Psychosocial Stages | Simply Psychology. Retrieved December 8, 2021, from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html.

Cherry, K. (2020, March 31). What are Piaget's four stages of development? Verywell Mind.
Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://www.verywellmind.com/piagets-stages-of-
cognitive-development-2795457.