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Samara Delgado
Assignment 2: Student observation
November 13, 2014
Students background/ environment
Maxwell is a bilingual bicultural, 5 year old boy who has an IEP which states that he
presents server expressive and moderate receptive speech and language delays in English.
English is his dominate language. He is an active 5 year old however, he has a low attention
span. He is in an integrated co-teaching classroom setting with nine other kids who have IEPs
and fifteen general education students. Maxwell gets pulled out of class for OT, PT, and speech
throughout the week in different intervals throughout the week so that he is not missing much
classroom time. In the classroom there is a general education teacher, a special education teacher,
a classroom paraprofessional who is in the class half a day and rotates her times in the class each
day and a union representative who stays in the classroom until 10:00am. Every day in the class
they begin with the morning routine of unpacking their backpack and putting their homework in
the bin and book bags in the cubby. They sing their good morning songs and go over the
classroom rules. Each child in the class is assigned a letter spot on the rug and Maxwells spot is
in front close to the teacher. They have writing, lunch, reading and math each day as well as a
specialty class (dance, art, science). During independent work, he along with six other kids
(mixed with IEP and gen. ed.) sit at their table with the special education teacher. Even though
these six kids work with the special ed. teacher, she leads them into their independent work but
allows them to work independently and not rely on her. The gen. ed. teacher works with these
children as well and observes them when walking around. The teachers in the classroom work
together during group work. They equally divide the teaching for each subject. When I asked

them why they chose to teach like that, they expressed to me that its important to be unified for
the children and to show no division so that each child gets the equal learning opportunity.
1 hour observation in 3 min. intervals
This observation is after the morning routine and is during writing where they are
learning about communities and community helpers.
9:05am (group learning/ sitting on the rug) Maxwell is sitting on the rug, he is playing with his
fingers and looking around the classroom.
9:08am: Maxwell is looking at the child next to him and begins having a conversation with the
child next to him.
9:11am: Maxwell gets up and walks to the shelves that have the math manipulatives. He grabs a
handful of cubes and begins playing with them in his hand.
9:14am: He is still playing with the cubes near the math manipulative shelves and looks at me
and smiles.
9:17am: One child gets in trouble at this moment so the teacher till him to go move his pin at the
behavior ladder and Maxwell repeats go move your pin.
9:20am: Maxwell is talking to himself and is playing with the cubes in his hand. He is sitting
back on the rug in his spot.
9:23am: Maxwell is still playing with the cubes but begins crawling on the floor
9:26am: (Maxwell has been placed in a chair) He is swinging his legs on the chair and talking to
himself, playing with his fingers.
9:29am: Maxwell is walking around the classroom playing with the pencils and things in the
shelf

9:32am: (The kids are directed to go to their tables to work independently) Maxwell is crawling
on the floor towards me and looks at what I am doing.
9:35am: Maxwell is fighting with one of the kids over a pencil. (The teacher gives him his own
pencil and he stops.)
Classroom directions: Go back to their seat, write their full name, their date, and begin drawing
a detailed picture of a community. Each child is given a shape template to help them draw
9:38am: Maxwell is using his shape template and is drawing shapes all over his paper. He did
not follow any other directions that was given to him.
9:41am: Maxwell gets up and begins walking around the classroom again and he goes straight to
the cubes and begins playing with them.
9:44am: Maxwell goes to his snack bag and argues with the teacher that he is hungry and wants
his snack. He is opening his bag but get it taken away from him.
9:47am: Maxwell is not sitting correctly on his seat. He is drawing on the table with his pencil.
9:50am: Maxwell is just sitting in his seat. He is repeating what kids are saying and he once
again asks for his snack.
9:53am: Maxwell is walking around the classroom again playing with the math manipulatives.
9:56am: He is talking to the other kids at the table. The kids tell Maxwell to write his name on
his paper and to draw his detailed picture.
The kids are moved back to the rug to have carousel sharing
9:59am: Maxwell stands in the middle of the circle walking around with cubes in his hand.
10:02am: (Maxwell is told to sit in a seat) Maxwell is standing up and down in his seat and
swinging his feet.
10:05am: Maxwell is sitting in the seat and humming.

Students developmental status

During my five hours of observation, Maxwell spent a lot of time roaming the classroom
or having the paraprofessional sit with him while she was in the classroom. Maxwell is a
talkative child but talks to himself. He constantly repeats himself. For example, one of his
teachers was wearing a blue shirt. Maxwell asked her if she was wearing a blue shirt. After that
one time of asking her, he repeated himself and asked the same question in different formats.
Many times during the rug, he would sit and talk to his peers next to him. He enjoys playing with
the other children during their developmental play time. I have observed Maxwell working with
his peers in and outside of the classroom. Since he has trouble sitting still, the teachers have a
buddy work with him. Sometimes he would get frustrated with his partner. In the hallway, he
holds his partners hand but sometimes lets go because he does not want to hold hands with
another student. During dance class, he enjoys dancing with his partner and sometimes listens to
his partner when he tells him to stop or sit down. Maxwell understands that when something bad
is done in the classroom, the consequence is to move their pin. Maxwell observed one of the
students not sharing with the table and he had told that student to move their pin. Since Maxwell
has seen me multiple times in the room, he became comfortable with me and many times came
up to me to talk to me or to show me his work. At least once every time I observed Maxwell, he
asked for his lunchbox. When he was denied access to his lunchbox he would get angry and
makes faces. He would continue to ask for his lunchbox as well until he became distracted with
something else.

Maxwells attention span is very short. He was not able to sit more than 5 minutes on the
carpet each time I came to observe him. He enjoyed roaming the classroom and playing in his
seat. Maxwell is always interested in playing with the manipulatives around the class. He enjoys
touching anything he could get his hands on. Maxwell is an impulsive child. He is often swayed
by his emotions when he was given directions or told to do something. He has trouble following
the directions of the classroom. He has difficulty follow three-step directions. During one
evaluation, Maxwell was told to write his first and last name on his paper, the date, and a detailed
picture of what he did over the weekend. Maxwell did not move from the rug, but began playing
with his shoes. Once Maxwell was moved to his seat, he began scribbling on the paper with lines
and shapes (using the shape template). Maxwell has trouble working with his peers and the
teachers often. Maxwell was told to sit back in his seat multiple times during one evaluation and
he did not listen. When the teacher went to grab his hand and direct him to his seat, Maxwell got
frustrated and was being dragged to his seat because he would hold his body weight down to the
floor.
Maxwell was unable to identify words or read with pictures. He was unable to recognize
any sight words, and knew five capital letters, 3 lowercase letters and no sounds. Every morning
in the class, letters, sounds and sight words are reviewed, however, Maxwell has trouble with
processing and retaining the information. This also goes with anything Maxwell is instructed to
do. He has trouble understanding the task and has hear it multiple times before beginning a task.
When Maxwell was asked to write down specific numbers and letters on a paper, he began to
draw on his paper. During the class session, he often repeated what the teacher said or would
remain silent when asked a question. He often got restless and would look at the clock. When he
began to get hungry, he stood up from the rug, looked at the clock, pointed to the door and said

lunch time. When Maxwell works independently with his teacher, he often needs visuals to
comprehend a task. However, he only copies what the teacher has demonstrated for him instead
of coming up with his own ideas. Even Maxwell had a lot of trouble staying on task or focus, he
is able to write his name and because he can grasp the math manipulatives, he has good fine
motor skills.
Maxwells functional linguistic skills are below age expectancy. His receptive language is
delayed with regard to lack of knowledge of age level concepts and concept development. He is
able to follow simple commands and simple sentences when provided with frequent cues.
Expressively Maxwell is not able to use 4-5 words in spontaneous speech and demonstrates
immature speech skills present for his age. Maxwell does not use plurals and cannot answer
questions asked of him nor stay on topic. Overall, his expressive and receptive skills are severely
below age level. During my evaluation with Maxwell, he displayed an average delay of 12-18
months. Maxwell has difficulty with his sensory processing. He is hyper responsive to auditory
and some tactile input. He is unable to grasps scissors properly and in unable to cut across paper
or along a line. He was unable to do age appropriate block designs or puzzles. He does not
exhibit a hand preference. In fact Maxwell prefers to write some letters such as the letter E
with his left hand and some letters with his right hand. According to the chart from Howard, a 5
years old should be able to write their first name, complete 11-15 puzzle pieces, copies lowercase
letters and colors within lines. Maxwell is able to accomplish 1 or those 4 things which is write
his first name. According to Howard, and his chart for milestones of language development (pg.
169), Maxwell would fall in the range between 18- 24 months old. According to Howards chart
of cognitive development (pg. 168), Maxwell would be at the age level of between 18- 36
months. Maxwell is unable to zip up front opening of clothing and is unable to dress and undress

himself in the morning when coming into school. Maxwell is able to drink from the water
fountain, and able to carry his tray at lunch.
Overall, Maxwell is below a typically developing child. He has areas in each of
development that has to work on. Maxwell works well with 1:1 assistance but does not work
well in whole group settings.