Running Head: PEPSI

PEPSI
Jamie Poma
College of Southern Nevada

Running Head: PEPSI

This case study is on a young boy by the name of Fernando, he is in a special

education class. Fernando is in the 5th grade and visits this special education class twice a day
during his regular school day. Fernandos stature is twice the stature of his fellow classmates. He
stands tall and quiet, yet friendly when he thinks no one is watching or paying any attention.
Fernando seems to posses signs of social anxiety above any possible comorbidity. Fernando has
great hand eye coordination and has no disadvantaged visually or physically. Fernando motor
skills are on the same level of his fellow students, as well as his hand eye coordination
(Ellsworth, J.). Each student in this particular class had their own set of challenges and measured
against each other, Fernando seems to be mostly within the same thinking capacity as the other.
He was simply challenged with anxiety that controlled his every move in class. I would
recommend that Fernando be set apart from his other students during lessons. In order to focus
on the material he needs an area of his own outside of judgment of his peers.
Fernando seems to not be growing with his fellow students when it comes to emotional
development. Fernando seems to be easily pushed aside by his fellow students. He does not
readily stand up for himself and suffers in areas that require leadership. Fernando has trouble
interacting with the teacher and seems to only speak to her when he absolutely has to. He does
not fully make eye contact although, I feel this is simply because he has a loss of interest in the
teachers lesson. Fernando seems to cling to the student in class that needs less interaction from
the teacher and works well independently. During times of participation, Fernando seemed
apprehensive and much like an introvert. Though he seemed to be introverted, Fernando was still
quiet and calm for the most part. I feel that Fernando needs more attention from the instructor in
a positive way (Slavin, Robert E.). It seemed as though most of the instructors feed back was
negative. He seemed to be dealing with a lot of social anxiety that needs positive reinforcement.

Running Head: PEPSI

During the lesson as unwilling to participate as he was, he still seemed focused and to
give much thought to each lesson. Fernando seemed nervous to make mistakes as the teacher
would point it out as not listening (Lane, J. D., Evans, E. M., Brink, K. A., & Wellman, H. M.
(2016). Though I feel his mistakes were simply due to social anxiety above the struggle of
intelligence. When Fernando was not apt to participate and called upon, he would freeze up. He
knew the answer clearly in his notebook or among his friends but when called on he would
hardly speak. I think this is the major reason Fernando was very to himself. He would
participate every now and again but mostly kept to himself. He was still curious during lessons to
find the right answer and help his group if he were assigned one. Fernando was organized and
kept his subject notebook free of clutter and put together.
Overall, Fernando is a very bright student. I feel a lot of his struggles stem from his social
anxiety. He seems to grasp all the concepts of each lesson very well. His execution of the
assignments would lead one to believe he is not listening or he doesn't care. I recommend he
receive more positive feed back from the teacher and lesson discipline. Fernando seems friendly
with his peers but struggles especially in group settings. Fernando is not learning in group
settings and needs to have a separate individual lesson in order to not fall behind. Fernando may

Running Head: PEPSI

have been in a special education class but I did not see the real benefit in his case.

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125

100

75
Fernando

Average 9yr old

50

25

Running Head: PEPSI

References
Ellsworth, J. (n.d.). 9th Year. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year9.html

Lane, J. D., Evans, E. M., Brink, K. A., & Wellman, H. M. (2016). Developing Concepts
of Ordinary and Extraordinary Communication. Developmental Psychology,
52(1), 19-30.
Slavin, Robert E. "Cognitive, Language, and Literacy Development." Educational Psychology:
Theory and Practice. 5th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997. 188-213 Print.