Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STUDENT PROFILE 1

Individual Difference Student Profile

Jaime Echeverria

Instructor: Natalie Raass

EDUC 230: Intro to Special Education

Spring 2018
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Individual Difference Student Profile

This semester I had the pleasure of observing a little boy, whom I will refer to as John, in

his fifth-grade classroom at a local public elementary school. John is a ten-year-old Hispanic

American. He is an English Language Learner (ELL) and receives special education services

for mathematics and language arts. In this essay, I will discuss John’s general information,

physical development cognitive development, socio-emotional development and a summary of

major findings.

General Information

As I mentioned before, John is ten years old and is in the fifth grade at a local public

elementary school. I chose to observe John because he has such a unique background and story.

John’s parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. While both of his parents speak

some English, Spanish is their first language. John’s parents encourage their children to speak

only English in the home and because of this, his language skills are lacking in both English and

Spanish. I was unable to observe any of John’s family interactions, however, John’s general

education teacher informed me that John is the second of three children. John spends most of his

day in the general education classroom but goes to the resource room for mathematics and

language arts. John’s mother is a home maker, so he does not go to daycare. John walks home

with his siblings after school.

Physical Development

John is Hispanic, he has brown eyes, black hair and tan skin. Compared to his peers,

John’s physical maturation is normal. He is in excellent health and is right handed. John is an

extremely active child; physical education is his favorite special during the week. John appears
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to have normal large muscle development. As a matter of fact, he is an extremely talented soccer

player. He plays soccer daily during recess with his friends and he is on the local soccer club’s

U-11 boys’ team. John has normal small muscle development. He enjoys drawing very much

and is a talented artist. During a group project where the students were creating a poster

depicting the story of Paul Revere, John drew all the pictures for his group’s visual aid poster

and really showed off his creativity.

Cognitive Development

John has been receiving special education services since kindergarten, he is now in the

fifth grade. As I mentioned previously, John spends most of his day in the general education

classroom, he goes to the resource room for language arts and math. His teachers did not share

his letter grades with me, however, language and reading are an academic weakness for him.

John does not have a speech disorder; however, he does speak with a heavy accent. Sometimes

it is difficult to understand what he is saying, making communication hard at times. John’s

general education teacher did share his scores from the WIDA English-language proficiency test

with me, and he scored a two out of six points possible in both oral language and reading. John is

a dedicated student, he has no missing assignments and always works hard. He is shy in

academic settings and prefers not to speak in front of the class.

After observing John in the classroom, I would say that he in Jean Piaget’s concrete

operational stage of cognitive development in which children are able to see things from

different points of view and to imagine events that occur outside their own lives.

Socio-emotional Development
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Even though John is well liked by his peers and has many friends in his class, he is

extremely quiet and shy. I believe that his trouble with language and speech lowers his self-

esteem. While watching him interact, I observed that John puts his hands in his pockets when he

is feeling self-conscious or confused. For example, John was asked to solve a math problem on

the board. While the teacher was going over his problem with the class, he kept his hands in his

pockets until his teacher told him he could be seated. John really comes out of his shell during

recess when he plays soccer with his friends. He goes from being shy and quiet in the classroom

to a confident leader on the soccer field.

John is always respectful to adults and is well liked by all his teachers. He clearly adores

his general education teacher. She goes out of her way to check on him and make sure he is

comfortable with the material when he looks confused or lost. His teachers all explained that

they encourage John to speak up because he is so quiet. There was one incident where John was

waiting patiently to ask his teacher a question, but she did not see him standing behind her and

she continued helping other students. He never said anything until she turned around and noticed

him waiting patiently behind her.

John is in the Industry vs. Inferiority stage of Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychological

Development. He understands logical reasoning and wants to be able to do things that other

children his own age can do.

Summary

John will succeed in school if he continues the same educational path. I was impressed by

the dedication of both his general education and special education teachers to John’s education

and well-being. John’s general education teacher has done an excellent job co-teaching and
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communicating with his special education teachers. John has an amazing work ethic and a strong

desire to learn. He has an excellent support system both at school and at home. If he continues

his hard work, he will continue to grow academically. John hopes to one day become an Idaho

state police officer, and I have no doubt that he will fulfill his dream!

Conclusions

It truly was a pleasure to observe and get to know John, he is an amazing little boy. John

is an English language learner and receives special education services for mathematics and

language arts. His struggle with language makes all subjects difficult for him. His struggles have

not broken his spirit, he works harder than most of his peers. John’s teachers report that he is an

absolute pleasure to have in class and has no behavioral issues.

Implications

John should continue to receive special education services to succeed academically. His

teachers should continue to encourage him to communicate his needs since he is so shy and

quiet. In my opinion, John would benefit from speech therapy because he speaks with a heavy

accent that can be difficult to understand. Overall, John is on the right path academically.