Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE

Education 205

Individual Student Profile

Denelle Cramer

Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE

I recently had the great opportunity to observe a developmental pre-school class. Until this time, I did not even realize that this program was available in the Boise School District. The class is comprised of three to six year old students, who dont meet the developmental criteria, or are not expected to meet the criteria by the age of six, required to enter Kindergarten. In the following essay, I will profile a lovely little girl, who we will call Hope, who has developmental delays, as well as physical disabilities. After providing some general information about Hope, I will describe her physical and cognitive development, as well as her socio-emotional development, and then summarize my observations.

General Information

Hope is a five year, month old girl who requires extra help before she can enroll in Kindergarten. She lives in a single wide trailer with her mother and a man that Hope calls grandpa. Grandpa, however, is not Hopes real grandfather, and her teacher says, frankly, I dont know who this man is. Hopes mother is a recovering methamphetamine and an alcohol addict, and has lost Hope to Child Services twice already. Her mother was taking methamphetamines and drinking alcohol while she was pregnant with Hope. Hopes teacher is under the impression that this behavior was responsible for, or at the very least contributed to, Hopes physical and cognitive

Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE

disabilities. Hopes mother does not work as she has been awarded disability benefits for her addiction problems, as they relate to her mental health. Grandpa does odd jobs when he can, but for the most part is home all day. Hope goes to Developmental Pre-school in the afternoons. She was enrolled in the morning classes originally, however her mother was not getting her to school on time, and therefore, she was switched to afternoon classes. Hope comes to school very tired, as it is suspected by her teacher that she does not have an enforced bedtime. So begins a day in the life of lovely Hope.

Physical Development
Hope is a beautiful little five year old girl with light brown hair and green eyes. She has a look about her face that insights one to know immediately that she has disabilities. Her facial features are similar to children who are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, although that diagnosis has not been confirmed to her teacher or the school counselor. FAS is a disorder defined as a condition affecting babies born to women who drank excessive amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, characterized by a range of effects including malformed facial features and learning difficulties (American Medical Association, 2012). Hope enjoys the slide on the playground very much and I observed her sliding down the same slide over and over again, in the fifteen minutes she had for recess. She is able to run and play, however it is her fine motor skills that are mostly delayed. She sees an occupational therapist twice a week at school and once a week at home. Her therapist works with Hope on her bilateral coordination, her in hand manipulation, as well as her sensory systems. Hope also sees a speech therapist

Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE

who works with her mostly on pronouncing her letters and the sounds that they make. Hope is a very thin child, as it is assumed that she doesnt eat nutritiously at home, but she eats her snack at school with enthusiasm. Now that you may have a better understanding of Hopes physical appearance, I would like to address her cognitive development.

Cognitive Development
Hopes cognitive scenario is a relatively sad one. She does not speak in understandable words, only enthusiastic sounds that sometimes turn into frustrated sounds when she is not understood. It is fairly clear that Hope understands simple directions for the most part. The directions given, that I observed, were things like, pick up your toys, time for recess, sit in your chair, go to the story corner, and its time for snack. Hope also recognizes the feeling of her fellow students, and is compassionate to them. Unbelievably, considering Hopes disabilities, she has a very long attention span. She also participates and enjoys the activities of the day, including simple art projects and story time. With regard to her readiness to enter kindergarten, Hope does not have the ability to recognize letters and numbers and she is far from proficient in skills such as sorting, grouping, matching and ordering. Hope is also not able to dress herself nor able to go to the bathroom, on her own without the use of diapers. All of these aforementioned skills are required to enter kindergarten without an Individualized Education Program, or IEP. Hope has one more year to be in this program before she will be required to exit, where it will be up to the expertise of the teachers, the counselors, and the

Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE

therapists to determine if she will go to a general education Kindergarten class, or if she will continue on an IEP, and enroll in Special Education. It is of her teachers opinion that it will be the latter. When referring to Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development for reference, Hope falls somewhere in Stage one, which is the Sensorimotor period where one is trying to coordinate sensory input with motor responses. This is typical for a child age birth to two years old.

Socio-Emotional Development

Hope is a very loving and personable child. When she speaks to one of her classmates, in her inaudible way of speaking, she is very expressive. She communicates as if everyone is understanding her perfectly. I can see that if one spent a lot of time with her, that it would become relatively clear what she was trying to say. She most definitely sympathizes with her fellow students, if they are crying or sad. She will pat them on the back or try to hug them. She does have a stubborn side, much like a toddler would have. For instance, she did not want to come in from recess, and refused to follow the directions of the teacher. She eventually came inside and had to sit on a timeout, while the other kids got to do centers (ie. Building blocks or legos, playing with clay etc.)The teacher used an ignore method when Hope started to whine about it, and it worked. Eventually she was allowed to participate. I am not quite sure where Hope fits in on Ericksons Stages of Psychosocial Development. The first stage is trust versus

Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE

mistrust, and Hope seems to trust everyone. However, the second stage is Autonomy, and I do not believe, nor does her teacher, that Hope is anywhere near that level. I do find Vygotskys Theory of Child Development to be a bit more applicable though. Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development. Hope has limited potential for cognitive development, according to her teacher, but she is learning social skills and appropriateness, and is inspired and motivated by her peers.

Summary, Conclusions, and Implications

In Summary, I consider Hope to be a wonderfully spirited little girl, with a lot of compassion for others. I dont believe that she has been given a fair shake in this world, or even before she was born, for that matter. Hopes home life will more than likely continue to be a hindrance to her development. She has a wonderful resource in her school however, and teachers that love and nurture her. The truth is that Hope is still so young, and no one can really tell how much she will or wont progress in the upcoming years. According to the opinion of her educators, there is not much likelihood that she will ever graduate out of the Special Education Program and into General Education at school, but the hope is that she will someday be able to care of herself and have a fulfilling life independently. There are some learning strategies that may be helpful to this end. The family systems model may be useful in helping Hopes mother understand the importance of her involvement and participation in Hopes education. Modeling the behavior that is desired from Hope would also be effective. Utilizing diagrams, graphics and pictures to reinforce ideas and lesson plans would be a useful strategy, as well. I think Hopes circumstances will require the implementation of alternative communication techniques and technologies to augment her deficiencies in that area. All things considered, much of Hopes future will depend not only on her potential development, but also on the willingness,

Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE

expertise, care, and patience of her teachers. I personally witnessed Hope with her wonderful teachers and I was inspired and encouraged by what I saw. I will remember, as a future educator, what an important difference I have the potential of making on every students life.

Running head: INDIVIDUALIZED STUDENT PROFILE

References:

Taylor, Ronald R., Smiley,Lydia R., Richards Stephan B.(2009). Exceptional Students: Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Higher Education

Berns, R. M. (2007). Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth