1

IDSP PAPER

IDSP Paper
Crissa Nunes
Professor Natalie Raass
EDUC 230
May 7, 2018
 2
IDSP PAPER

Introduction

“Disability is a matter of perception”- Martina Navratilova. Every child with

disabilities is different and can be seen differently by each person. Some of the developmental

areas that we can focus on are when observing children with disabilities is: physical, cognitive,

social and emotional. As a I observed a young boy with autism, I observed his physical,

cognitive, social, and emotional development. Below are my observations and conclusions.

General Information

My observations were made on a young, 17-year-old, senior, Caucasian boy. With his

birthday in June he is currently 17 and 11 months; turning 18 next month. Monday through

Friday he attends high school at Capital High in Boise. After school he rides the bus home,

where he stays and waits for his mother to get home. He lives alone with his mother, where he

has an absent father and no siblings. The mother works full time during the day, while he is in

school.

Physical Development

The physical characteristics of this boy include sandy blonde hair, glasses, green eyes,

right handed, and a white complexion. Based on the experiences I had with the boy he has no

major scars or birthmarks. While comparing him physically to his peers I noticed that he was

skinnier/ smaller than the other students; but other than that he appears to have had developed

physically at the same rate. Generally, his health appears to be well and matches that of his peers,

minus the vision problem that he has been corrected with glasses. He eats the same foods as his

peers, and didn’t have any distinguishing signs of illness. His physical fitness and nutrition

matched what appeared to be his mental maturation. While his small muscle development
 3
IDSP PAPER

appeared to be normal and match that of his peers, it was his large muscle development that

lagged. Relating back to his mental maturation, I believe his large muscle development was still

that of a young child compared to a teenage boy. He could run, but awkwardly. He could kick a

ball, but not straight or often missed. Physically this student appeared, in many ways, to match

his peers, but in other lagged behind because his mind couldn’t match his body.

Cognitive Development

The student I am observing is placed primarily in modified classrooms. He attends the

same level English as his peers, in a regular classroom. His math class is modified with peers

who also require the same accommodations. The rest of his courses are all in resource rooms for

a class called ‘Study Skills’. He attends 2-3 classes in the same room at a time with the same

teacher to keep the stimulation at a low, and him on task. Majority of his grades are D or F

because of how difficult it is for him to pay attention/ stay on task, (one of his weaknesses).

Another weakness is the motivation he lacks. He simply just sits and doesn’t do his work; often

he will sleep, day dream, or doing something off task. During one of my observations he had a

T.A. with him for coaching and behavior management. The one on one attention was provided

after his aggression behavior of throwing chairs and desks. When worked with one on one, or

vocally asked questions, he excels and knows every answer. While majority of my observations

were done in his modified math classroom, it became clear he understood the numbers, just not

the cause and effect of not doing his school work. Cognitively I related him to Piaget's Concrete

Operational Stage. He would lack logic and understanding in conversations with his peers.

Clarifying if they were being sarcastic or asking questions of what others meant. Often, he would

disrupt the class and not understand why the teacher needed him to stay task.

Socio-Emotional Development
 4
IDSP PAPER

Emotionally the student I observed has a very low self-esteem. He would often quote

“I’m sorry” or “I didn’t mean to” whenever he got an answer wrong or knew he was talking out

of turn. These behaviors demonstrate that he could be feeling bad and that he isn’t good enough.

Compared to his low self-esteem, he managed to have a high self-concept. He was aware of

where he stood with his peers, or with authority. He often knew his strengths and accomplished

problems quickly; but completely avoided his weaknesses. Low self-esteem is a common

occurrence in children with disabilities because they spend a lot of time comparing themselves to

their peers.

Comparing himself to his peers would come after interacting with them. While

socializing with his peers he was trying to achieve communication intent; achieving the need to

communicate. Majority of the class would simply stare at him/ avoid him all in an effort not to

disturb him. A specific memory pops out when remembering back to his interactions with peers.

He would go up to his peers asking if they were going to eat the candy, after they kindly replied

with, “No” he would take a small piece. Repeatedly going back to eat more candy, he would

attempt to make conversation. Asking about topics that clearly interested him but had not

relevance to his peers. When the peers started to shrug him off or quit replying he would

solemnly walk away. Only to try again in a few minutes for another small piece of candy and

peer acceptance. This example shows how challenging it can be for special education children to

make friends but, also how desperate they are for the socialization.

It is with his peers that he appears to be entering the Level 4 Competence stage of the

Erickson model of socio-emotional development. He understands there are social norms and

group rules he must follow; his peers just don’t accept him. It is also through observations that I
 5
IDSP PAPER

can see he is only beginning to enter this stage. He is only attempting to self-regulate, do

homework, or master simple skills but he struggles at doing so.

While the student was trying to socialize with peers, he would hit heads with authority

and adults. During one of my visits he was in suspension/ detention. I read the incident note and

learned he threw a desk at the teacher, flipped chairs, and cleared the classroom because his

teacher wouldn’t allow him to do something. The problem that I have noticed is that he knows

what right or wrong behavior is. And often he will exemplify the correct behavior or simply

remain silent to not make a scene. But, other times, like the situation described above he clears a

classroom from anger and aggression. When it comes to dealing with adults and authority the

student observed there is almost always confrontation.

It is with adults he clearly is in the Level 2 Autonomy versus Shame stage of the

Erickson model. When it comes to adults he still has characteristics of stubbornness, tantrums,

and telling authority no. He has no interest in listening to the adult or following rules. He often

resembles the behaviors of a two-year-old. It is clear through observations that the student has a

hard time emotionally, (displaying emotional disturbance), maturing or socializing with others.

He wants to make friends and follow social norms but struggles to make the connections.

Emotionally he has hard time maturing past himself and understanding authority. He appears to

be developing at a much slower cognitive rate than the rest of his peers at 18 years old.

Summary

In summary, the student resembles his peers in most areas, only lagging by a year or so.

Generally, high school boys often play sports, hang out with friends, or work after school. The

child observed goes straight home and waits for his mother. While his senior grade peers are
 6
IDSP PAPER

socializing, being active, or preparing for the future he is doing what common middle schoolers

or freshman do. Physically he resembles a 15-16 year old while his peers are 17-18; proving to

lag behind physically only a little. He wears glasses, has facial hair, and common styles as his

peers, but is over all smaller in weight and body mass. Cognitively may be the one area he

surpasses his peers. In the classroom he is brilliant and knows every answer before the teacher

can teach it the rest of his peers; he appears to even be gifted in some areas. His social/

emotional skills is what puts him in modified class rooms. Socially/ emotionally he resembles

that of a young school aged child. He often throws tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants

and shows extreme amounts of stubbornness. Socially he remains awkward and doesn’t know

how to maintain a conversation with is peers.

After summarizing his different levels compared to his peers you can realize his strengths

are his brains. He is brilliant and knows all the material. When given a math problem, he knows

the answer without even working the problem out. The main weakness would be his social/

emotional development. He lacks the maturity and willpower to properly follow directions. This

is an important development to achieve daily living skills and learn how to be a functional adult

in society.

Strategies that could help improve his social/ emotional development could be providing

students with peer tutoring. This could provide proper socialization and allow for the student to

talk about things that interest him. Another teaching strategies could be writing down and

creating a schedule for the student. If we know authority creates confrontation let’s take away

constant interaction and give him a list of activities to accomplish. He can be self-paced and do

the assignment when he wants.

 7
IDSP PAPER