Student Profile

IDP 1
Running Head: DEVELPOMENT/INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Individual Differences Student Profile

Haley Brown
Instructor: Tracey Meyerhoeffer
EDUC 205: Development/Individual Differences
Fall 2016
IDP 2
Individual Differences Student Profile

While sitting in a kindergarten classroom full of children building roads with blocks,
playing house, creating a worm habitat, and having snack time, I thought to myself, children
have the easiest lives. After observing a little longer, I noticed all the children talking amongst
themselves except for two boys. One of these two boys was George. George is a limited
English Proficiency (LEP) student. He chose to hang out with this student because this student
also has a hard time finding the right words to communicate in a conversation. Even though
George does not know English very well, his general, physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional
development is progressing at an average rate.
General Information
George is a four year and nine-months old male who is currently attending the College of
Southern Idaho CSI Kindergarten Lab. This young Hispanic child lives with his two younger
siblings and their parents. His younger siblings are two and three years old. There is some
English spoken in the house but not very much. George usually arrives at kindergarten at eight in
the morning and his father picks him up at eleven am. Other information concerning his routine
was not available. I asked him a couple questions about his family life but he didnt respond.
When watching him in the classroom, he only said a couple basic words like; yes, no, sorry,
thank you, or okay.
Physical Development
George is a growing child just like all other children his age. He has dark brown to black
hair, brown eyes, and brown skin. He is a little shorter compared to others in his class but most in
his class are already five years old. I would call him average height for his age. His general
health seems good as he has no vision, hearing, or chronic health problems. He was absent a
IDP 3
couple of days out of the week but all children get sick from time to time. George writes and
draws with his right hand. His exercise habits and nutrition information was not available to me.
His large muscle development is appropriate for his age. He is able to hit a dodge ball with a
big plastic bat. George is still working on his small muscle development, but he is able to
scribble on a piece of paper.
Cognitive Development
George is still building his cognitive skills. He is in a regular kindergarten classroom and
academically equal to his peers. During circle time, George has a hard time participating, so he
either sits quietly or plays with the other students. When the teacher asks a question, he is usually
unwilling to give an answer. When I was helping him write in his journal, I asked him questions
about what he was writing. One of the other students told me that he doesnt talk very much so I
shouldnt ask him any questions. When working in the classroom, he has a very short attention
span, but while participating in play time, he can focus on the game he is playing.
George is in the preoperational stage of Piagets stages of cognitive development. He
uses symbols to represent sensorimotor discoveries. Make-believe play is also a development
stage George has acquired. He is able to play with building blocks and create items. One day he
was playing with a child and they were playing house, but instead of them being people, they
were pretending to be trucks.
Socio-emotional Development
George, like all other children, likes his play time. Although, he does not realize that
while he is playing, he is also developing. George plays well with others for the most part. He
can get a little rough but no more than an average child. While with peers, he doesnt talk much.
He just does what he likes and listens to the other students. He does not like to talk to the
IDP 4
teachers either. When asked a question, he will just look at the person. Georges self-concept is
normal compared to his peers. He is not afraid to go play with others and when others talk to
him, he does not bow down to them. Overall, he is a happy child and seems to have average selfesteem.
George is in the initiative versus guilt stage in Eriksons Psychosocial theory. He has
developed a self-concept which is, the set of attributes, abilities, attitudes, and values that an
individual believes defines who he or she is (Berk, Meyers, 2016, p.358). His emotional
development skills are building and he is able to recognize not only his emotions, but the
emotions of others around him. Additionally, he is able to self-regulate his emotions. For
example, he was playing with his peers and they told him he could not play because he was
being mean. He then forcefully tried to take the toy away from them. A teacher went and talked
with all the students and asked them what they thought they should do. George decided to change
his emotion rather than be excluded from the game. While doing this, he showed his problem
solving skills are progressing.
Summary, Conclusions, and Implications
I believe George is in a typical level of development compared to his peers. He is able to
draw with a pencil and throw the ball at a target. Furthermore, George is academically doing well
in kindergarten. Even though he has a hard time speaking, he is able to understand and
communicate when needed.
George has good hand eye coordination and is a good problem solver. One weakness I
found, however, is Georges communication. He needs to work on responding to others when
they talk to him. Since English is his second language, it might be a little difficult for him to
come up with the right words, but I feel by keeping him in the CSI kindergarten lab it will help
IDP 5
him improve in this area. I also think his parents should try to speak more English in the home.
Although this may be hard as the parents are still trying to learn English themselves, I think they
should still attempt it. In all, however, though George is a little behind in his communication, he
is right where he needs to be in his physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development.
IDP 6
References
Berk, Laura E., and Adena B. Meyers. 2016. Infants, children, and adolescents. 8th ed. Boston,
MA: Pearson.

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IDP 1

Running Head: DEVELPOMENT/INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Individual Differences Student Profile

Individual Differences Student Profile

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