Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL/INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Individual Differences Student Profile

Cynthia Lincoln
Dr. Tracey J. Meyerhoeffer
EDUC 205 Development/Individual Differences
Online, Spring 2015

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Individual Differences Student Profile

Developmental psychology is a field that studies human development to gain
understanding about the processes of development. It has provided a baseline for study of
individuals with unique behavioral characteristics. With an educational perspective, psychology
can provide valuable insight into creating a cohesive classroom. Developmental psychology can
provide understanding about how students learn and how to communicate effectively with
students in different developmental stages. I have used resources from developmental
psychology studies to interpret my case study of a student. To ensure anonymity, I will use the
pseudonym Annie. For this individual differences student profile, I will discuss Annies
physical, cognitive, and socioemotional developmental levels and then provide a summary of
my findings with implications these findings may have for the classroom.
General Information
Annie is female who recently turned 17 years old on March 7, 2015. She lives with her
mother and father. She has an older sister who does not live with her family. There was no data
available about her sister. Her familys ethnicity data was not available. Annie attends high
school on a daily basis. She is in class most of the day unless she has a doctors visit or a
therapist appointment. The therapist appointments are typically two to three times a week. They
are regularly midday after which she returns to school property. Annie has moderate physical

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disabilities. As a result of her disabilities, she is dependent on a walker and wears plastic leg
braces. She is also medicated for bipolar behaviors.
Physical Development
Annie has short brown hair, brown eyes, and Caucasian skin. She has physically matured
at a similar rate as the rest of her peers. She is about 55 inches tall. Her weight is also average
at around 120 lbs. She wears glasses continuously and can walk short distances without her
walker. She requires her walker for any distances that are farther than 20 steps though. In
addition, she wears plastic supportive leg braces. She also has a quiet, persistent cough more
likely to be behavioral than physical. The result of this cough is she has a low voice that is
raspy. She is also right handed.
At school, Annie is not very physically fit. Her first class of the day is spinning, but she
refuses to spin for more than three minutes without taking a rest. According to Annies parents,
she does spinning regularly outside of school, which indicates that she does not perform to her
full potential at school. At lunch Annie chooses to eat a specific variety of foods in order to
satisfy her dietary needs. Annie chooses from the lunch options either a sandwich or soup to eat.
She likes apples and will get them as her fruit choice. Spices are very appealing to Annie and,
given the chance, she will pour a lot of red pepper on her meal. To satisfy her thirst, she drinks
chocolate milk and drinks out of a water bottle throughout the day.
Annie would struggle to play sports that involve running or kicking as she has low large
muscle dexterity and struggles with balance and coordination. Loss of dexterity could be a result
of her required leg braces. Her fine motor skills are below average too. She can pick up and use

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a pencil, but Annies writing tends to be scrolling and not coherent. If she is given a keyboard,
her writing is coherent.
Cognitive Development
Annie is currently a high school senior. Her classes are divided between the resource
room and general education. She gets her lunch and brings it to the resource room to reduce
negative behaviors. She is an average student with A C grades. Annie does well in studies that
are structured and is successful with questions that imply logic. She struggles with problems that
require interpretation of facts. She is able to provide interpretation but resists efforts to use
Socratic methods.
Annies academic behavior is driven by her interest in the topic. She does very well at
assimilating information into her existing knowledge base or schemas. If the topic is deemed
important or interesting to her, she will focus for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes she will
show signs of disinterest, however, which include yawning and a general unwillingness to
answer questions. Additionally, she will participate in class if she is offered an extrinsic reward.
She will also participate if she believes that she has the skills or mastery to do so.
Annie demonstrates that she is partially in the formal operational stage of
development. Piaget stated that individuals in this stage demonstrate elements of hypothetical
reasoning, analogical reasoning, deductive reasoning, and reflective abilities (Parsons et al.,
2001). Annie is able to demonstrate deductive and inductive reasoning about text in language
arts class. She is able to conclude that because the character preformed certain actions, he would
likely proceed in a certain direction. By making hypothetical choices in her teen living classes ,

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she understands more about the success of a relationship between two different personality types.
Despite her progress in language arts and teen living, she demonstrates some regression to
Piagets concrete operational phase in her mathematical ability. The problems that have a
progressive series of steps that require choosing a method to use are challenging to Annie.
A school subject that she demonstrates some regression to Piagets concrete operational
stage is throughout her social studies studies class.. She demonstrates an inability to separate her
emotions about history and fictional characters from reality. Children who are in this stage are
able to distinguish between self and the environment and self, which Piaget calls decentering
(Parson et al, 2001). Annie has not fully reached decentering in her studies.
Annie is still working on her role as a student. Educators that supervise her individual
education plan (IEP) try to understand how she learns best. The theorist, Lev Vygotsky, calls
this the zone of proximal development. He states that every student has a zone in which the
student is best suited to learn. With guidance from an educator, students can improve their
understanding of core content. In order to determine Annies zone of proximal development,
Annie has taken several tests, which indicate how she best accesses and engages in learning.
SocioEmotional Development
Annie has complicated peertopeer reactions. If she believes that her peers are her
friends, she is friendly and interested in how they are doing. If she doesnt believe they are her
friends, she grows angry and verbally aggressive quickly. Annie has some peers that make the
effort to be examples for her in their behavior. In some of these relationships, she demonstrates
morality of cooperation too. Piaget states that this means that she is willing to be flexible or

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negotiate standards (Parsons, et al, 2001). Annie does not apply this standard to her interactions
with adults though. She requires significant motivation by adults to work on her assignments,
which can result in frustrated outbursts. After she calms down educators prompt her to focus on
articulating her answers and she shows an understanding of Kohlbergs stage of conventional
ethics. She demonstrates this understanding by compliance to the societal rules and conventions
that exist in her classes (Parsons, el al 2001). Annie currently has a very volatile connection with
adults and peers. She understands moral conventions, but struggles to control her emotions and
impulses.
Annie has very up and down self esteem. She does not demonstrate immediate
confidence in any subject area. Lickona (1983) suggested some ways that could improve
Annies confidence in schoolwork in the Lickona model. One of the primary ideas in the model
used by Lickona is that selfesteem is based on a sense of mastery or skill (as cited by Parsons et
al 2001). Annie could benefit from gaining mastery, which would result in increasing confidence
and self esteem.
For Annie, her self concept is centered on her understanding of her cognitive
behaviors. Annie often struggles to take responsibility for her actions. She will observe others
behavior instead of developing a sense of intimacy with peers. Intimacy is something that Annie
desires, but only in structured forms. Her control of her behavior has proven to be an obstacle to
the development of close relationships. She has a difficultly in understanding who she is within
the educational framework. She is a clear example of the stage of cognitive development that
Erikson calls Identity vs. Role Confusion (as cited by Parsons et. al, 2001). Annie struggles

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to identify who she is in society. She knows what is permissible during class and how to respond
to teachers, but does not always do those behaviors. For example, she writes aggressive
messages and inappropriate language on chat boards. She knows that she shouldnt, but
sometimes derives satisfaction from doing so anyway. She is unsure what to do to change her
status. Annie demonstrates some indication of what Marcia calls identity moratorium (as
cited by Parsons et al, 2001). Identity moratorium refers to a stage where an individual is unable
to achieve identity success and remains stationary in the one part of identity stage. A result of
the repetitive and harmful behaviors of Annie is a loss of progress in establishing identity, which
is called identity moratorium.
Conclusion, Summary and Implications
A range of repetitive behaviors influences Annie. She repeats behaviors that negatively
impact her social and academic ability. As a result, her negative social interactions influence her
social behaviors. In Annies case, it would be beneficial to continue to provide structure and
order to relationships to help her learn how to have more positive interactions.
Annie is atypical in most domains that predict general characteristics of a student. The
atypical standards that define her responses often serve to isolate her more from her classmates.
Additionally, her behavioral and physical characteristics distinguish her from the general student
population. She requires a walker, leg braces, and medication every day, and as a result, is
increasingly dependent on professional care providers. She also performs below general grade
level competency in most subjects. Annie usually avoids social interaction with her peers
choosing instead to be isolated. In Eriksons model, she chooses isolation over intimacy.

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Annies strengths include an ability to retain curriculum data. She can be highly logical
and make clear, basic statements. Annie also understands data that doesnt pertain to emotion
and can easily adapt her knowledge to structural understanding. Moral reasoning and abstracts
challenge her understanding of her actions. Annie needs a strong structural scaffolding to
improve her etiquette. She also needs work that can be adapted to suit the range of her cognitive
abilities. Many of the needs that she currently requires will likely result in lifelong care
responsibilities, but consistent support and framework can help her develop understanding about
her abilities.
Developmental psychology provided a valuable insight into the case study of Annie.
Some of the theories could provide Annies future educators with methods by which they could
communicate skillfully with Annie. The theories used in analyzing this students profile also
provided strategies to effectively teach her in way that would cause maturation not stagnation.
Although, Annie is atypical for her age group, she can still be provided with a quality of
instruction that can prepare her for the next stage of development. In sum, developmental
psychology provides some methods for analysis and understanding of students like Annie in a
classroom structure.

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References
Parsons, Hinson, Sardo Brown. 2001. Educational Psychology: A PractitionerResearcher Model
of Teaching, IE SouthWestern, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc.