Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 1

Individual Differences Student Profile

Lisa Chernoh
Instructor: Dr. Tracey Meyerhoffer
EDUC 205: Development/Individual Differences
Spring 2013

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2
Abstract
Todays world is one that houses many different environments. From the upscale, elite in their
castles, to the despairing homeless living on the streets, each environment helps shape the
individuals who live within it. Amy is the student that I have chosen to profile. She is a
Caucasian, 14 year old female who is one of the many severely underprivileged teenagers living
in Southern Idaho. I will examine how, as a minor, circumstances that are beyond her control
have shaped her into the teenager that she is today. I will show how her environment has had a
direct effect on her learning ability. Additionally, I will discuss her family background, physical
development, cognitive development, and her social-emotional development. Afterwards, I will
summarize my findings for review.

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Individual Differences Student Profile
Unfortunately in the world of today, most of the environments that are intensely dramatic,
are also the least desirable and most detrimental to a wholesome society. While an individual is
in control of how he/she looks at the life he/she is living and his/her attitude towards it, often
times he/she does not have the power or knowledge to change his/her circumstances. So many
times he/she get overlooked in and by the system because his/her life seems normal. Amy is one
such person that has fallen through the cracks of our society. While her problem areas are
large, they are not severe enough to classify as a disability. I have had the privilege of knowing
Amy for the past three years. She was kind enough to grant me the permission to tell a portion of
her story and analyze her for this profile project.
General Information
Amy currently lives with her mother in a very low priced motel. They have been living
there for two months and before that they lived in another local town, in another inexpensive
motel. This seems to be their pattern of living. In our discussions Amy mentioned many different
locations that she has lived in just over these last three years. Amy is 14 years and 3 months of
age, Caucasian, with a learning disadvantage that could be seen as a disability. She is currently
in the 8
th
grade, but due to lack of a stable home environment and her attendance at multiple
schools over the past three years, she is only doing fifth grade schoolwork. She tries to spend
most of her time away from the motel that she and her mother are currently living in as she is
alone most of the time that she is there. That leads to her attending The Bridge Academy of Twin
Falls and then going over to friends houses afterwards and hanging out with them until she
absolutely must return to the motel. Her school day starts at 8 am when she does her best to be
on time to school. Her aunt sometimes picks her up for school, or if her mother is able, she drops
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Amy off at school. Her father is a long-haul truck driver who is separated from Amys mother
and is absent the majority of the time. The aunt has her own family to care about but tries to keep
an eye on Amy and her mother when circumstances permit.
Physical Development
Amy is about 58 tall, very thin (she wouldnt tell me her weight), brown hair, brown
eyes, and fourteen years of age. She is proud of the muscles that she is developing in her arms
from lifting and carrying things (she said not weights! Instead it is lots of books and groceries).
Her muscle development in her legs and arms is very good. She brags about how her legs look
from walking everywhere. According to the hearing tests that were administered at her school,
there is no problem with her hearing. From observances, she is at the lanky stage of growth when
a childs arms and legs seem to be overly long for his/her body. Her body is almost in the middle
of changing from child to adult, so at times she seems rather uncoordinated. When Amy is
writing, she does so with her right hand, however, when she is participating in the different
sports at recess and/or PE class, she tends to throw, dribble, shoot, etc., with her left hand. Amy
wears glasses and told me that she is hoping to get contacts next year. Her eyesight is near-
sighted and that causes her to wear her glasses all the time. Her vision problems may have
something to do with her lack of coordination in physical activities. She seems to not be able to
aim properly when throwing, passing, or shooting the ball.
Cognitive Development
As I stated earlier, Amy is currently attending 8
th
grade at The Bridge Academy. The
school work that she is doing there is the equivalent of the second quarter of 5
th
grade. This can
be attributed to her constantly changing living arrangements and the multiple schools that she has
attended. She is currently taking some special education classes for both math and language arts
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 5
so that she can get caught up to the level where she is supposed to be. Amy appears to still be in
some of the aspects of the concrete operational stage of Piagets stages of cognitive
development. For example, she struggles with the concept of reversibility, especially in her math
lessons. One of the problems she was working on during an observation time was cup of
flour plus ____cup(s) flour makes 2 cups of flour. It wasnt until she used the attributes to
create the measurements that she was able to see that 2 cups minus equals 1 cup.
Socio-emotional Development
Amy, while not shy, is also not very forthcoming or open. She tries to be popular and
well-liked by everyone, but becomes almost hostile when anyone asks her about her home life
and family. She exhibits a lot of Piagets description of egocentrism. Her mannerisms depict the
assumption on her part that since her world revolves around her, then others worlds should as
well. If she feels like she is being left out of something, she will create a drama to once again put
herself in the position of being the center of attention. Furthermore, she has displayed actions
and attitudes for which she has received disciplinary action at school. Upon delving deeper into
her home life, however, it becomes apparent that when she is acting out the most at school, there
is something going on at home that is upsetting her. One example of this is when she began
heavily swearing at the teacher and saying that it was his fault that she was failing her math
class. This action was actually a way to lash out at her mother not coming home the night before
and then showing up to take her to school with a new boyfriend. This behavior is clearly an
example of not completely evolving from one stage of development before circumstances force
the completion of another. Elkinds theory of adolescent egocentrism fits here for Amy. She
exhibits both facets of his theory in that she believes that serious consequences will not happen
to her because she is unique and above everyone else, and she believes that everyone is
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watching her so she must be perfect in all she does. If something goes wrong, she believes it is
someone elses fault and she is the victim.
Summary, Conclusions and Implications
In the three years that I have known Amy, she has shown growth, but only during the
times when she is receiving adequate care and attention in a loving manner. In summary,
although Amy has some challenges in intellectual capabilities and some cognitive setbacks, she
is still a typical fourteen year old female with thoughts, desires and goals that are typical of
average fourteen year olds. Additionally, she shows a tremendous ability to overcome, as
illustrated by the fact that she keeps trying until she succeeds. In all, I believe this determination
will continue to help her overcome those things that attempt to hold her back.
The conclusions of this profile show that this young lady is somewhat behind in her
cognitive development according to both Piagets stages of cognitive development and
Ericksons stages of psychosocial development.
Amy does exceptionally well in her art classes, music class, and physical education class.
She struggles extensively though in her math and language arts. When she feels that someone is
judging her, she puts forth her best efforts. She is very active physically, and even ahead of some
of her peers in physical maturation areas such as running, and successfully completing push-ups
and sit ups.
Amy is at the age where she needs to feel like someone is in charge and he/she are
responsible for her. I believe that she has had more responsibility placed upon her than a person
of her age is capable of dealing with. I also believe that it is overwhelming her to the point that it
is becoming hazardous to her psychosocial and cognitive growth and development.
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There are several learning strategies that could be used to help Amys development in
many different areas of her education that I believe could be greatly beneficial to Amy. For
example, I believe that a teacher could help her develop through her stage of egocentrism by
placing Amy in a group setting in which she is dependent on and focused on another individual
and his/her importance.
Another area that Amy would benefit from is in the use of maintenance rehearsal,
especially in her math lessons. Positive reinforcement should be used when she reaches a goal
of completion to further reinforce the necessity of learning mathematics. Amys education could
be enhanced by building upon her giftedness in art and music. Additionally, teacher-parent
communication could be of some help in her educational development. Teachers who
understand the family systems model should know the importance of family involvement.
Perhaps a teacher could help her mother recognize that she needs to also continue this positive
reinforcement of schoolwork done right to further encourage Amy to reach the goals set for her. I
firmly believe that she would benefit from an Individual Education Plan (IEP) that she helps
create. One last strategy would be opening up the line of communication between Amy and her
teachers. Being able to talk about and explain things that are going on at home, without fear of
repercussion, would assist both the teachers and Amy in the educational process.
Communication is vital in making sure Amy is given a fair opportunity to learn.

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References
Altieri, M. B. (2010). Math Connects. Columbus, OH: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Parsons, Hinson, Sardo-Brown. (2001) Educational Psychology. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.