Running head: Individual Differences Student Profile

Individual Differences Student Profile

Carley White
Instructor: Dr. Tracey Meyerhoeffer
EDUC 205: Development/Individual Differences
Spring 2015

Individual Differences Student Profile

Individual Differences Student Profile

The young woman that I chose to observe is 20 years and 10 months old and she is
currently living with me as one of my roommates here at the College of Southern Idaho. Ive
chosen to call her by the name of Margaret. I chose to observe her because of her learning
disability, dyslexia, which impairs her ability to read and write. Margaret is the youngest of the
children in her family. She has two older brothers ahead of her. When shes home in Utah, she
lives with her mom and dad and her older brothers, as well as two dogs and a cat. She is
currently living in Twin Falls, Idaho, with five other girls in an apartment. She is a studentathlete at CSI.
Her daily schedule does not vary much from day to day. She is the most comfortable
when she sticks to her routines. She doesnt have class at the school on Mondays, Wednesdays,
or Fridays until she has water plyometrics at noon and then softball practice from one thirty to
five after that. After practice ends at five thirty, she has about two hours to cook herself dinner
and shower and get ready for study hall. The softball team is required to get anywhere from four
to twelve hours a week of study hall, based on their grades; and, Margaret currently has six hours
of study hall. She can choose the days she attends study hall, so she usually chooses Monday,
Tuesday, and Sunday. Study hall goes from seven to nine oclock at night. Margaret comes home
after study hall and goes and watches television in her room before going to bed.
Physical Development
Margaret is of Italian descent, which is why her skin is more of an olive color. She has
very pretty golden-brown eyes and bleached platinum blonde hair. She has a tattoo on her left
shoulder blade, a back piercing, a lip piercing, and several ear piercings. Physically, her body is

Individual Differences Student Profile

as mature as every other twenty-year-old woman. She works hard on her physical health. She has
a little extra weight, but she has been doing better do make sure that she is eating right as well as
working her hardest during the softball team workouts. She does meal planning which keeps her
from eating out and buying unhealthy things to eat, which has helped with her weight loss
significantly. Her general health is great. She doesnt have any allergies or serious conditions or
sicknesses. Margaret is right handed. She writes, throws, and bats right handed. Her large muscle
development is very good. She is a very good collegiate athlete. She can run, lift, throw, and
swing a bat very well. She uses her large muscles very well. She actually enjoys physical
exercise and working these large muscles to a certain extent. Her smaller muscle development is
not as good as her larger muscle development. She has a hard time using items such as scissors
and writing sometimes. For example, she was in a drawing class and she would often ask for my
help drawing something because she felt like she couldnt. This could be an example of learned
helplessness because she felt like no matter how hard she tried at drawing, she wouldnt succeed
at it due to her learning disability and trouble mixing up letters.
Cognitive Development
Margaret is currently a sophomore at CSI. She is placed in a lot of regular general
education classes, but she is also in some classes that are specifically for students with learning
disabilities such as dyslexia. She is placed in many least restrictive environment classes which
just means that she is in a normal learning environment, just like the other students without a
learning disability. Many of her classes are only taught by a certain teacher because of her
specific learning styles that help her learn the best she can. Although she has trouble reading and
writing, because of the fact that shell mix up letters or words, her attention span and ability to
focus in the classroom is actually really good. She doesnt have a problem with focusing. Part of

Individual Differences Student Profile

this is due to the fact that she doesnt really like to talk or participate in class very much. She is a
very shy and soft spoken person when it comes to adults in authority or anyone she doesnt know
really well.
Margaret is in Jean Piagets fourth stage of cognitive development which is called the
formal operational stage. Obviously she is twenty years old, so its normal to be in this
cognitive stage of development. Other than her dyslexia, Margaret can think normally, for the
most part. She can decenter different situations, which means she can put herself in other
situations to solve the problem. She can also use analogical reasoning to solve problems. There
are occasions where she forgets certain details or asks an obvious question. For example, we
have a schedule of what we wear to practice on certain days and it stays the same the whole year,
but there are several times a week when she asks me what we are supposed to wear that day to
practice. I believe that she always asks me due to a little bit of anxiety that she feels because she
doesnt want to wear the wrong thing to practice. Other than always asking to make sure what we
are wearing to practice, Margaret can think hypothetically, reason deductively and
analogically, and solve abstract problems. These are just a few examples of what people in
Piagets formal operational stage of cognitive development should be able to do.
Socio-Emotional Development
Margaret is not outgoing at all, as I mentioned before. She is not the kind of person who
likes to go out on the weekends and meet new people. Her interaction with her peers is very brief
most of the time. For example, Ive lived with her for two years now and very occasionally does
she come out and hang out with myself and the rest of the roommates in our living room. She is
the type of person who would rather keep to herself and hang out in her bedroom alone. Her
interaction with adults is actually very good. She has respect for authority and is very well

Individual Differences Student Profile

mannered and polite when speaking to adults who are older than she is. For example, Im always
very impressed whenever she talks to our coaches or when my parents talk to her because she
seems to be more confident with herself. I believe that she has trouble with her confidence in
herself when shes around people her own age. She always makes remarks regarding her weight
which could be an indicator that she doesnt want people to talk about it behind her back, so she
points it out herself. She is displaying whats known as imaginary audience, which means that
she thinks the people around her are as concerned about her appearance as she is.
When it comes to what stage of Erik Eriksons socio-emotional development Margaret
is in, I believe that she is in the fourth stage which is known as adolescence (identity vs. identity
diffusion). This stage usually happens anywhere from once the child hits puberty to over
eighteen years of age. I believe that Margaret is still in this stage due to the fact that she is still
learning to relate and interact with her peers around her, hence her hesitance to hang out with
people and be outgoing with them. She is also learning to behave with formal rules in activities.
The activity that she engages in the most is softball, and sometimes following the common rules
of behavior is difficult for her. She will often times throw fits when something doesnt go her
way.
Summary, Conclusions, and Implications
Margaret is a bright young woman who just needs a little extra help when it comes to her
education and interaction with others. I do believe that some of her anger issues on the softball
field can come from her dyslexia and her frustration with school. She might feel an added
pressure to do well with her athletics because she feels she cant do that well in her academics.
My conclusions are that, for the most part, Margaret is at the typical level of development
when being compared to her peers. Generally, she is at the same level of development as other

Individual Differences Student Profile

people her age because she is away from her family at college and living on her own which is
much like most of the people her age. Physically, she is at the same level of development
because her body is where it should be as a twenty-year-old woman. Cognitively, she is slightly
below the typical level because although she is in the fourth and final stage of Piagets cognitive
development, she falls behind because of her small learning disability. She is a little bit behind
on her socio-emotional development because of her anger issues when she is playing softball and
the fact that she is still learning to interact with her peers because of her problems with her
confidence.
She has many strengths. One of her strengths that brings her the most happiness is the
fact that shes so athletic and that its helping her pay for her education. Margaret works hard to
do the best she can and do well in the sport of softball. On the field, she is a great influence for
the rest of the players because of her work ethic and love of the game. She prides herself in her
athletic strengths. Her weaknesses are mostly socially and academically. Her dyslexia makes
reading and writing troublesome at times. She also has weaknesses socially because she of her
self-esteem and shyness.
The best way to deal with Margarets weaknesses and struggles with learning would be to
place her in classes that are specific to her learning needs. For example, many of the classes that
she takes her at College of Southern Idaho are taught by a teacher who also has dyslexia, so it
helps Margaret out significantly because the teacher can relate and help her to her best ability.

Individual Differences Student Profile

7
References

Berns, R. M. (2013). Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support (9th ed.).
Canada: Cengage Learning.
Parsons/ Hinson/ Sardo-Brown. Educational Psychology: A Practitioner-Researcher Model of
Teaching, 1E. 2001.