Melissa Tetreault

EDUC 200
Spring 2015

Case Study
To begin this case study, I interviewed the mother of the child on Saturday, January 30th
from 10:00 a.m. until approximately noon. I was able to observe the child periodically during
this time, but most of the time was spent with the mother. During this interview I was able to
obtain general information about the child. He is 9 years and 8 months of age, and is in the 4th
grade. His date of birth is May 12th, 2005. He lives with his mother (35 year old female), his
father (35 year old male), older brother (11 years old), and sister (4 years old). He is
approximately 4 feet 7 inches tall with blond hair, hazel eyes, Caucasian, and his build is
average/athletic. Both of his parents work full time (opposite shifts), and they are considered to
be of middle class income. They moved here to West Virginia in the summer of 2012 from
Richmond, Virginia. Prior to living in Richmond, the family lived in Connecticut.
The mother told me that the child weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces at birth. He was born 5
weeks premature, and labor was normal; however, the pregnancy had been complicated. The
mother was rear ended while stopped at a stop light when she was 5 months pregnant. From that
point until the end of the pregnancy, she was put on bedrest multiple times due to contractions
and dilation, and she was eventually put on Terbutaline to help stop contractions until she
reached 35 weeks. At that point, the doctors stopped the medication and she went into active
labor less than a day later.

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Although premature, the child did not spend any extra time in the hospital following
delivery. He experienced no complications that are normally associated with premature infants.
He reached developmental milestones at ages that are typical of normal development. He began
to crawl at about 7 months of age, and he could sit by himself by around this time as well. He
was an early walker; he could walk unassisted by 8 months of age. In terms of his language
development, he required speech therapy from age 4 until the end of the third grade (age 9). The
mother said that this was not related to his prematurity, but it was most likely genetic since his
father and many members of his family required speech therapy. As an infant and through his
childhood to this point, he has had a normal temperament. He was never overly irritable, and
slept through the night by the time he was a year old with no trouble. He does have a tendency to
be sensitive at times according to his mother. He also has trouble dealing with big changes, for
example the family is in the process of moving to Alderson and this has caused stress issues for
him. He has had to leave school a couple of times because he threw up, and it turned out to be
that he was worried about leaving his friends and his school. He is generally a healthy child,
although he does get bronchitis several times a year during the fall/winter months.
We then discussed his pre-school history. As far as she could remember, his reading skills
and milestones were age appropriate. His cognitive development was normal and at times above
normal; she explained that he was able to remember things such as the days of the week and the
months of the year very easily. His attention span is something that they have struggled with at
times. Although not part of his preschool history, they did have the child for ADD/ADHD, to
which the doctor determined he did not have. As the mother mentioned, the childs emotional
development was normal, other than he is sometimes sensitive. His gross and fine motor skills
also developed normally.

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In order to observe the child in the home setting, I arranged to have the child and his
family over for the Super Bowl on February 1st. I have known the family for years, so this did not
seem odd to the child and I was able to observe him without him knowing. They were in my
home from 5:30 pm until approximately 9:00 pm. During this time, the child played and
socialized with the other children. He seemed to follow his brothers actions for the majority of
the night, although when his brother was with my oldest child (age 14), he did not follow him. At
this time, he went with my youngest (age 6) to his room and played with his toys. He did not
engage in one activity for any particular amount of time, he alternated between playing upstairs
and coming downstairs to watch the game. He is a Patriots fan and knew a lot of different facts
about the players, which he shared periodically throughout the night. He randomly approached
the adults (myself included) and quizzed us on different things related to the team. He also talked
about random other interests, such as Pokmon and the Ninja Turtles. In the past, my oldest has
shared in some of the same interests of the child, however, my oldest has outgrown some of these
things. The child did not seem aware of this fact, and he asked my son to participate in the
activities that they used to do. One example is a game called Beyblades, where the children use
metal spinning tops to race around track. My oldest has not had an interest in these in quite
some time, and the child asked him several times if he still played with them. The child also has
an interest in Pokmon, both the card game and the cartoon. My oldest, again, has not had an
interest in these in a while. The child asked him different questions about an episode of the show
he had seen recently, even after my son explained to him that he no longer watched the show.
I also observed his relationship with his parents. When the child entered the room and
attempted to discuss the game or his interests outside of the football game with the adults, his
parents were quick to dismiss him and send him to go play with the other children. If the child

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tried to continue what he was saying, the parents reminded him of the punishments he would
receive for not listening to what they told him to do. These punishments included running laps
around the house, push-ups, and other forms of physical labor. The child would then quickly
leave the room. When it came for the family to leave, the child took some time getting his jacket
and shoes on. At this time, the parents scolded him for taking too long and making them wait.
I had a brief, 30 minute observation of the child during a school lunch program on March
5th. I attended the program with my daughter, but the child is in her class. This gave me the
opportunity to observe the child in a more social setting. He seemed to have no problem
socializing with the students near him, and was talkative with everyone. Since he knows me
outside of school, he did have a few conversations with me. He mentioned how good the football
game was (although it was a month prior), and how he couldnt wait for next season. He also
asked if my youngest had seen the newest Ninja Turtles episode, and he talked about his familys
move to Alderson.
The child was observed in three different classroom situations. I spent March 20th with
his class, and on this day I observed him for the entire morning from 8:40 until 12:20. I
interviewed his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Baker, who sees him for the majority of his day. This
interview took place before the children came in from their special, and lasted for 30 minutes
(prior to the students arriving). She said from an academic standpoint, he is very bright. His
favorite subject, in her opinion, is language arts. He is especially good at reading, and does so
every time he gets the chance. His work is usually done thoroughly without any difficulties,
although she said he does have a tendency to rush through it to get it done. While it does not
present a problem, she does have to remind him to slow down and check it over. He also has a
habit of overthinking problems sometimes. She explained how the question could be a very

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straightforward basic, but he reads too much into it and makes it harder than it really is. In
regards to his social skills, Mrs. Baker said he is a very social child who seems to be friends with
everyone, students and teachers alike. He loves to talk, and will talk to anyone who is willing to
listen and engage in conversation with him. She has to remind him several times a day to not be
quite so chatty.
The first subject I observed with him was math with Mrs. Baker. The first activity the
class did was an exercise using BrainPop.com. It began with a brief video, at which time the
child fidgeted and was quite restless in his seat. It was obvious he was not interested in the
activity, he remained distracted by other things such as his pencil, shoe, and eraser during the
five minute video. Mrs. Baker then went on to teach the lesson that was associated with the
video. The child was still restless, and he became increasingly more distracting to those around
him. Some of his classmates that were within close proximity voiced their frustrations to him
about it. The teacher did not comment on his behavior, and I think this was due to the fact that
she was conducting the lesson in the front of the room and the child was seated towards the back,
making it difficult for her to know what was going on. The child also began shouting out answers
without being called on, and the teacher did not acknowledge him. He began to be quite talkative
as well, but the students around him did not appear to want to engage in conversation since they
were trying to pay attention to the lesson.
As this lesson continued, so did the distracting behaviors. At one point the child was
leaning back in his chair, and one of the other students reminded him to keep the chair on the
floor. He also began to stand up in the middle of the lesson, and would either stand still or at one
point he walked up to the teacher; at which time she asked him to go take a seat. He went back to

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his seat, and he then began laying across his desk. Finally, towards the end of the lesson, his
behaviors stopped and he took out a book and began to read.
After the math lesson concluded, the class went on to take their weekly spelling test. The
teacher reads the test to the class, and the students are expected to follow along. During this time,
the child began the previous behaviors again. It took him several minutes to start his test, he did
not begin with the rest of the class, and he also began to distract the other students again. The
teacher noticed this behavior and reminded him that it was test time and that these behaviors
were not acceptable. He stopped distracting the other students, however his attention to the test
did not improve. At one point he began talking during the test, which the teacher had to remind
him that it was not permitted. He began fidgeting with his pencil and eraser again, both during
the questions and in between. The teacher gave the students a bonus word at the end of the test,
and he was so distracted that he missed the word. He asked the teacher if she was going to give
them a bonus word, and she explained to him that she already had and that he had missed it. She
did tell him the word, and he finished his test. The teacher instructed the students to look over
their answers before handing in the test, and she briefly went over them one more time. He did
not check over the test, and handed in the test. The class then gathered their things for the next
class, and while in the hallway he began quite talkative again.
Following this class, I observed the child in social studies with Mrs. Callison. The class
lesson was based on the Second Continental Congress, and since it was Friday, they watched
Libertys Kids on the Smart Board. The child displayed behavior that was the exact opposite
from the previous class. Although this class was quite a bit shorter, the child remained focused
for the majority of the 40 minutes. The only activity was the video, and he remained in his seat
for the entire time. The children were allowed to comment and ask questions as long as they

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were about the content of the video, and he asked several pertinent questions. He showed
enthusiasm and interest in the video, and his distracting behavior was to a much lesser degree
than the previous class. I believe this was partially due to the interest in the video, and partially
due to the fact that he was seated directly in front of the teacher.
During the final rotation of the morning, the class went to science with Mr. Thompson.
Again, the child was off task for the majority of the lesson. He immediately began to fidget
during the review of the previous lesson, although he still participated at times. During the
review, the child was quite talkative and distracted the student that was sitting next to him. The
class was instructed to open the book and follow along, and the child turned to other pages in the
book that were not being discussed. His attention was not geared towards the lesson, he was
more interested in the other pages. The aid for the children who are special needs stood behind
the student I was observing, and he paid more attention to showing her the different things he
was finding in the book than to what Mr. Thompson was teaching. Mr. Thompson finally noticed
the behavior and reminded the student to stay on task.
His relationship with his parents is a good example of behaviorism. Behaviorism is the
theory that human behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to
thoughts or feelings. When the child was at my house, his parents used the threat of punishment
when he interrupted the adult conversation. He did not pursue the conversation after the threat,
his behavior was suppressed. This can also relate to presentation punishment. The child was
threatened with punishment for what his parents considered inappropriate behavior, and by
presenting him with the idea of physical labor, the behavior was suppressed. It could also be seen
in the classroom. When the teacher used direct instruction, the childs behavior escalated to more
distracting behaviors. The external environment played a part in the childs behavior. When he

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was put directly in front of the teacher during social studies, he was aware of the close proximity
to her and therefore his focus on the task improved.
I took the observations and compared them to Piagets four stages of cognitive
development. During my interview with Mrs. Baker, she described the child as having a
tendency to over think problems and make them harder than they are. If you look at the
characteristics of Piagets third stage of cognitive development, one of them says: able to solve
concrete (hands on) problems in a logical fashion. I would say that the child has difficulty with
this concept, since he over thinks problems instead of looking at them simply at face value.
His ability to appropriate seems to be a struggle for him as well in the school setting.
Appropriating means to take in and use ways of acting and thinking provided by the culture and
by the more capable members of the group. In the first classroom, it seemed that no matter what
the rest of the class was doing, the child did not take in or use these ways of acting. For example,
the class was going through the test, and the child still continued to focus on other things outside
of that, he did act as the other students did. During science, instead of following along in the
book as the other children did, he flipped through other sections and once again, found other
interests than the task at hand.
After observing the child, he seems to still have trouble with attention. During direct
instruction, he is easily distracted and frequently gets off task. This behavior begins almost
immediately. When he watched the video in social studies, however, his focus remained on it. I
would tend to think that the visual stimulation explains why his focus was better during the
video. He has a tendency to decenter his thoughts as well. When you have a conversation with
him, it goes off into many different directions many times. One minute he could be discussing
the football game for example, and then he goes off on another topic entirely.

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Piaget also refers to a characteristic of development called egocentric. This means the
child often assumes that everyone else shares their feelings, reactions, and perspectives. This is a
characteristic of the preoperational stage, and the child I observed still exhibits this
characteristic. When he interacted with my son, he did not seem to grasp the idea that my son
had outgrown many of the things that they used to have in common. He could not seem to
understand that my son had matured quite a bit since the last time they were together, and he
naturally assumed that my son would still be interested in these types of things.
Many times while the child was talking during class, he was not engaged in a
conversation with anyone in particular. For example, when he was flipping the pages of his
science book, he would talk to the aide but at times he would get excited about something in the
book, whispering about it to himself but loud enough so that I could hear it. Piaget refers to this
as collective monologue, which is also typical of a child in the preoperational stage of
development.
Vygotsky explains how language is important in terms of development as well. He refers
to self-talk as private speech, and the child I observed engaged in a considerable amount of
private speech. Vygotsky explains that private speech peaks around age 9, which would explain
why the child engaged in it so often. The child also talked his way through different tasks, which
Vygotsky also saw as a critical step in cognitive development. The problem with the child using
private speech came when he was taking his spelling test. He was talking quietly to himself,
however the teacher reminded him that there was to be no talking during the test. This shows that
the child is still developing his sense of self-regulation and the concept of internal rather than
external thought.

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Given that the child was born premature, one would think that his development would be
slightly behind those of other children his age. I believe that the fact that he has an older sibling
has a lot to do with why he was able to develop at an age-appropriate rate. Banduras social
learning theory and his social cognitive theory would explain my thoughts about this. Social
learning theory says that children learn from observing others. Social cognitive theory is further
explained by enactive and vicarious learning. Vicarious learning is learning by observing others
(social learning theory), and this child most likely watched his brother doing different things, and
since his cognitive development was normal for his age, thought about the tasks he saw (social
cognitive theory), and finally performed them.