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Running Head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES PROFILE

Individual Differences Student Profile

Maria Eldredge

Instructor: Tracey Meyerhoeffer

EDUC 205: Development/ Individual Differences

Spring 2017

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Individual Differences Student Profile

For my employment, I have the privilege of working with individuals with disabilities in

their homes. I get to work with them on completing chores and taking care of their physical

needs such as showering and personal hygiene. I have been working with Jane (name changed

for privacy) for a little over a month. I have been able to observe her in her home as well as at

the adult day health center she goes to during the day. In this profile I will share my findings on

her development, and the changes that I have observed in her in the short time I have worked

with her.

General Information

Jane is twenty-one years and six months old. She is of Hispanic descent with both parents

speaking very little English. Jane was born and raised in Twin Falls, Idaho. She lives at home

with her mother and father. Her socioeconomic status is somewhere in the middle class. Her

parents own their home and Jane has nice clothes and things. Her father has two children from a

previous marriage who are married and on their own. Jane has her own room in her house and it

is painted a beautiful orange color, which she loves. She is very involved in her families

sociocultural beliefs such as attending the Catholic Church and being very family centered.

Each weekday, Jane gets picked up by a taxi at 8:45 a.m. and goes to a center for adults

with disabilities. She spends the day at the center and then her ride picks her up at 1:00 p.m.

Monday and Wednesday evenings, I go to her home to work with her. When I get there she does

the dishes and then gets ready to take a shower. Before we begin her shower, I have her repeat

the shower schema she has created in her mind. Sometimes she can successfully repeat the steps

and other times she cannot. I then coach her through washing her hair and making sure she has

washed her body thoroughly before she gets out. She then puts on lotion and gets into her

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pajamas. Using Vygotskys philosophy concerning the Zone of Proximal Development, I am

training Jane to blow dry her hair. We started out with me blow-drying it for her. We then moved

to her drying her hair until her arm gets too tired, then I finish helping her dry her hair. Each

week she gets better at holding the dryer for longer periods before handing the dryer over to me.

On Fridays, I pick her up from the center at 1:00 p.m. and we go shopping and then go to her

house to do chores and then she takes her shower. On Saturdays, we work on cleaning the

bathroom, her bedroom, and doing the dishes. Since I go early in the day, she doesnt take a

shower while I am there.

Physical Development

Jane has brown eyes, extremely long dark hair, and an olive complexion. She has several

scars from multiple surgeries on her legs, belly, neck and head. She stands about 4 11. She is a

fully developed woman and her physical development seems to be on point with that of her

peers. She uses a hearing aid in her left ear and is completely deaf in her right ear. She wears

glasses to help her see well. She wears a brace on her left leg to help keep it straight while she is

walking. Jane gets frequent ear infections, so she must put cotton in her ears to protect them from

water getting in.

Jane is right handed. She attends physical therapy to help with her walking, increase her

range of motion, and to improve her physical strength. She is not a fan of healthy foods and ends

up eating a lot of processed foods such as Eggos, Hot Pockets, Taquitos, and Chicken Nuggets.

She is a very picky eater and her mother has told me that it is a huge struggle to get her to eat

vegetables and other healthy foods. Her gross motor skills dont allow for things like kicking a

ball very far or running but she does walk very well for someone with Cerebral Palsy. Her fine

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motor skills seem to be fine. She is able to play games on her phone and write and color with

her right hand.

Cognitive Development

Jane attended high school until she turned twenty-one and was exited out. She did well in

reading and math while she was in school. Now that Jane is an adult she attends a center for

adults with disabilities. There are usually three to four adults with one to two workers overseeing

what they are doing. Each day they work on worksheets such as coloring pages, math sheets, or

reading. During this time Jane struggles to stay focused on her worksheets and tries playing

games on her phone. She usually ends up getting her phone taken away a couple times a week

because of it. Through guided participation, they play games to practice social skills and then

they go out into the community to shop and pick up their lunch. After they get back to the center

they eat lunch. Jane usually brings a lunch to the center from home because she is a very picky

eater. After lunch, Jane colors a picture while she waits for her ride to pick her up.

Jane is developing in Piagets Formal Operational Stage in her language and literacy

learning. Sometimes she struggles to remember words while speaking and gets frustrated and

starts hitting her head. After being reminded to take her time, she is usually able to come up with

the words she is looking for and completes the conversation. Jane also struggles to problem

solve, but if shes given time to process, she can usually solve small issues.

Socio-emotional Development

Jane interacts fairly well with her peers. There are two other clients at the center that she

gets upset with frequently. The two of them tend to be overly loud and it bothers her hearing aid.

When they are loud she yells at them to be quiet, and gets upset. She interacts well with a couple

of the young men in her group because they share common interests and can carry on a

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conversation with her without being loud. Jane does well in her social interactions with adults

and her parents. She does get very frustrated when people cannot understand what she is trying

to communicate though, so she sometimes hits her head and cries out in frustration. Other than

that she is usually very friendly and will carry on a conversation with someone who engages her.

Janes self-esteem is a little low. It is frustrating to her that she struggles to speak properly and

she has also complained about being so short and how she wishes she were taller.

Jane is in the identity vs. role confusion stage in Ericksons socio-emotional

development theory. She is still forming her identity as she transitions into adulthood. Jane is

now learning the roles of an adult such as cleaning up after herself, caring for her personal needs,

and is seeing a vocational therapist to figure out what jobs she might be able to get. There are

days that she wants to be treated like and adult and make her own decisions and then there are

days that she wants to be treated like a child and have everything done for her.

Summary, Conclusions, and Implications

As I have observed and worked with Jane over the last month or so I have discovered

many interesting facts about her. Jane is a very high functioning individual for a person with

Cerebral Palsy (CP). Her disability affects her hearing, her memory, and her physical strength.

While some individuals with CP are bound to a wheelchair or rely on walkers or crutches, Jane

only needs a brace on one leg to aid her walking. Jane has obsessive tendencies and recounts

stressful events over and over until she can resolve the issue in her mind. For example, when I

began working with her she would frequently mention the fact that her fathers ex-wife doesnt

like her mom and would repeat it on a daily basis. Eventually she was able to discontinue saying

it after her father reminded her that his ex-wife was no longer living and it was okay.

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Janes strengths include her ability to walk, her ability to make friends and communicate

with others, her ability to read, write, and do simple math problems. She has a great sense of

humor and it warms my heart when she tells a joke and then laughs about it. Jane is very

determined young lady and knows how to get what she wants.

Jane still needs support in her emotional self-regulation development. She struggles a

lot with keeping her emotions under control and not getting overly upset when something is

bothering her. She needs support in her stage of identity vs. role confusion; at times, she

struggles to be motivated to be an adult and have adult responsibilities and retreats into a more

childlike state when being asked to do something hard. Jane also needs support with her

memory. She forgets what activity is next or what the next step in the activity is; as a result some

memory strategies would be very helpful to her. I look forward to continuing my work with

Jane as she continues in her growth and development.


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References

Berk L.E., & Meyers, A.B. (2016). Infants children, and adolescents: (8th ed.) United States of

America: Pearson