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EDUC-230 Final Project

Lex Nottingham

Elementary Education, College of Western Idaho

EDUC-230-001R: Special Education

Natalie Tau

5 May 2021
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General Description:

Physical characteristics can be hard to find at first, but when you find them it can make a

teacher really see who that student is behind all the struggles. Tim has struggled for a lot of his

life while being enrolled in a public school. When I see Tim I see myself in a lot of ways, he

wants to learn. That is a huge characteristic that often gets overlooked because of their struggles.

He gets frustrated because his thoughts aren’t being included like all the other students. That

makes him seem lonely, or even invisible at times. In the video, Tim wanted to talk about cats

and dogs. His classmate heard that and took credit for it as their own idea. That can be frustrating

and make Tim not want to speak. Another characteristic Tim has is keeping to himself, he works

better alone. Teachers said he reads all the time because that is time for him to be himself, not

judged by others. The only physical limitation I saw was his behavior, however I believe that it

can be justified in some situations considering the other students haven’t gotten the chance to get

to know Tim and know what he is capable of in the classroom. This is a limitation because he

gets frustrated very easily which causes him to lose focus on the assignment given to him.

At home Tim finds it hard to take orders from his parents. He may love them and know

that it’s in his best interest to listen to them since they are his parents. However, Tim likes his

routines and when he is asked to do something that routine is changed. Tim doesn’t spend a lot

of time with his family. When he is at home he spends a lot of his time in his room alone

reading. He doesn’t like to be bothered even at home, this tells me that Tim works better when he

is alone. This can be both good and bad because the authority of his parents doesn’t seem to

make a difference which can be hard for a teacher. His teacher could ask him to draw a picture

for an assignment and the teacher can assume that Tim will need a more direct approach since
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even at home authority doesn’t cross Tim’s mind. One outside factor is that Tim doesn’t spend a

lot of time outside his home. He doesn’t do any extracurricular activities which means he doesn’t

have a social connection with anyone outside of the classroom. This can cause him to be

uncomfortable around other students since that isn’t what he is used to doing.

Strengths and Needs:

Tim’s academic strengths include reading and writing. Time reads at a high school level,

that is amazing considering he is only a 4th grader. He spends a lot of his time reading, this can

be important because a lot of the time we read while in school. I say this because even now while

in college it is a lot of reading and writing. Being able to read at such a high level at such a

young age can put him above his other classmates as he gets older. A struggle that Tim will

never have to face assuming he still loves reading as he gets older. Writing is another strength

that Tim has, I presume that English would be his best subject and he will be ahead of his other

classmates when it becomes really important. One less struggle that Tim will have to worry

about.

Tim’s academic needs are mainly caused by his behavior. He has a hard time expressing

himself, which means that in discussions he can’t voice all the stuff he has learned about. He

may know the material and have an amazing paper written but that won’t matter if he has a hard

time sharing. I noticed he starts out with the confidence he needs, then he gets discouraged by

the other students reactions to him speaking. This can be a cause of his next academic weakness

which is socialization. As stated above he loves his alone time, which is great but not all

assignments can be done that way. If he would go out of his comfort zone and start with sharing
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with his teacher that can be a confidence boost for him to share with other classmates, assuming

the classmates change their mindset about Tim as well.

Tim seems to be in between “Preoperational” (Piaget) and “Concrete Operational”

(Piaget) based on Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. When Tim speaks he knows what he

is talking about and understands what is being asked of him. However, he struggles

understanding context cues indicating that what is being asked of him is needed to actually get

done. One example of this is when his class is broken up into groups and asked to talk about a

topic. Time immediately says “cats and dogs” and then another student takes credit for that

answer. In this situation, at this age, he can stand up for himself and speak up. However, he stays

quiet and gets upset that nobody was listening to him. When he is by himself he completes all the

work that is being asked because he doesn’t have to compete with other students. I would say in

his mind he is at the final stage which is “Formal Operational” (Piaget), meaning he understands

the books exactly how they are written and can write an entire paper on that exact book. When

asked to do it in a group he almost forgets what he is actually capable of.

Behavior:

Tim has a hard time when around his peers, as stated above he does phenomenal work by

himself. When he is in a classroom he feels invisible because his peers haven’t given him the

chance to prove to them that he is smart and knows what he is talking about. Adults seem to be a

little easier to talk to, however when asked to do something Tim seems to want to be in his own

space and not listen to what is being asked of him. This is especially prominent with him parents,

his parents have a hard time getting Tim to interact with him because he would rather stay in his
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room and read instead of spending time with the family. Tim’s self-concept seems to be okay

until his classmates make fun of him. In the videos we saw that anytime Tim did anything

everyone in the class would whisper, laugh, or ignore his thoughts. This can cause Tim to think

he doesn’t know what he is talking about or better yet, he just is misunderstood. This seems to be

the cause of Tim having low self-esteem. To me, when Tim is alone he has all the confidence he

needs to complete the work because he doesn’t have people whispering about him. All of this

happens right in front of him, almost as if the students don’t care that Tim can hear him and his

feelings may be hurt.

I believe that Tim has met all stages of psychosocial development to an extent. To start I

think he is as low as stage 2, which is doubting their abilities (Erikson). The reason I started with

this is because he can do so much and is so smart when he does the work alone. However, when

he is in a group discussion or has to do something with another person he immediately shuts

down and almost forgets how smart he is. I believe that Tim goes as high as stage 6, feeling

socially isolated (Erikson). He doesn’t have a social life, I believe this is partially the parents

fault to an extent because they didn’t try to send him to extracurricular activities or invite people

over for Tim to play with at a young age. He is comfortable being alone, however that isn’t

necessarily a good thing at his age. Tim needs to feel comfortable speaking out loud in class and

when another student is belittling his work or making him feel like he doesn't have a say, he

can’t stand up for himself. This makes him feel like he isn’t important because not a lot of people

have made him feel like he is important.

Strategies Suggestion:
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The strategies that should have been used to support Tim’s learning and development is

by allowing him to share his thoughts out loud to the class, without giving the other students the

opportunity to not listen. What I mean by this is having him share a book report that the whole

class read and having some students share their report, including Tim. This would give not only

the class the opportunity to take Tim seriously and start recognizing that he is smart and does the

same work as everyone else, but also give Tim the confidence to share in a group with other kids

talking as well. This could also be beneficial for his behavior to not blow up at any given point.

Especially because the class knows he can actually participate and he has proven to them that he

is worth a listen. However, behavior can out burst at any moment and can’t always be predicted.

I feel more social interaction would help Tim not be as frustrated and feel like nobody is

listening to him and people care about what he has to say.

Some accommodations that I would give Tim is making sure the classroom doesn’t have

a lot of distractions to keep him focused on the assignment. This gives less room for Tim to get

side tracked and then lost in the conversation, this may be what causes his frustrations. I would

also assign Tim’s seat next to a couple students I knew would respect Tim’s thoughts and be

willing to look past his struggles and allow him to participate just as much as the student next to

him. I would also provide a separate area for Tim to go and cool off at any point that would

allow him to be alone and just read. This could help eliminate out bursts as he is going to an area

he is already comfortable with and doing a task that he loves, he can also use this space to work

alone and I know that when Tim is in this space he is feeling a little overwhelmed and may need

some space to think. To keep Tim on task, I would assign his assignment to his standards, what I

mean by this is when I assign a reading activity that must be done in a group Tim is allowed to
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read that book on his own. He won’t have to read out loud with other students and can be in his

own zone. Once Tim has finished reading what has been assigned then I would move him into a

group to share his findings. This would eliminate distractions of other students not being on task

and let Tim think about his findings on his own without being interrupted.
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References
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.psychologynoteshq.com/erikerikson/

Griend, Marilou Vander. Behavioral Accommodations, 21 July 2016,

Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development (2012). Retrieved from