Educational Observation of Development of a 5th Grader Essay

Archie is a 10 year old in the ordinal grade household here at Friends School. Hes at endureed this naturalise from preschool until now, a total of seven years. He lives in the neighborhood and tends to be wizard of the inaugural kids in the classroom e precise morning. In ecumenic he fronts to be a happy child, smiling oft seasons. He has a leaning to be quite goofy at convictions and struggles with momentum simplicity, frequently speaking pop out in class or creation roiled by talking or fashioning jokes. This seems to stem from his minimal brain dysfunction, which he is on medical special(prenominal)ty for. Though he has m virtu aloney(prenominal)(prenominal) ch wholeenges pre dod to his minimal brain dysfunction, he dis understands an skill for math, enjoys reading, loves computers and is full of random facts that he adores to contri howevere. His everyday health seems fine save we consec come in noniced that he spends quite a bit of era in the bat hroom on occasion.We suspect that he may crap digestion/constipation issues, nonwithstanding this is un pass on and that speculation, as his younger infant is live onn to train these issues. He is on hyperkinetic syndrome medicine and takes that day-to-day. He chooses non to lam fage a snack mid morning, but seems to expel a light tiffin every day. He is of aver get along with teetotum and weight in com hitison to his classmates. He has plenty of energy daily and hasnt missed every school due to sickness in these first 5 weeks of school. Archie is the oldest of both children. His younger infant is in the moment grade here at Friends School. His p arnts atomic number 18 his adoptive pargonnts, though his child is biological I do non know any only information about this at this time.His p argonnts are both Lawyers by trade, though the M approximately new(prenominal) is the only adept currently practicing. His father is the Hockey bearing at DU. I see both parents frequently here at the school dropping clear up and picking up their children. In addition, their nanny and Aunt are oft here at the school and hard involved in their lives. They also are very involved with them at home and are on top of Archies carriage including enforcing consequences.why I selected this child?The decision on which child to choose was an arouse process for me. I found it quite difficult because I rattling wanted to learn the to the highest degree from this process as vi fit. Not only about this one psyche child, but learnedness that will impact to emerging students in my classes. I knew that I wanted to choose person that didnt fall into the gifted/exceptional categoriesacademically because in the future I dont see my self hiting with kids that are outliers on either end of extremes, and didnt feel I would learn what I wanted to by choosing almostone from those categories. Once removing many of those kids, that also re spark offd somewh at of the obvious resources with quirky personalities However, I find myself lucky to have a number of interesting and bold personalities in class and no one that seems to get over weighed or blend into the cracks.I took a look at the kids that were mature were they needed to be academically, however had some barriers to learnedness socially/ activatedly/ take outionally etc. Who needed extra cooperate in ways that I dont currently know how to attend to? How do you advocate these types of kids and encourage them to be p imposture of the grouping and fall out norms without squashing their own remarkable personality? By asking myself these, among other questions, it became obvious that Archie was my choice. I see my future classrooms having at least a a couple of(prenominal) children manage him that have attention deficit disorder or similar reading issues. I want to know how to relate to these kids, encourage them, and support them. I also hope to learn how to function them manage their own carriage in the classroom to allow the other children to learn and non be a constant distraction which often leaves them feeling wish well an foreigner or looked down upon by classmates.Key questions about this child1. How loathly is his minimal brain dysfunction dis role, when was it diagnosed, what is cosmos done to abet him compensate? What aspects of his friendship are most touch by this disorder? 2. How to understand what life is like for him from his point of view? 3. What is the main cause for his inabilities to self regulate and his drop of longing control? 4. Does his behavior change based on the time of day or day of the week? What about subject egress? 5. What are his strengths academically? Weaknesses?6. Where is he instructionally in comparison to his classmates? case Norms? 7. Physical culture? (coordination, stamina, fine drive skills, rt/lt mandate, nutrition etc) 8. rational/cognitive Development? (multiple intelligence activitys, level of executive function etc) 9. Does he have any other health issues? Possible digestive/constipation? 10. What is his background in regard to being adopted and does that have any bearing on his current issues? (ie. Drugs/alcohol parentage parent? etc) 11. Does hissister have any similar behavioral or encyclopaedism issues? 12. Who are his friends and how does he relate to them? Do any of his issues get in the way of those relationships?13. How does his family & life international of school affect his daily life in school? (ie distant activities, consequences, family culture, parental expectations etc) 14. What language and questions are best when communicating with this child? What approaches work? What encourage him vs deflates him? 15. How does he function in large groups, small groups, pairs? 16. How does he respond when hes faced with something difficult or makes mistakes? What motivates him to label harder? Participate?Key questions for me to learn from th is take away1. What washbowl we do as instructors to booster him with these issues? 2. How bunghole I connect with him and support him?3. What can I learn from this childs behavior and inevitably that I can use with other future students? 4. What exactly is minimal brain dysfunction and how does it affect a childs education? 5. How kinginess I come apart support and motivate children with learning disorders? 6. When comparing students discipline in general, what factors influence their development?Physical DevelopmentArchie locomote into the category of the Middle Years which occurs from the ages of vi to dozen. This is a time when growth slows down in comparison with the periods antecede and following it (Stone & Church, 1984, p426). Archie is 10 years and 2 months old. He is one of the youngest children in his class, though his physiologic development seems to be consistent with that of a typic 10 year old. He is 56.5 inches tall and weighs 80 pounds. When direct ly compared to his 20 classmates, both male and female, his lift falls in the middle of the require at the 10th tallest and his weight slightly higher at the fifteenth heaviest. When compared to the national average growth charts in the United States, he falls into the 75th percentile of 10-year-old boys in both height and weight (Center for disorder Control and Prevention, 2000). His BMI, calculated at 17.6, places him into the 65th percentile for boys his age and is deemed a healthy weight (Center for infirmity Control and Prevention, 2012).He has non touch on his adolescent growth spurt nevertheless, which is non expected until he turns twelve or thirteen. (see appendage B for all growth charts) Overall, Archies general health appears good. Since the beginning of the school year, he has only missed one day of school due to being sick. This seems to be on par with others in his class. He has been clinically diagnosed with ADHD and is currently on medication for this issue. The medication is administered in the morning then again at lunch period by our administrative staff. He has let outed the annoyance of having to take the medication during the day at school but verbalize that it really helps him in class, so its worth it. Archie verbalise he has been taking ADHD medication since he was in mho grade and it has tremendously helped. In addition to the ADHD diagnosis, we have observed some potential digestive issues. A few generation a week, Archie will disappear for hanker periods of time in the bathroom.When asked if everything is all even off, he says yes, however this is abnormal behavior for a 10 year old. It is understood that his younger sister who is in the 2nd grade does indeed have constipation issues, so we conjecture that may be affecting Archie as swell. Over the course of my 6 weeks of placards, this bathroom behavior continued which leads me to speculate that something is going on in regard to his digestion and elimination. T he ADHD medication does not appear to affect his physical health, however his eating habits do seem to be alter. The majority of the children eat a snack every morning most 10am and Archie neer does. Ive asked him why and he says he isnt hungry. He prefers to get on the classroom computers for the 15-minute duration of snack time. For lunch everyday, he brings a vanilla escort along with a few other nutritious items. break is a nutritional shake that has essential vitamins, minerals, fat, and protein, along with aiding in digestion and providing energy.I was told he started bringing these last year to make sure that he was getting some nutrition during the day because he often generation did not eat much. I also wonder if a indirect reason has to do with his digestive issues. He nearly continuously drinks the Ensure and occasionally eats the other items he brings. He is nearly ceaselessly one of the first children done with his lunch and is eager to get on the computers to play a game. In addition to his daily snack and lunch habits, I have find that when offered snacks or sugary treats he never partakes. A few examples areduring birthday celebrations or the harvest festival, both of which consist of potluck treats brought in by classmates. In addition, the music teacher says that he never takes the skittle reward claiming he said he doesnt need extrinsic motivation It seems that in that location is a clear get in touch between his ADHD medication consumed during the day and his privation of appetite.I am unsure of how he eats at home, however seeing that his height and weight fall into healthy categories, his current nutrition must be providing what he needs. Throughout the day, his energy levels are consistent, however his focus and heed seem to be best in the morning. Many measure a day we gather the group into a circle. He tends to be recalcitrant and move a solidification, so he is allowed to sit on a stool during these times (unlike oth er children who sit on the floor). These times seem to be the most difficult for him to manage impulse control, stay rivet and suppress excess energy. These behaviors are consistent with his ADHD and in that location have been modifications in the classroom, such(prenominal) as the stool, to support him with that. His mood seems to stay systematically jovial throughout the day, and his bodily movements dont seem to express this aspect of him. It appears his motor skills are appropriate for his age, though it is clear during observation that those skills are not nearly as advanced as many another(prenominal) of his classmates.His large motor skills show the most obvious contrast. His movements when running, kicking and throwing a ball are awkward, jerky and only mildly duplicate (See propose 8a in Appendix A). Children with ADHD are notoriously clumsy and tend to have problems with how they perceive their bodies in relation to quad (Freed & Parsons, 1997, p64). His PE teacher says that he has never been that great at sports and often seems to exaggerate his bodily movements. She suspects some of the exaggeration is to be fancyous and to distract from his lack of coordination in comparison to the other students. Energetically he seems to comfortably have the stamina to lapse up with the sports and activities at hand, however, the interest in these activities seems to be lacking. This shows up not only in PE class but also on the resort area at fragmentize. Over many days of observing Archie at recess, never once did I see him participate in any soft of sport activity. Daily the other children are playing kickball, buzz off the flag, four square or tag, and he never chooses to join in.He often chooses to hang out with the same 2 to 3 boys engaging in non-physical activities while talking and sitting on the picnictable, under the play structure or hanging from the chain loops. A few times I observed him reading by himself on the playground. I find it intriguing that his energy and body movements inside the classroom seem heightened, yet he does not feel the need to exert this energy outside of the classroom. Personal interest and aptitude in sports seems to play a reference in this discrepancy. However, it leaves me curious as to what else might be influencing his physical behaviors and choices. In addition, it is said that during the middle years, motor skills blossom as children become upright at many types of physical activities, skills and games (Stone & Church, 1984, p450). This also makes me wonder what he might be missing out on developmentally by not having interest in these physical activities.His fine motor skills are on par with the other students in his class. Though his hand writing is not always perfect, when he takes the time, it is often much nicer than the other boys in the classroom. His written work, both writing and math, is legible, tends to be larger letters, and of average quality (see Appendix C ). H is drawing and art skills are less advanced, more than careless and not as refined as testify by picture 6b & 6b of his art project box in comparison to four other students (see Appendix A). His attention to detail in writing is much more sound out than in drawing (see Appendix C, 4/5/6). He is right handed, holds the pencil appropriately and writes with adequate pressure.He is sufficiently coordinated with cut and math tools as well. There is no evidence that his fine motor skills are deficient, unsloped not as advanced as some though on par or exceed others in his classroom. Overall, Archies physical development seems to fit the usual pattern of his age group. The differences I have observed are in his gross motor skills being less coordinated than others and his lack of interest in physical activities during recess and PE. I have not noticed any physical development issues that are affecting his learning or social interactions, though it is clear that his ADHD does have an impact on all areas of his life.Cognitive DevelopmentPerhaps the most intriguing aspects of Archies development are in both the social/ excited and cognitive realms. He is a in general happy child that comes to school everyday with a positive situation and a smile on his face.He is caring and empathetic to others and is quite self- assured and reflective. He has the tendency to be quite goofy, often flavor for ways to be the class clown and generate a laugh. unequivocal his urges to speak out, move about or be appropriate in the moment is very difficult for him. You can see that he often acts first then means by and by. His impulses seem to get the best of him at times and often leads to him causing interruptions and getting into trouble. You can see that he is a good- dispositiond boy and means well, however his low executive cognitive operation skills make it difficult for him in the classroom. Luckily, his happiness seems to remain strong and zippy despite his social/emot ional hornswogglecomings.All of this can be accounted for when viewed through the lens of a child with Attention Deficit Disorder. Therefore, we must first examine his cognitive development before addressing his social/emotional development. fit is described as a neurological syndrome that has three primary symptoms impulsivity, distractibility and hyperactivity. The American Psychiatric Association states in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of intellectual Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) that 3%-7% of school-aged children have ADHD (Freed & Parsons, 1997). Research shows that each year there is a drastic increase in reported cases and boys are more likely than girls to be diagnosed. Why might this be? Children with amplify or ADHD (incorporating the hyperactivity component) are often easily distracted, find it difficult to listen, follow directions, trouble sitting still and control impulsive behaviors. It is not affect that in the typical school system that a child with these issu es would be looked at as a nuisance and difficult to teach.Freed and Parsons (1997) say that the luck is growing because of the cultural influences and failure of our statemental system to understand and adequately address it ADHD. In their book, Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World, they make the argument that broadly gifted and virtually all children with ADD per centum the same learning style (Freed & Parsons, 1997, p17). They are often highly visual learners, with non- back-to-back processing and fanciful tendencies. Interestingly abundant, Howard Gardners multiple intelligence theory also addresses this discrepancy in learning behavior. Gardners multifaceted view of intelligence suggests a plurality in view of mind and intelligence, recognizing many different facets of learning and their strengths and weaknesses (Gardner, 1993, p6). OurAmerican school system has been set up to support left-brained learners who are strong at regurgitating information but weak at seminal and problem solving skills. The ADHD child does not fit well into this rubric, which results in his disorder looked at as a problem as opposed to a gift. Both theorists suggest that there are students like Archie who think differently and possess strengths that are not explored or back up in the traditional school system of our left-brain focused society.Luckily, we as educators are learning and expanding As stated in The Compassionate Classroom, The trust level rises markedly when students realize that a relationship based classroom teacher is supporting their common needs rather than ranking their academic differences. (Hart, Hodson, 2004, p. 20) As I stated in my introduction, my decision to choose this child was in order to learn what I could do as a instructor to help these non-traditional learners flourish in their education. Archie was formally diagnosed with ADHD in the second grade and began seeing the school psychologist at that time. His kindergarten/first gra de teacher said they had been talking to the parents since kindergarten about the need for some discussion and possible learning issues, yet the parents were quite resistant up until the second grade. At that point, they did decide to get Archie evaluated and it was determined that he had ADHD and medication would help him.Due to Archie being adopted, I found it intriguing that his biological sister also had ADHD. What is the hereditary link and how does acceptation play a mathematical function? After further investigation, one study published by the journal of Abnormal Psychology found that out of 808 adopted children ages 4-18, 21% had enough behavioral symptoms to qualify for a diagnosis of ADHD. This is over twice the rate in the general population (Connell, P). They also say that 40% of children with ADHD will have a parent with ADHD, usually the father (Adesman, MD). shriek It isnt a stretch to start to see the link and why. ADHD greatly effects the executive function of a n individual, so poor impulse control and accompanying behavior may account for the factors that make these poesy abnormally high. These adoptive children are exposed to more risk factors such as smoking, drinking, drugs, malnutrition, neglect, and unplanned pregnancy (Kunz, 2010).Archie and his sister came from the same set of birth parents three years apart. It does not surprise me at all to think that these siblings were exposed to any number of risk factorsseeing that the parents chose to extend up one child and then got pregnant 3 years later and gave that one up as well One of the areas most affected by ADHD is in the realm of executive function. In a 1990 study published in the medical journal Lancet, a husking was found when using PET scans to measure the brain activity in 9 children with ADHD. The scans showed an abnormally low cerebral activity in the facade areas of the brain responsible for concentration, language development, attention span, impulse control and logi cal, sequential reasoning. Conversely, they found higher activity in the occipital or layabout lobe, which is the primary visual area of the brain (Freed & Parsons, 1997, p36). If the areas of the brain most affected by ADHD are associated with carrying out executive function, that would explain Archies behavior in many ways. His biggest issue is with impulse control.He calls out answers and comments consistently throughout the day, and has a hard time waiting to be called on when hes excited with an answer. His humor is often interjected at inappropriate times and if you ask him why he chose to do what he did, he often says he couldnt help it and that he had to. It seems that in the moment, he doesnt think before he acts. When in a group at circle his attention starts out on assess but then diminishes quickly over time. If he is working keepively he often needs to sit by himself in order to focus. Ive observed that he participates in small groups pretty well, however if with ce rtain kids he just goofs off. His strength seems to be in cognitive flexibility as he is able to problem solve, adjust to various settings and is socially aware of others and their point of view.A great example of this view shift is when he is spined aside for inappropriate behavior. Once removed from the initial impulsive moment he can easily see how his behavior was inappropriate or dis humble to the class or teacher. Archie usually becomes self-deprecating and submissive, formula sorry and that it wont happen again. Ive been affect by his mature response to these instances and level of respect shown. Many children might make excuse after excuse, however, he admits that it was a poor choice on his part and moves on. Theorist William Damon had an interesting six-stage theory on benignant moral reasoning and its relation to authority. It seems to me Archie falls into the fifth stage of special preparation where the superior is seen as superior and obedience is founded on respe ct and faith in the authoritiesconcern (Stone & Church, 1984). Despite Archies ADHD diagnosis, he appears to be developing cognitively at his appropriate age level. In both 4th and 5th grade, his writing and reading assessments place him squarely performing at grade level (see Appendix D).For the writing he was given a prompt to write a story, shit a rough, then final draft. For reading, he was asked to read a short story out loud and respond to a series of acquaintance questions. When comparing the two grade level evaluations, you can see the improvements do from year to year and the expansion of his abilities in these areas. If you take a look at his current writing samples, you can see his personal bearing expressed and some really creative thinking, in addition to the holy use of conventions (see Appendix D). Louise Bates Ames, Ph.D. says that typical ten year olds combine ideas in short, choppy sentences but with enough punch to catch the readers interest (Ames, p42). This is evidenced by his personal narrative story on page 6 of Appendix C . He seems to enjoy math, actively participating and alter in his 5th grade level math classes. His math worksheets and readying indicate that he has a solid knowledge of the curriculum being covered and can do it on his own in and outside of class (see Appendix C, 7/8/9/10).He shows a similar eagerness and competency in Science, Spanish, Spelling and Technology. His music teacher says that he tends to goof off more than not and is awkwardly coordinated with instruments or drums in comparison to other children. However, he has expressed a love for music and is currently enrolled at The School of Rock in drum lessons. His parents said that he is doing quite well. I wonder if this individual musical instruction works for him better than in a wholly class group environment. ADHD children have difficulty filtering out all the stimuli and their nervous system is on overload (Freed & Parsons, 1997, p55). If Archie fe els more stimulation than other children, that can explain his difficulty in certain highly stimulant learning environments like music or PE. Middle years children typically turn their attention toward the institution at large. Piaget describes this as the stage of cover operations, during which children have limited capacity for abstract thought but can deal with objects quite fully (Stone & Church, 1984, p. 493).Piaget believes that children construct their knowledge of the world though active manipulation with materials (Pawlina, 2011) Essentially, learning by image. Archie is most engaged in school when he is actively doing something and problem solving. When administering the Piagetian tasks he showed adapted levels of knowledge in laws of conservation, reversibility and demonstrated logical thinking. When asked why he knew what he knew, most of his responses were matter of fact and then expanded in very creative and unique ways. For example, in the pee level comparison, he said they were the same amount because I didnt take any water out.unless it quickly evaporated ha ha. Or when asked about the woodland beads, he very animatedly exclaimed, What do you mean? Theyre ALL wood So obviously more wood beads and laughed. Archie always has a humorous, clever remark to add in all his interactions.Though not always appropriate, his sense of humor is one of his biggest strengths. This in addition to his creative thinking and ability to think beyond what he sees in front of him tells me that he has progressed beyond the concrete operational stage in ways that arent accounted for in Piagets tests. Critics of Piagets theory personal credit line that he does not account for other competencies a child has developed. I believe this is where Gardners fivefold intelligence activitys theory and Right and Left Brain Dominance theories realistically cover far more of the learning population in our world today. In taking a Right Brain, Left Brain dominance test (TPT, 2012) we concluded that Archie is a combination of both left and right brained. Though he is right handed and a right al-Qaida kicker, his eyes and ears are left dominant (see Appendix E).We took some time to go over the typical characteristics of each and he claimed he set with nearly all of the Right brain qualities. I then gave him The Connell Multiple Intelligence Questionnaire for Children (Connell, J.) which is a series of statements you are to check off if it describes you (Appendix ). Archie scored highest in the areas of Word Smart, Nature Smart and People smart. These categories correspond to Gardners labels Linguistic, naturalistic and Interpersonal intelligence (Zeiger, 2012). This does not surprise me In observation, it is evident that Archie is passing creative with his words, both written and oral, he has a charismatic, humorous, and sensitive personality in addition to showing interest in science, geography and nature in general.Social/Emotional DevelopmentArchi es social and emotional development seem to reflect similar advances as his cognitive development. universe that your happiness is generally based on your experience of the world around you, it is clear that Archie is at a happy place in life. Ames (1998) says that a typical ten-year-old has generally reached an enjoyable state of equilibrium. They love life and share it avidally with those near and dear (p21). This truly seems the case for him as he comes to school every day in a pleasant mood, a smile on his face, eagerly interacting with classmates and has only complained about not like homework In his earlier years at Friends School, the school psychologist started to work with Archie to build his low self-esteem, ease anxiety and self regulate impulse control. Right off the bat she implemented play therapy, allowing him to choose materials that help him express himself. He chose a lot of mastery kinds of games that he was able to solve or figure out and this made him feel be tter about himself. She says he was always a well-intentioned kid, he just doesnt think before he acts.This behavior got him into a lot of trouble in 3rd grade, so she worked with him on better control and choosing which children to be around. At this time he had only been formally diagnosed with ADHD and on medication less than one year. She said, Once his bio-chemistry was corrected, he had to go back to learn what the other children had already learned about choosing friends, do good decisions and controlling impulses. It makes sense that these areas of social finesse are hindquarters those of his classmates and affect his interactions to this day. Social difficulties often accompany special needs learners and giftedness, I see this clearly represented in both Archie and other students with these labels in my classroom. Regardless of his past, I see that classmates really seem to enjoy his humor and contributions. No doubt his caring and empathetic nature, along with that humo r, are his strengths socially.When administering the Piagetian tasks, I asked him about how he thought 5th grade was going. With a big smile he said fine, I like it. I proceeded to ask about his friends and who was a best friend. Many times he said I have lots of friends, but no remark of a best friend. Louise Bates Ames states in her book Your Ten-to-Fourteen-Year-Old that some ten-year-old boys have a gang of friends whom they seem to like about evenly To me they arent best friends. Theyre all my friends (p262). In my observations I noticedthat Archie gravitates to specific friends during recess, while chatting in the classroom during transition or in the morning before classes. These friends are nearly always boys. He initiates talk often in these circumstances most times extremely enthusiastic about whatever it is he would like to share. On the playground, its most common for him to choose 2-3 boys to hang out with and have conversations throughout the perfect recess, prefer ring that to any sport or activity.The fact that he only chooses to interact with other boys is consistent for his age group. Nearing the end of the middle years, the majority of girls and boys are not interested in the opposite call forthyet. However, they are aware that boy-girl relationships lie ahead of them (Ames, 1989, p38). Erikson describes the crisis of this period as industry vs. inferiority formulation that children are aware and eager to acquire information about sex (Stone & Church, 1984, p451) Though I am not there for their sexual education classes on Fridays, I did observe during a field trip that Archie was intercommunicate around about those types of relationships, teasing a few of the girls, and making jokes of vesica infections. It was good natured and harmless, this indicates to me that he is aware of the future potential, though clearly not ready for it himself. interpret touches on every aspect of development and learning (Rogers & Sawyer, 1988, pvii).Due to his common choices at recess, I have not adequately been able to observe Archies choices of play. It is common for this age group to move from symbolic play into an interest in games with rules. This transition period almost corresponds to Piagets concrete operational period of cognitive development (Rogers & Sawyer, 1988, p20). An exception in Archies recess choices was a time for a few days where there was a group of about 20 children of all ages who created a game using the used tires on the playground. I watched the interaction for two days in a row and was quite move with the level of creativity they all displayed in the rules of this game and how well they self monitored its progression. Archie was actively involved as one of the referees. He did not ever participate in the competitive aspect of the races, but immensely enjoyed being the keeper of the rules, telling others where to go, start the race and call the winner.He even ran inside once to get a camera to capture the photo finish (see picture3b in Appendix A). Piaget outlined two criteria for games with rules competition and mutually agreed upon orformal rules to govern the activity (Rogers & Sawyer, 1988, p50). This playground game certainly fits that criterion. I think it is interesting to note that he chose a role where there was no competitive motivation, but allowed him to be in charge and step into a leadership role. I loved seeing this for Archie because leadership is an area I dont think he has much experience with. This game gave him the opportunity for succeeder Research tells us that play contributes to learning and cognitive maturity in so many ways, I do wonder what impact the lack of play has on his social development. When working in groups, Archie is often appurtenant of the others and contributes, however is rarely the leader. Often he will get off task and interject humor becoming a disrupter.This happens especially when classify with certain other boys in the room. He s eems to work better one by one or with one other partner, especially when he is interested and there are hands on activities. Though he knows who these students are that detonate his inappropriate behavior, he still needs to work on making better choices. Therefore, it is paramount to help him facilitate good choices when choosing partners or groups. We actively remind him and others to make good choices, and if that is not displayed I quietly pull him aside and ask if that was his best choice of partner or behavior. He immediately gets a sheepish grin saying no, looking down in humility. In any intervention of behavior that Ive observed with another adult, myself included, he is consistently respectful and more than willing to listen, including the ability to quickly admit when his is wrong.Ames (1989) says Tens usually respect the teacher and often accept her word as law even more than that of their parents. (p41) Overall, Archie is a well-integrated, happy child who is learning and developing socially and emotionally. He gets along with others, displays caring and empathy, is happy with the friends he has and enjoys a positive experience of school. Any shortcoming he has is easily explained by the affect ADHD has on his executive functioning skills and general maturity. It has been helpful to learn that I need to focus on support Archie implement tactics that help him make better choices in the future, and not focus on bad behavior. Clearly, his impulse control gets the better of him, so any way to help him to increase his awareness around others is imperative. stockyArchie is a great kid, with lots of potential along with some unique learning needs. His sense of humor and excitement is contagious, making him quite a likable child. He has the combination of many factors influencing all aspects of his development. It is exciting to come across the feedback of previous teachers and therapists his development has come a long way since go into the school i n preschool. He has shown consistent improvement in his academic abilities from year to year and marked improvement from second grade until fifth since being medicated for ADHD. In my observation of him in the classroom, it seems that his behavior has much to do with his level of interest he has in the topic and who he is contact by. We are actively looking for ways to help him succeed and give him the right environment to promote his learning. Giving children many modalities of input and experience is key to tapping into all the intelligences of both right and left-brain learners.Visual, verbal, kinesthetic, and artistic aspects must be incorporated into lessons to support all learners. Archie has consistently displayed higher than average intelligence when he is actively engaged and fully understands what is expected of him. It has been such a privilege to take a closer look at mortal elses life in an attempt to learn them better so that you may then be better. He has helped me create empathy for him and others that have learning impediments like ADHD, poor executive functioning skills or social/emotional deficits. It is fascinating to look back and review my initial questions posed for this study and see that I have been able to answer them all to some degree Not only do I have a greater understanding of this specific child and his development, but an increased knowledge of what is going on for students with special needs and how I may help them.As teachers, our understanding of where a student is at and how to get them to the coterminous level is essential to our childrens learning. Vygotsky says that through observation, we can know a childs Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Pawlina, 2011). In this space of what a child can do independently and what they can do with adult support, lies the opportunity of learning and development. This child study has provided that opportunity for piercing observation and questioning of what a child with ADHD and rig ht brained learning tendencies needs. We as educators need to adapt to the needs of our individual learners. Archie is lucky to be in a school where social emotional needs are a strong focus inthe classroom. This allows him the support he needs to accommodate his reduced executive function skills, yet the space to express his creativities and unique personality. Gardner says in his 1993 book Multiple IntelligencesIn my view, the purpose of school should be to develop intelligences and to help people reach vocational and avocational goals that are appropriate to their particular spectrum of intelligences. People who are helped to do so, I believe, feel more engaged and competent, and therefore more inclined to serve the society in a constructive way (p9). I all told agree with Gardner and see myself as a liaison to learning. Maybe Alexandra K. Trenfor said it best The best teachers are those who show you where to look but dont tell you what to see.Works CitedAdesman, Andrew (2012) E xpert advice ADHD and acceptation. Retrieved October 21, 2012, from http//www.parents.com/parenting/adoption/parenting/adhd-adopted-child/American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. Washington American Psychiatric Association.Ames, Louise Bates. (1988) Your ten-to fourteen-year-old. New York, NY Dell Publishing.Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2000, May 30). Retrieved October 21, 2012, from http//www.cc.gov/growthchartsConnell, J.D. The Connell Multiple Intelligence Questionnaire for Children. Scholastic Teaching Resources Retrieved October 21, 2012, from http//printables.scholastic.com/Connell, Pam. (2012) ADHD and Adopted Children. Retrieved October 21, 2012, from http//adoption.families.com/blog/adhd-and-adopted-childrenFreed, Jeffrey & Parson, Laurie. 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