Student Profile

Student Profile

By: Keri Badger

Axia University of Phoenix

While some students with disabilities cause distractions in the classroom, there are some

students with certain disabilities that do well in a regular classroom setting. The student in this

profile is very intelligent even though he has disabilities that, at times, hinder his ability to

perform productively in the classroom. This student was non verbal until after he was three years

old. He has had to learn to use his words and not point or not speak at all. The parents have

included that other siblings of this student have had the same disorder, just not to the extent as

this student being profiled.

Jefferson has just turned eight years old and is in the first grade. Jefferson was held back

in the first grade because he was not able to communicate well and did not grasp all the concepts

needed to move on to the next grade. In the classroom Jefferson has to be told constantly to stay

on task and finish his work. He seems to get distracted easily and will watch others instead of

doing his work. At home Jefferson cannot do his work independently; someone has to keep him

focused on finishing his work at home. Jefferson does not hide behind his disabilities and enjoys

playing with others and loves to make them laugh.

Jefferson is very good with numbers and in reading. When he does his work, he usually

does very well, if he understands what he is to do. There are times when he needs verbal

instruction if he does not understand something. He is a good reader; it is just difficult to

understand what he is saying unless you listen closely. He enjoys playing Sonic the Hedgehog,

and Mario, he does well when playing these games. His favorite television show is SpongeBob

Square Pants. When he is involved with any of these, it is hard to get his attention to do any

work. Jefferson needs improvement in speech intelligibility, pronouncing his words where they

can be understood as well as expressive language. He needs to learn to write and speak with age

appropriate sentences. He also needs to learn to use spacing when writing; he tends to run all his

words together and it can be difficult to understand what he has written.

Jefferson has a communication disorder; this is called Significant Development Delay

(SDD). It is a speech and language disorder. "The term significant developmental delay refers to

a delay in a child's development in adaptive behavior, cognition, communication, motor

development or emotional development to the extent that, if not provided with special

intervention, the delay may adversely affect a child's educational performance in age-appropriate

activities." ("n.a.", 2010, Georgia Department of Education) Children are classified with this

disorder between ages three and nine years of age and then they are re-evaluated. To be

diagnosed with SDD, the student must have deficits in at least two out of five skill areas, these

are listed above. The prevalence of this disorder is about one in five students exhibit a speech or

language disorder. It is believed that Jefferson has ADHD, but he cannot be tested at this time, he

must be older to be evaluated for this disorder.