Name: Christopher Potasnik

Date: 11/4/14

Bluefield State College

EDUC 200 Child Adolescent Growth and Development
Case Study
I.

General Information
Name: Jason Duncan
Age: 7
Grade: 1st
Birth Date: 9/19/07
Resides With: Mrs. Duncan (Mother) and Mr. Duncan
(Father)
Siblings: Brother
Physical Description: 4 11, sandy blonde hair,
blue eyes, 65 Lbs.

II.

Background (Interviewed Mother)

Birth Weight: 7 lbs. 13 oz.
Pregnancy and labor: Easy, normal, 6 hr. labor
Age for Development First
Crawling: 6 months
Sitting: 6 months
Walking: 1 year
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Talking: 14 months
Toilet Training: 18 months-48 months

III.

Pre-School History (Interviewed Mother)

Jasons mother said that he went to case head start for

half days and he was always in trouble. He is
hyperactive, talks a lot, fidgets, and moves around. She
always got lots of calls, he was constantly in trouble,
and he has an appointment to see if he will be
diagnosed with ADHD. She said that he acts just like
she did when she was that age. He always has good
grades, usually 100s. His actual teacher who is out on
maternity would always send a behavior sheet home
with him.

IV.

School History (Interviewed Teacher Miss Jessee)

Miss Jessee stated that Jason was a very smart boy. She
said that he was smart, but she also said that he could
not control himself and that sometimes he would blurt
out in class.

V.

Observations of Child

The very first thing that I noticed about Jason (after I

had Miss Jessee point out which one he was) when I saw
him for the first time as he as standing in line at the
bathroom was that he could not stand still. He would
wiggle back and forth when standing in line. And when
I was speaking to Miss Jesse to ask her about Jason she
pointed something out on the wall to another student
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and he immediately focused his attention on the wall

where Miss Jessee was pointing. It was something the
children had made and Hung up in the hallway.
After they used the bathroom and returned to the
class room all the children went to their seats. I was
immediately introduced by Miss Jessee and she
explained to the children that I would be sitting in on
the class today. Im glad that she did not say that I was
there to observe just Jason or that might have changed
his behavior.
I took my seat at the back of the classroom next to
Miss Jessees desk. It went off without a hitch and at
first, Jason was doing well sitting at his desk quietly
after he had got done staring at me for about a minute
or so. The children then started eating breakfast at
their seats, I believe that is the point at which he forgot
about me. While eating he would either stand beside his
desk sometimes or wonder to one of the other three
childrens desk in his group.
When the children were handed their work Jason
would quietly work on it, but at first he leaned on his
desk working and sort of fidgeting while doing it instead
of sitting. And when he did sit a lot of the times he
would sit on one leg for a bit and then alternate
between sitting on one leg then the other. It was as if
he had to do some kind of movement in order to focus
on what he was doing. This may have something to do
with possibility of him having ADHD.
After working on his assignment for a few minutes I
noticed that the teacher down the hall in a different
classroom started speaking loudly and her door was
open. Immediately Jason focused his attention on what
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she was saying and did so until Miss Jessee closed the
door. When it was reading time Jason paid attention
very well. His attention was focused and he understood
everything that Miss Jessee was reading to him. Every
time they were asked a question he would eagerly raise
his hand and if called upon would answer it correctly
every time.
When they were asked to discuss amongst
themselves he spoke really well and cooperated equally
as well. Occasionally he would blurt out loudly and
Miss Jessee would have to remind him to raise his hand
and answer quietly. Other times he would blurt out the
correct answer softly so that he wouldnt be heard,
sometimes he just had to say something out loud. For
most of reading however he behaved quite well. It
seemed that he enjoyed interaction quite a lot and
loved interaction with the other children and he loved to
answer questions.
The first opportunity that Jason had to stand up and
move he did. Miss Jessee was dismissing the children
one group at time to go throw away what they didnt
eat and their trash, when she dismissed Jasons group
he just got up and went out the door and down the hall
without taking his trash. He even looked at his trash for
a second as if pondering whether he should take it or
not and then just walked out the door. When the other
children returned Miss Jesse noticed Jasons trash was
still at his desk, but he was not. So Miss Jesse went out
the door and saw Jason and politely told him to throw
away his trash and return to his seat so that the rest of
the children could throw away their trash.
After they had thrown away their trash and everyone
returned to their seats they continued to work on their
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assignments. Jason started to continue his assignment,

but then shortly into continuing the assignment he
pulled out some football cards and began to play with
them and be distracted. When Miss Jesse saw this, she
told Jason to put them away. If he has something that
he is interested in he will focus and pay attention, If he
does not he will be distracted, and other times he just
gets easily distracted.
Finally at the end of the observation Jason was doing
well again until Miss Jesse set a box of crayons at each
of the tables. Jason was impatient and immediately,
right after Miss Jesse turned her back to go to another
table pulled out a pair of scissors that just happened to
be in the crayon box. Miss Jessee got onto Jason for
being so impatient and telling him so many times to
behave already. Miss Jessee was about to hand out the
scissors out of the scissor box when she saw Jason with
his pair.
After everything had cooled off and they began to
work again Jason started to cut on some crayons with
the scissors, but began to do his work again. Jason is
easily distracted, that much is certain, but according to
my observation I conclude that he is on his education
level. He actually seems a little above average, but his
educational development is normal.

VI.

Summary

Jason is developing at normal educational growth rate

and normally as a child. He does however get very
distracted at times, sometimes he is easily distracted,
other times it seems that the urge just hits him. This is
worrisome because it may lead to social problems later
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in life if he is not examined. He is quite the intelltual

child, even though he gets distracted a lot more easily
than the rest of his classmates do. He does get into
trouble a lot and he could use a little help with focusing,
but his grades reflect his intelligence. The test that he
will have to see if he is indeed ADHD will be beneficial
as it will be a step toward helping Jason to focus better
in class.
I believe that Jason would fit under Gardners Multiple
Intelligences theory. Jason has Biopsychological
potential meaning that there is an underlying biological
and most likely genetic component to his intelligence.
He is very intelligent, just like his mother, but he is also
easily distracted, just like his mother was at his age. So
he must have developed some underlying trait
genetically from her.
He is developing at the same rate that his mother did
when she was his age and he has the same problem of
being easily distracted, so this leads me to believe that
he developed this trait either genetically or biologically.
I believe Jason to have the interpersonal intelligence
type mostly because he loves to talk and to discuss, but
also because he can cooperate and work well if he is in
the right mind set. Working well with others and talking
effectively are two traits of the interpersonal
intelligence type so one day he may develop into a good
salesperson, politician, teacher, clinician, or religious
leader.
In conclusion Jason shows that he will have a
wonderful and successful educational journey, but he
does need some help in keeping himself under control.
According to the multiple intelligence theory
biopsychological potential he may have developed his
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traits from his mother, which explain his intelligence

and his lack of control. He is one of the most intelligent
students in the class but he has a hard time keeping
still and quiet at times. And even though he has a hard
time behaving, he has high intelligence and his
academics reflect that. Perhaps with time and with help
he will learn to calm down and control himself and the
up and coming ADHD test will be very beneficial,
otherwise he developing normally and successfully.