EDPB 503

Child and Youth Development

Created by Adriana Prlic, Allen Stokes, Carrera Schroeder, Kimberly Phillips and
Mariko Ihara
Fall 2011

Forrest Gump A Case Study

Introduction Kimberly Phillips
Resource Teacher Individual Education Plan
- Adriana Prlic
Role Play #1: - Allen Stokes
Role Play #2: Mariko Ihara
Adolescence Carrera Schroeder
Evaluation
Conclusion
Credits

Forrest Gump: A Case Study

Forest Gump Child and Adolescent
Development
We decided it would be interesting to focus our
study on the fictional character of Forest Gump,
as played by Tom Hanks, as he is shown to be a
fascinating and endearing person. We have
focused on the movie depiction of Mr. Gump, in
contrast to the novel version, but do recognize
that there are inconsistencies between the
written story and the movie, with regards to his
relationship to Jenny, and various other aspects
of the story.

 How we came to the conclusion that Forrest

Gump could possibly have Asperger
s Syndrome.
1. Aspergers Syndrome is one of the
disabilities included in the Autism Spectrum.
These Children have the greatest trouble
with social relations.
2. Language is less affected. Speech is fluent
but unusual, mixing up pronouns of I and
you.
3. Those with Aspergers have average to
above average intelligence.

Social Relations:
Aspergers syndrome is characterized by qualitative
impairement in social interaction:
1. They are keen to relate to others, but do not have
the skills, and may approach others in peculiar
ways.
2. They frequently lack understanding of social
customs and may appear socially awkward, have
difficult with empathy and misinterpret social cues.
3. They often have their own perceptions, thoughts
and feelings.
4. They are also poor incidental social learners and
need explicit instruction in social skills.

Language Development:
Children with Aspergers
syndrome usually speak
fluently by the time they
enter Kindergarten, they
often have complexities
of language.
1. Pragmatics the use of
language in social
contexts
2. Semantics - multiple
meanings
3. Prosody the pitch,
stress and rhythm of
speech

Dear God, make me a bird

Intelligences:
Students with AS are of average to above
average intelligence and may appear quite
capable.
1. Many students are relatively proficient in their
knowledge of facts and may extensive factual
information about a subject that absorbs them.
2. They demonstrate a relative weakness in
comprehension and abstract thought, as well as
in social cognition.
3. Often have difficulty in cognitive flexibility that
is their thinking tends to be rigid and with
adapting to change or failure. They do not
readily learn from their mistakes.

Resource Teacher Creating an

Does Forrest Gump Qualify for an IEP
IEP
according to the standards indicated by the
BC Ministry of Education:
1. The student with special needs requires
more than just minor adaptations to
educational materials, or instructional or
assessment methods, or
2. The student with special needs is working
on outcomes other than prescribed
outcomes of the curriculum, or
3. The student with special needs is working
on regular outcomes with little of no
adaptations, but receives 25 hours or more
of remedial help from someone other than
the classroom teacher to meet the expected
learning outcomes

Teachers Concerns:
How can I best program for Forrest
Gump and at the same time maintain
an effective environment for the other
students in my class?
What district personnel should we
involve or contact in the planning for
Forrest Gumps program?
What goals should we (Resource
Teacher and Education Assistants)
set for Forrest Gump for this year
and who can help us with developing
an appropriate Individual Education
Plan (IEP)?

Participants:
School Based Team Meeting
Participants:
Resource Teacher
School Principal
School Counsellor
Speech Language Therapist
Forrest Gumps parent
The Student Forrest Gump
View plan here

Parts of Program
Implementation:

Support:
Collaborate regularly with
School based team
Participants
Use home-school book
For ongoing communication
With Forrest Gumps mother
Set up a buddy system
With the class

Program Implementation
Ideas:
Academic:
Use Structured program to
Develop fine motor skills
Read Stories with Forrest and
Talk to him about them. Perhaps
Use student teacher, older school
buddy/pee and his mother
Have Forrest start a scrap book
With magazine cut-outs and
Drawings under emotional
Headings to help him progress
To make multiple meanings from
Text he observes

Teaching Tips For Children with Aspergers

Social/Behaviour:
Include Forrest Gump in social
Skills groups run by the resource
Teacher, Principal or community
Group with children with AS
Engage Forrest in socially interactive
Activities within the classroom and in
The school
Establish a circle of friends program
in the classroom where Forrest
May have opportunities to interact
With peers which will help him
Learn to communicate in a
Variety of different situations

Resource Teacher
takes initiative:

Role of Teacher
Mariko Ihara
Role of Cognitive
Development
Specialist
Allen Stokes

Erik Erikson Stages of

Psychological Development:

Industry vs. Inferiority: Age 6 to 12

Allen

Cognitive development proceeding rapidly

2. Children can process more information faster and
their memory spans are increasing
3. Children experiencing ability to move between the
worlds of home, neighbourhood, and school and to
cope with academics, group activities, and friends will
lead to a growing sense of competence in children
4. In school setting children must reestablish stage of
psychosocial development in the unfamiliar school
setting. They must learn which new adults they can
trust, act autonomously in this more complex
situation, and intiate actions in ways that fit the new
rules of school.
1.

IQ of 75

2011 Intervention:
Role of Teacher Mariko
Ihara
Role of Forrest Gumps
Parent Allen Stokes

Developmental Stage of Middle

childhood: Mariko
Self-concept: our integrated view of the attributes, abilities,

and attitudes that define us. In middle childhood children

begin to recognize and acknowledge their strengths and
limitations in relation to the standards set for a particular
task and domains of activity. More balanced and realistic.
Self-esteem: The self-evaluative part of the self-concept,
the judgements children make about their overall selfworth. In middle childhood this becomes more
differentiated as they experience success and failures in a
variety of domains.
Self-regulation: During middle childhood children advance
in emotional self-regulation, that enables individuals to
remain focused on goals, even in the face of difficult and
stressful circumstances.

Jean Piaget Four Steps of Formal Operations:

1. Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

2. Hypothetical Deductive Reasoning
3. Ability to reason without Combinations
4. Reasoning like a Scientist

Epistemological Beliefs and

Critical Thinking: Carrera
Absolutist Stage: Middle Childhood
Assertions are FACTS that are correct or
incorrect in their representation of reality
Knowledge is from an external source and it
certain but not directly accessible
producing false beliefs
Critical Thinking is a vehicle for comparing
assertions to reality and determining their
truth or falsehood
Multiplist Stage: Adolescence
Assertions are OPINIONS freely chosen by
and accountable only to their owners
Knowledge is generated by human minds
and therefore uncertain
Critical Thinking is irrelevant

View Group Rubric here

What actions would you take with students

like Forrest Gump in your class?
How would your method different or similar to
what we came up with?
Do you agree that Forrest Gump might have
Aspergers syndrome and why?

Photos and images accessed from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heraldpost/321459
1519/sizes/m/in/photostream/
www.google.com
Students with Intellectual Disabilities
Resource Guide for Teachers:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/sid/app1.ht
m
Ernst O. Vanbergeijk and Oren Shtayermman.
Aspergers Syndrome:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J137v12n01_02