Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Physical Development Of Kindergarten Students

According to the textbook, “development is often divided into three broad domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional and social.(TB p.5) For the purpose of this essay, I will focus on the physical developmental domain of a male, kindergarten student age 5, diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The physical developmental domain includes changes in body size, proportions, appearance, functioning of body systems, perceptual and motor capacities, and physical health (TB p.5). I find it important to include that, the three domains are not independent from each other, nor stand alone. Relatively, they interconnect, influence, and interact in a continual process that molds the whole child into who they will become.
For the purpose of this project,

I found this highly appropriate, since my focus is on the Physical developmental domain. Special Areas is the only time Mike is integrated into the mainstream population. The class Mike mainstreams with consists of 23 typically developing five and six year old kindergarten students, 10 girls and 13 boys. Demographics include, 18 Caucasian students, 2 Asian students, 1 Hispanic student, and 2 A.A. students. The teacher is coach H., he is one of three male teachers in the entire school. He is responsible for Mike’s 9 classmates, and the 23 mainstream students. Bringing the grand total to 32 students, and 4 adults. The gym had poor lighting and an external air duct system across the ceiling. Mike began his warm up at 1:05 P.M., he followed Ms. S.’s directions, and frequently looked at the child in front of him to mimic his

When running he had difficulty flexibly moving his whole body in a streamline fashion. He would lift his knees high, and torso back, stepping quickly, but not really going anywhere. This would be typical for a 3-4 year old, but not a 5-6 year old. After the warm-up the students were split into 8 groups of 4. Mike was paired with 3 typical students, 1 boy and two girls. Mike had trouble in the pass and catch centers. He could pass the ball well, using his arms and body to force the ball outward, this is physically on target for a 5 year old. However, he had trouble catching the ball. He would close his arms, crossing them over his chest, vs. catching the ball in the air. This was a sign of physical and/or cognitive weakness. According to the textbook, at age 5-6 a child should be able to catch a ball with their hands and fingers “giving” with the arms and body to absorb the force of the ball (p. 308). It affected him socially as well, the typical student did not want to be his partner anymore, so Ms. S stood behind Mike and used her hands to control his arms, ensuring he caught the ball. According to Erikson’s eight stages of Psychosocial Development, 4-5 year old children, can interact with peers, Mike shows difficulty in this area(ho). He could not read the emotions and frustration of his partners body language. This is an example of Mike’s social developmental weakness. Thus, after hand