Basic Information:
Colton Thomas is an eight-year-old boy who is currently in the second grade at Potential Development School for Autism. This is a non-public, non profit school within the border of the Youngstown City School District. Colton participates in the Ohio Extended Learning Standards.
Interests/Likes:
Colton is very active and enjoys participating in gross motor activities, such as yoga and sensory/activity room breaks. He has become increasingly interested in the morning routine of doing yoga with his peers. He is extremely friendly and laughs constantly, either at himself or others’ jokes. Colton often chooses to spend time in the library with a blanket and a book, reading next to his peers during free time. His favorite outdoor activities are the swings and the slides. When in the activity room with his friends, Colton will often choose to look out the window at the passing cars, roll on a mat, or play with Lego cars with his classmates. Colton is partial to kinesthetic activities or hands-on activities, such as gross-motor games (like tag), as well as Play-Doh and slime. Colton is fond of the colored bubble light machine in the sensory room. Colton’s favorite things unrelated to school include trains, firetrucks, traffic lights, ambulances, tractors, and goats. Colton will talk about these things often in the classroom. His favorite shows and videos include Blues Clues and You, Baby Shark and Thomas and Friends.
Strengths:
Colton is a very kind and intelligent child. Colton excels at using his manners and kind words within the classroom. He is always saying please and thank you, saying good morning to his friends and teachers, giving hugs to others, and complimenting his friends. He is a very empathetic person as well. Colton has improved tremendously in participating in group activities within the past year. He engages with his peers during morning meetings. On average, Colton sits and actively participates for 10 of the 15 minutes. Colton can identify all 26 letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds. Colton can also count independently from 1 to 100 with 95% accuracy. Currently, he can solve basic addition problems, when given counters or pictures, with sums no greater than 25. He knows all of the colors and all 2-dimensional shapes, as well as most 3-dimensional shapes. He can vocalize his needs and wants, express his feelings with his words and facial expressions, and can identify feelings in others based on their facial expressions, actions and words. Colton can feed himself independently, as well as wash and dry his hands independently with minimal reminders. Colton can differentiate between safe and not safe items, color, size, shape, and animal type.