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
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- 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. Asperger’s 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 Asperger’s have average to above average
intelligence.
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Social Relations:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Asperger’s syndrome is characterized by qualitative
impairement in social interaction:
They are keen to relate to others, but do not have the skills,
and may approach others in peculiar ways.
They frequently lack understanding of social customs and
may appear socially awkward, have difficult with empathy and
misinterpret social cues.
They often have their own perceptions, thoughts and feelings.
They are also poor incidental social learners and need explicit
instruction in social skills.
Language Development:

1.
2.
3.
Children with Asperger’s
syndrome usually speak
fluently by the time they
enter Kindergarten, they
often have complexities of
language.
Pragmatics – the use of
language in social contexts
Semantics - multiple
meanings
Prosody – the pitch, stress
and rhythm of speech
Dear God, make me a bird…
Intelligences:

1.
2.
3.
Students with AS are of average to above average
intelligence and may appear quite capable.
Many students are relatively proficient in their
knowledge of facts and may extensive factual
information about a subject that absorbs them.
They demonstrate a relative weakness in
comprehension and abstract thought, as well as in
social cognition.
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 IEP
Does Forrest Gump Qualify for an 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
Teacher’s 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 Gump’s 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 Gump’s parent
•The Student – Forrest Gump
•View plan here
Parts of Program Implementation:
Program Implementation Ideas:
Support:
•Collaborate regularly with
School based team
Participants
•Use home-school book
For ongoing communication
With Forrest Gump’s mother
•Set up a buddy system
With the class
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 Asperger’s
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: Allen
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Industry vs. Inferiority: Age 6 to 12
Cognitive development proceeding rapidly
Children can process more information faster and their
memory spans are increasing
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
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.
IQ of 75…
2011 Intervention:
Role of Teacher – Mariko
Ihara
Role of Forrest Gump’s
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 self-worth. 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 Asperger’s
syndrome and why?
 Photos and images accessed from:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heraldpost/3214591519/si
zes/m/in/photostream/
www.google.com
 Students with Intellectual Disabilities – Resource
Guide for Teachers:
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/sid/app1.htm
 Ernst O. Vanbergeijk and Oren Shtayermman.
“Asperger’s Syndrome:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J137v12n01_02