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PEPSI Screening 1

Lauren Hawthorne

PEPSI Screening

EDU 220-1005

College of Southern Nevada


PEPSI Screening 2

Biography

The individual observed for this PEPSI screening is my nine-year-old niece, Angelique.

She was born in Henderson, Nevada, where she lived for the first 8 years of her life. Her family

moved from Henderson to Apple Valley, California less than a year ago.

The move has implemented many changes in her life. She had to leave her school and

friends behind to start fresh in a whole new state. She is in the third grade and attends a K-8

charter school in her neighborhood. Many of the houses in the area are Section 8 rental homes,

so a lot of the students attending her school are of lower socioeconomic status. Angeliques

family is part of the lower middle class.

Her household consists of her mother, father, and two siblings. She has an older sister,

age eleven, and a younger brother, age seven. Being the middle child affects Angelique in

several areas of her life including her emotions and self esteem. It is not uncommon for siblings

to tease and gang up on each other, and these siblings are no exception. However, much of the

teasing and goading is directed towards Angelique. The oldest and youngest children tend to

stick together, while she does activities on her own. Sometimes the three kids enjoy doing

activities all together, but bickering and arguments arise quite quickly.

The parents greatly enjoy spending time with their three children. They go on family

outings quite frequently and visit extended family as often as possible. Sunday nights are spent

having dinner with the extended family.


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Physical Development

Angelique is nine years old and she is growing very rapidly, like most children around

this age. Currently, she is 4.17 feet tall and weighs 81 pounds. According to the National Center

for Health Statistics, the average nine-year-old female in the United States is 4.42 feet tall and

weighs 67 pounds (National Center for Health Statistics, 2001). Based on the statistics from the

clinical growth charts, she falls in the 10th percentile in stature and the 80th percentile in weight.

Because she is growing very quickly, she eats frequently to meet the energy demands of her

growing body. However, her level of inactivity could be a contributing factor to her above

average weight. At this point, she is beginning to look more mature, which is typical for children

this age.

Angelique has Asthma. The disease affects her ability to be active and do outdoor

activities for long periods of time. This negatively impacts her physical development and health.

Children her age should be getting at least 60 minutes of exercise each day, however Thomas

R.Wojcicki and Edward McAuley note that it appears that physical activity levels in youth as a

whole are significantly lower than the nationally recommended guidelines for health-related

outcomes (Wojcicki & McAuley, 2014). Much of Angeliques time is spent inside watching

television, playing video games, or playing with toys. Increased physical activity and exercise in

children has many benefits for growth, development, fitness, well-being, and health (Wojcicki &

McAuley, 2014). Following the recommended guidelines for exercise would also help

Angelique develop healthy habits to continue through adolescence and adulthood.

In addition to Asthma, she suffers from a skin condition called Atopical Dermatitis, or

Eczema. Certain outdoor activities, such as swimming, irritate her skin condition. She also has

several food allergies that hinder her from eating a variety of things. However, she is able to eat
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most of the things she enjoys. She typically eats well-balanced meals, with the occasional fast

food meal. A balanced diet is also very important for physical development in children. Poor diet

can be linked to many health issues including childhood obesity, depression, anxiety, diabetes,

high blood pressure, and orthopedic problems (Lesser et. al. 2016). For healthy growth and

physical development as Angelique gets older, exercise and diet are important to think about.

Emotional Development

Angelique has limited emotional regulation. She falls prey to mood swings and short

temper. Her emotions are easily influenced by certain situations, like losing in a game or getting

the answer to a question wrong. In such situations, she expresses aggression or frustration by

grunting, folding her arms, and rolling her eyes. Her peer relationships also influence her

emotionally. According to the article Neurological and Biological Foundations of Childrens

Social and Emotional Development from the Journal of School Nursing, Relationships with

adults and other children play a central role in the development of social and emotional

regulation (Nelson, Kendall & Shields, 2014). As previously mentioned, the teasing directed

towards her by her siblings affects Angelique emotionally. She typically retreats into a shell,

rather than sticking up for herself. Her self-esteem is also left damaged by their negative

attention. She frequently says statements like, I am not good at anything.

Her low self-esteem is also influenced by her struggles with Asthma and Eczema. She

often expresses that she wishes she did not have the diseases. Pediatricians have recognized the

relationship between skin diseases and self esteem noting that they can significantly affect the

psychosocial health and well-being of children and adolescents, especially identity and self-

esteem (Nierengarten, 2016). Self-esteem impacts childrens emotional and overall well-being.
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She has a strong, healthy relationship with her parents and other family members, but the

relationships she has with peers close to her age also play a significant role in the way she

develops emotionally. She does not have very many friends her age from her new school or her

neighborhood. Before moving, she developed a strong friendship with a girl in her class. Moving

away from her best friend has impacted her emotionally. She was very sad to move away and

frequently expresses that she misses Nevada and her old friend. However, she has recently made

a friend at her new school, which has positively influenced her emotionally.

Emotional factors can influence how students perform academically, which is evident in

Angeliques case. Her lower self-esteem and lack of self-efficacy impacts how well she does in

certain subjects. She believes she is very bad at math, so she has difficulty learning new math

concepts. A contributing factor to her low self-esteem and drive is the sensitivity to criticism and

maladjustment to failure that students experience at this age (Snowman & McCown, 2015).

Studies have shown that well-developed socialemotional factors increase student availability

to learn and engage with their peers, in turn promoting academic outcomes (McKown et. al.

2016). Improving her self-esteem and earning to manage other emotional factors, would help

Angelique improve academically by increasing her willingness to learn.

Although she struggles with emotional issues and mood swings at times, Angelique is a

generally happy and positive child. She expresses more positive emotions when she is doing

activities that she truly enjoys. She simply has difficulty managing her emotions when things are

not going her way.


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Philosophical development

JAnne Ellsworth notes that at age 9, children usually have a general understanding of

what is right and wrong. They usually tell the truth, but in some cases tell a lie to escape

punishment. When lying, they are fully aware of the act. Unlike the typical nine year old,

Angelique tells lies to get out of punishments quite often (Ellsworth, 1998). Rather than

accepting responsibility for her actions or wrongdoing, she lies to get around it. When she is

caught in a lie, she accepts responsibility and expresses guilt for her actions. Between 6 and 10

years old, children begin to make correct judgments of actions based on several types of

emotions. These emotions include mixed, hidden, and social emotions, like guilt or pride

(Callaghan, 2005).

Another behavior that is uncharacteristic of the average nine year old is her tendency to

tattle on others. According to JAnne Ellsworth, children are less likely to tattle at this age

because they want to appear superior to others (Ellsworth, 1998). Angeliques behavior shows

that her level of philosophical development is below the average nine year old. Angelique is at

stage 2 of Kohlbergs stages of moral judgment. Her actions satisfy her own needs, and

occasionally others. Most of her moral decisions are not based on respect for authority, but on

the considerations of rewards and punishments (Turiel, 2005). This is typical of children under

ten years old.

Social Development

Outside of school, Angelique does not participate in many social activities. Because they

live in a new place, she does not have very many friends or kids her age to play with. She does

not participate in sports or any other recreational activities with peers close to her age beyond the
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classroom. Much of her time is spent with family. Although, she has been spending more time

with her new friend from school, which is a positive advancement for her socially. According to

an article from The Journal of School Nursing, supportive families and schools, positive peer

relationships, and neighborhoods with high levels of social cohesion are environments that are

protective of childrens health and development (Nelson, Kendall & Shields, 2014). Angelique

has a supportive family and school, but is unfortunately lacking in the other two social

environments.

When socializing with people, aside from her family members, she tends to have

awkward interactions and behaves at a level of maturity that is below her age. She has difficulty

acting with appropriate social behavior. For example, she often mumbles when speaking and

avoids making eye contact. Children develop appropriate social skills by predicting and

understanding others behaviors (Soto-Icaza, Aboitiz, & Billeke, 2015). There are many

elements of social interactions that are learned in order to mature ones social skills. These

elements include smiling, eye contact, imitation, shared attention, and language. Experts Patricia

Soto-Icaza, Francisco Aboitiz, and Pablo Billeke noted that these elements play a role in the

accomplishment of positive developmental outcomes, including peer acceptance, academic

achievement, and mental health (Soto-Icaza, Aboitiz, & Billeke, 2015).

Does not participate in group activities, like sports. Sports positively affect social development

by teaching principles of teamwork and cooperation.

Intellectual Development

According to the textbook, primary school children around Angeliques age are at the

stage where they understand there are different ways to know things and that some ways are
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better than others. They also start to understand that learning and remembering occur because of

processes that are in their control. The lack of experience with formal learning situations and

continuing development, students this age do not learn as well as older children. Talking out loud

begins to decrease between the ages of 6 and 7 (Snowman & McCown, 2015). Angelique still

frequently talks out loud when performing tasks or playing on her own. It assists her in her

cognitive processes and helps her learn better.

One of Angeliques major difficulties is her short attention span. She frequently gives up

activities before completion to start a new one. For example, she will suggest playing a board

game with her siblings, but will not finish the game before suggesting a different one. The

Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development indicates that at the ages of 911 years,

children undergo consistent improvements in sustained attention, but their performance is less

efficient when compared to adults (Levin & Bernier, 2011). Her level of sustained attention is at

that of a child much younger than her. One thing that does hold Angeliques attention is

technology. She spends a lot of time playing on her tablet, computer, game console, or watching

television. Her favorite video game is Minecraft. The game allows her to use creativity and

critical thinking skills. Although she enjoys using electronic devices for recreation, she does not

do well with computerized testing. She scored below grade level in all areas on her standardized

testing because of the format. She reads at her grade level and her vocabulary is fairly extensive

for her age, but struggles greatly with math. Her short attention span makes it very difficult for

her to focus while doing homework, so she is not getting the necessary practice to enhance her

skills in each academic subject.


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Graph
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Recommendations

For Angeliques physical development, I recommend increased activity and exercise.

There should also be more focus on a healthy diet. Both exercise and healthy diet assist with

healthy physical development and overall well-being. In addition, I suggest that she spend less

time on electronic devices. Finding activities to do outdoors that do not affect her asthma and

eczema would be greatly beneficial.

To assist with her emotional development, I suggest that parents and teachers compliment

Angelique when she does a good job on something. This will increase her self-esteem and self-

efficacy skills. More attention should be paid to the relationships between siblings to ensure that

there is no bullying occurring. This has a big impact on her emotionally. I also suggest more

careful attention to what is being said to her and how because she is very sensitive to the

comments of others.

Angelique needs more strict consequences for poor behavior and praise for good

behavior, so she learns to better distinguish between right and wrong. Moral instruction would

benefit her, perhaps through the use of books with moral lessons.

Participation in clubs, sports, or other social groups would be a great way to help with

Angeliques social development. It would give her an opportunity to make new friends and

develop better social skills. Collaboration in the classroom would also be beneficial. Working

with other students will help with social and cognitive development.

Hands on learning activities will help her learn academic content and channel her energy.

Such activities will keep her attention and give her opportunities to apply the concepts she is

learning. Scaffolding techniques should be used to assist her with learning new concepts.
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Works Cited

Callaghan, T. C. (2005). Cognitive Development Beyond Infancy. In B. Hopkins (Ed.), The

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Child Development (pp. 204-209). Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

Ellsworth, J. (1998). PEPSI. Retrieved May 10, 2017, from

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year9.html

Lesser, E. N., Arroyo-Ramirez, A., Mi, S. J., & Ferrar Robinson, M. J. (2016). The Impact of a

Junk-Food Diet During Development on Wanting and Liking. Elsevier, 317, 163-178.

Retrieved May 10, 2017.

Levin, E., & Bernier, J. (2011). Attention Span. In Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and

Development (Vol. 1, pp. 161-163). Springer US.

McKown, C., Russo-Ponsaran, N. M., Allen, A., Johnson, J. K., & Warren-Khot, H. K. (2016).

Social-Emotional Factors and Academic Outcomes among Elementary-Aged Children.

Infant & Child Development, 25(2), 119-136. doi:10.1002/icd.1926

National Center for Health Statistics. (2001, August 24). Retrieved May 10, 2017 from

https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/html_charts/wtage.htm#females

Nelson, H. J., Kendall, G. E., & Shields, L. (2014). Neurological and biological foundations of

children's social and emotional development: An integrated literature review. The Journal

of School Nursing, 30(4), 240-250. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1059840513513157

Nierengarten, M. B. (2016). Helping Kids Cope With Skin Diseases. Contemporary Pediatrics,

33(10), 18-25.
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Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching. Australia: Cengage

Learning.

Turiel, E. (2005). Moral Development. In B. Hopkins (Ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of

Child Development (pp. 242-248). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Wjcicki, T. R., & McAuley, E. (2014). II. Physical Activity: Measurement and Behavioral

Patterns in Children and Youth. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child

Development, 79(4), 7-24. doi:10.1111/mono.12128

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