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PEPSI Screening

PEPSI Screening on a Case Study

Zachary D. Truett

College of Southern Nevada

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Zachary Truett

Prof. Hooks

EDU 220

October 16, 2019

Biography

Name: Leah Smith

Gender: Female

Age: 8

D.O.B: February 27th, 2011

Grade: 3rd

Birthplace: Norfolk, VA

Socioeconomic status: Middle class

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In my PEPSI screening I had the pleasure of screening Leah Smith. Leah was originally

born in Norfolk, Virginia, her mothers name is Sherry and fathers name is Brian. Both mother

and father have a happy marriage and have been together for her whole life. Brian, Leah’s father

works in the United States Navy which has their family move around the country often, Leah is

only 8 years old and has had the opportunity to live in Virginia, Georgia, and California and they

still move every couple year. Sherry, Leah’s mother is a stay at home mother and fulltime

student, she is also a Navy veteran that separated from the Navy right after the birth of Leah.

When Leah was 5 years old Sherry and Brian had another daughter named Lilly which made

Leah a big sister. Leah has a very tight knit family and values loved ones, Brian and Sherry’s

families are both a big part of their lives. Because Brian is in the Navy, he is often deployed

away from his family for months at a time which is hard on Leah at times, this can also be

difficult when they must move because she must leave close friends behind. Leah has recently

participated in youth gymnastics and does well compared to the other kids in her class. Leah also

has a passion for animals, she often begs her parents for a horse which is comical considering

Brian and Sherry live close to the beach in San Diego, she also has much love for the two dogs in

the home named Benji (Pug) and Bella (Lab mix).

Physical Development

Leah is often physically active and enjoys playing outside with friends and family. She is

50 inches tall and at 8 years old that puts her in the 50th percentile according to the CDC (CDC

Growth Charts: United States). This puts her right in the middle of the average compared to other

girls her age. Leah seems to be often a little taller than most boys her age because girls typically

develop slightly faster than boys at that age.

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Though Leah is physically active she fits into the 90th percentile for her weight, this could

be from several things from diet, exercise, or even her endocrine system. There is no exact

weight she should be but rather ranges that are considered healthy “There is no one perfect

weight for a kid to be, but there are healthy weight ranges for kids based on height and gender.”

(Gavin, M. L. (Ed.). (2018, June). Kids bodies are constantly changing, and BMI will fluctuate

ash she grows over the years.

https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/index.htm.

Leah has had some interest in sports such as gymnastics and soccer, she often likes taking

bike rides. A common occurrence that I observed was when she would be exercising for a long

period of time she would want to stop because she was “sweaty” which at first had me thinking
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she doesn’t like to sweat. After looking more closely into this behavior I believe that she could

be stopping cause she doesn’t like to sweat or it may be because she is physically tired “Children

still need rest periods; they become fatigued easily as a result of physical and mental

exertion.”(Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015).

From my finding I believe that Leah is right where she should be for her age group, her

height is exactly is the 50th percentile and though her weight may be in a higher percentile she is

very active and I believe that with time she will grow into her body. From watching Leah

perform sports and athletic endeavors she is very athletic and can control her body to complete

tasks like running, jumping, and tumbling. I recommend that Leah keeps staying active and

showing an interest in athletics because of the positivity it brings to many peoples lives.

Emotional Development

Leah is a very caring individual and loves all people and animals, she does have a very

big heart which can lead to her getting her feelings hurt sometimes. When Leah is playing with

her peers there will often be confusion within the game with the rules and can cause frustration

“Primary grade children often like organized games in small groups, but they may be overly

concerned with rules or get carried away with team spirit.” .(Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R.

(2015).

Leah tries very hard when given a task but if the outcome isn’t as well as she expected

she will get down on herself. When Leah was asked to accomplish a task and sort of missed the

intended mark you could tell she was very hard on herself and even started to cry. This is a

typical behavior of her age group as talked about in the book “Students are sensitive to criticism
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and ridicule and may have difficulty adjusting to failure.” (Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R.

(2015). Leah’s parents make talk with her calmly and try to make her understand that she can

always better herself if she tries hard enough.

Being the older sister Leah almost always includes her little sister in al of her activities.

When observing Leah interact with her sister you can tell that she cares about how her sister is

feeling and doesn’t want her to feel left out. This is a key component in her empathy

development “Since human life is relationship-based, one vitally important function of empathy

over the life span is to strengthen social bonds” (Anderson and Keltner 2002). Having a strong

bond with her sister will help her to have a strong connection in future relationships as well.

Leah is a very loving and passionate child. She has lots of love for other people and

wildlife, she always wants to help others. Because Leah is so passionate about things, I think that

she can often get her feeling hurt if someone doesn’t react to a situation how she would like to. I

recommend that Leah continues to help those around her because we really need people like that

in this world, but she should understand that others may not feel the same about something as

strongly as she does.

Philosophical Development

Sherry and Brian are not strict when it comes to religion in the household, but they do

teach Leah what Christianity is. The family will not attend church every Sunday but sometimes

will attend. Leah will sometimes bring up that there is a god and it is present in her day to day

thoughts “The profound influence that spirituality and religion can have on children’s

development and socialization offers the potential to reinforce protective influences and promote
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resilience.” Children, religion and spirituality. (2011, November 3). Leah will sometimes ask

about her grandmother that passed before she was born, and Sherry will often tell her she can

talk to her grandmother like she talks to god.

Leah believes that there is someone watching over us and she can pray to in need.

Though she has this basic understanding and it gives her comfort she could always read more

into religion. I recommend that Leah if she is interested learn more about religion.

Social Development

Leah has moved three times in her life so far but never has a problem making friends, she

is very caring to all and seems to get along with anyone. Watching her interact at a park with

many kids her age she gravitated towards other girls her age. They all shared their things

together and played cooperatively together. Fitting in the age group “Friendships are typically

same-sex relationships marked by mutual understanding, loyalty, cooperation, and sharing.”

.(Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015) which I believe holds true for Leah.

There are many activities Leah participates in and one of those is Girl Scouts. When

asking her how she likes going to Girl Scouts she said that she enjoyed the activities to raise

money because she could later use it to do things like horse camps. This positive environment is

is challenging and beneficial for later success, “Positive peer relationships in the primary years

predict later social adjustment and school success.” (Prehall.com). Though Leah may not

understand how Girl scouts may set her up for success in the future this is still going to be

beneficial towards her Social development.

While watching Leah interact with a group of girls her age, they were all very welcoming

to each other and really seemed to enjoy playing together. During there time playing together
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they were playing a game of kick ball and there must have been some confusion about the game

and there was a little argument regarding the game which happens in all aspects of competitive

interaction “Quarrels are frequent. Words are used more often than physical aggression.”

(Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). That holds true to Leah’s age in her progression as a

child.

Interacting in groups Leah is a leader and will help those around her if needed. She fits in

with everyone she meets, and others gravitate to her. Leah being in girl scouts is a great place for

her social interaction and I recommend that she continues to go to girl scouts because it is such a

positive social environment for her.

Intellectual Development

When Leah comes home and does homework, she does it without any fuss, she seems to

have a strong desire to learn and enjoys being challenged with her assignments. Her sister is a

few years younger than Leah and when reading you can tell her attention span is only about 15

minutes as where Leah’s attention span is quite a bit longer. This is because Leah is older and

she can focus on a task for much longer “Kids will be much more likely to stick with a project

until it is done, or to stick with a problem until it is solved.” (Cognitive Development - Smart

First Graders.).

As stated in the introduction Leah is very passionate about horses so she will often read

books about them. After reading a book her mother Sherry bought her I asked her what it was

she had read and Leah was able to tell mw the knowledge she had learned and then proceeded to

tell me why that made sense to her through writing it down for me . This means Leah is
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progressing right where she should be based on her age “They can interpret the context of a

paragraph and writes stories.” (Cognitive Development: School-Age: VLS.)

Since Leah’s father Brian has been deployed multiple times all around the world Leah is

often curious about the places he’s been and what things are like. This is important in her

development to start asking about her surrounding and other places she hasn’t been to “they’re

learning countless new things about their immediate surroundings, but they’re also interested in

what’s going on elsewhere.” (Third Grade Intellectual Development.). She also asks to go to

places she has never been because she is curious to experience new things especially when it

involves wildlife.

Leah is very smart when it comes to education, I believe that she is ahead of most kids

her age. It is great to see how interested she is on learning anything, she is a literal sponge of

knowledge. I recommend that Leah pursue any educational endeavor’s and she will have a very

bright future ahead of her.

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References

Children, religion and spirituality. (2011, November 3). Retrieved October 14, 2019,

from https://www.unicef.org/about/partnerships/index_60392.html.

Cognitive Development - Smart First Graders. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2019, from

http://www.smartfirstgraders.com/cognitive-development.html.

Cognitive Development: School-Age: VLS. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2019, from

https://www.virtuallabschool.org/school-age/cognitive/lesson-2.

Gavin, M. L. (Ed.). (2018, June). What Being Overweight Means (for Kids). Retrieved

from https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/overweight.html.

Growth Charts - Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/index.htm.

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). Psychology applied to teaching. Australia:

Cengage learning.

Social-Emotional Development Domain. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2019, from

https://www.cde.ca.gov/SP/cd/re/itf09socemodev.asp.

(n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2019, from http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_trawick-

smith_early_3/5/1495/382921.cw/index.html.

Third Grade Intellectual Development. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2019, from

https://www.education.com/slideshow/third-grade-intellectual-development/third-intellectual-

around-world/.
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