Running head: PEPSI 1
PEPSI
Esmeralda Lopez
College of Southern Nevada
March 11, 2018
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Abstract
In this paper I will be reviewing the five areas of development in an eight-year-old child
from work. I work at the Boys and Girls Club where I work with children from the ages 5-12.
Among these children, I did the PEPSI screening one of them. I discuss how he is doing
physically, emotionally, philosophically, socially, and intellectually.
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Biography of the Child
The child I have chosen to observe is an 8-year-old boy. He is in 2nd grade and attends a
charter school in Las Vegas. His family consists of him, his brother, and his mother. His brother
is 11 years old and attends the same school as him. The two boys are inseparable and are always
fighting with each other. After school he attends the Boys & Girls Club on a semiregular basis
where he participates in many learning and physical activities with other members. I work at the
Boys and Girls Club and have worked with him for 2 years now. We have a program called
power hour where the team members, volunteers, tutors, and teens help members with homework
for an hour. After power hour is over, if the members still need help, they would be transferred to
a different room where they could get a more one on one help to complete their homework. We
have even created a tutoring program to help our members who were struggling. It takes him a
very long time to complete and understand his homework and you would be able to find him in
power hour, in our extra hour of help, and tutoring program. The team members at the club have
a good relationship with his mom. We all work together to ensure that he is getting all the help
he needs and that he is behaving. One of our biggest concerns that we have with him is about his
behavior and the reaction he has when something doesn’t go his way. He is a very emotional
person who struggles to keep his emotions in check. He is a very sleepy child that takes the Boys
and Girls Club van from school to the Boys & Girls Club where he usually sleeps during the
ride. He also has been sleeping in areas such as power hour and tutoring. When he is home, his
mom is always on top of him making sure he is doing his homework and not to be messing
around, but at times she can be very impatient and start yelling at him. She expects a lot from
him in school and personal life, but like a lot of boys his age he just wants to play and have fun.
Over the years he has improved in both doing his homework and behavior.
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Physical Development
In J’Anne Ellsworth’s article, she provides the finding of a study about physical
development. As states, “their findings about the stepwise development of physical traits, motor
development, and some of the social and emotional growth of children” (Ellsworth, 1996). The
child that I observed met many of physical development requirements children have when
growing up. In a chart from the institute for human services they list milestones that should be
reached in the different age groups. The milestone for physical development in a school aged
child are the following “slow, steady growth: 3-4 inches per year”, “use physical activities to
develop gross and fine motor skills”, “motor & perceptual motor skills better integrated”, and
“10-12 year: puberty begins for some children” (Ohio, 2007). The child that I have chosen to
observe doesn’t meet the milestone of growing 3-4 inches a year. Overall, he has stayed the same
height for the last two years. In the last two years he has grown approximately 2-3 inches, half
the size of the average growth rate of a school aged child. A milestone that he did reach was the
use of physical activities to develop gross and fine motor skills. His physical activities in his
physical education class where they practice motor skills in games, running, and playing made an
impact on his development. He also improved his motor skill at the Boys & Girls Club where he
plays various games such as basketball, dodge ball, soccer, foosball, and the video game Just
Dance. In Nan Zeng’s journal article discussing motor skill development he found that “of the 10
studies assessing the effects of physical activity on motor skills, eight (80%) reported significant
improvements in motor performance” (Zeng). All these games and activities work on his
development of his motor skills. For example, in Just Dance he must focus on what the avatar is
telling him to do and he has to execute it correctly in order to stay in the game which improves
his hand-eye coordination. At times he has difficultly with this because he will get frustrated
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when he doesn’t execute the move correctly or because he is having trouble focusing. Although
he is improving in some aspects of his physical development, he still has a bit of room to grow in
other areas of development
Emotional Development
Emotional development is the child’s ability to regulate and control emotions and to form
secure relationships. On an organizations emotional development site, they state “emotional
development and intellectual development normally go hand in hand to help the child develop
socially… amongst both children and adults that creates a health emotional state.” The child I
observed has a challenging time regulating and controlling his emotions. When he first started
attending the Boys & Girls Club he had many outbursts and conflicts with his brother. The two
boys are always fighting with each other over trivial things. They both play off each other’s
emotions and strive to set the other off. Over the years their interactions have improved with less
outbursts and an overall better behavior at the club. This shows that he has reached the milestone
of finding “alternative strategies for dealing with frustration and expressing emotions” (Ohio,
2007). His mom also has outbursts when he doesn’t do his homework or is misbehaving which
results in him being yelled at in front of multiple people. Although her reasoning may be valid, I
think it gives him a negative interaction potentially delaying his emotional development. Adding
to the importance of emotional development, the textbook Psychology Applied to Teaching
explains it is important “help children experience a sense of industry by presenting tasks that
they can complete successfully” (Snow, ). I agree with this stance because I believe that the child
I observed has a low self-esteem due to being unable to successfully complete his school and
being unable to control his environment. By giving him a bit more control of his environment, I
think he would feel a sense of achievement which would improve his self-esteem and emotional
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control. Emotional development is important in a growing child’s life because it has an impact
on how he handles issues, his social life, and his mental health.
Philosophical Development
Philosophical “is a developmental process that occurs with respects to gaining moral
reasoning or a philosophical perspective about life” (Ellsworth, 1996). The boy I am observing
has a skewed moral compass. For example, he lies about events in order to avoid consequences.
At the Boys & Girls Club we believe that there is your side, their side, and truth. The truth often
reveals that he was lying or not telling the full story for the fear of getting in trouble. In the text
of Psychology Applied to Teaching they explain that primary grade children “find it difficult to
understand how and why rules should be adjusted to special situations” (Snow,). I agree with this
due to my observation that the child has a difficult time understanding when it was ok to change
the rule to a game he was playing and when it wasn’t. He believed that the only reason to change
the rules of the game was to benefit him. He didn’t care or understand why other children would
be upset with him for changing the rules. In his mind, as long as he was winning or as long as he
didn’t lose, it didn’t matter what changes he made to the game. One of the theory is “humans
develop morality by learning the rules of acceptable behavior form their external environment”.
However, I don’t think this theory applies to the child I observed for his external environment
shows him many acceptable behaviors and yet he does not take them into consideration. Many of
our members at the Boys & Girls Club are for the most part well behaved children with of course
a few members who are missing behaving. His external environment as the Boys & Girls Club
and home gives him expectations and guidelines to follow which he chooses to disobey. In this
area I believe he has a lot of growing to do to be at the average philosophical development range.
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Social Development
Social Development is one of research topic many people have tried to understand. As
J’Anne Ellsworth explains “Coopersmith’s material on esteem, Loevinger and Blasi’s work on
ego development, Kegan’s work on individuation and the ability to see viewpoints of others …
and Maccoby’s work with family systems are brought together” (Ellsworth,1996). The child I
observed lacks the ability to see viewpoints of others. He assumes that everyone is always out to
get him and he has no fault in the way others treat him. Therefore, when he is at the Boys &
Girls Club he is either playing but not interacting with others or only playing with his brother. He
also lacks “refining the skills of self-direction and self-control, learning how to join the play
activities of other” (Snow,2017). Many times, he would try to play a game with other members
and join their game which never ends well because he never allows other members to give him
directions or any feedback because he always receives it negatively. He always takes it as they
are attacking him. For example, there are times that he joins a game and tries changing the rules
to better suit him despite everyone else playing with the already established rules. Once he
doesn’t get his way, he shuts down and cries in a corner or he throws a tantrum. He has not yet
mastered the milestone of “understand[ing] concepts of right and wrong” (Ohio, 2007). He
believes that it is right to throw a tantrum and to change the rules of other kid’s games in order to
get what is best for him. However, I do believe he has achieved the milestone of “avoid[ing]
punishment: self-interested exchanges” (Ohio,2007). When it comes to owning up to what he has
done, it is always difficult for him to tell the truth. This can be especially true when it involves
his mother. He always has an excuse for everything like he didn’t know, or it was because
somebody else did it first. Although he is still young, he is displaying poor social development
for his age because he is unable to work with other children because he always feels attacked, he
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is constantly changing the rules to better suit his needs despite what everyone else thinks or feels,
and he has trouble taking responsibility for his actions.
Intellectual Development
Intellectual Development is “the development of the cognitive processes” (Ellsworth,
1996). This is the way a child thinks and reasons with the world. The intellectual development is
a big part of how student learns within the classroom and everyday life. In the Developmental
Milestone Chart, they label “8-10 year: recognize difference between behavior and intent” (Ohio,
2007). The child I observed failed to reach this milestone. He could not tell difference between
behavior and intent. He believed that everybody’s intent was to harm him or give him problems.
For example, if somebody accidental ran into him while playing a game, he would assume that
they were out to get him and hurt him in any way possible. Another milestone is “more effective
coping skills” which I believe he still needs more improvement with. Even though he has made a
significant improvement over the past two years, he is still developmentally behind his peers in
many areas. He does not throw as many tantrums as before, but he still has issues solving minor
conflicts. In the text of Psychology Applied to Teaching they state, “Children understand that
there are different ways to know things and that some ways are better than others” (Snow,2017).
He has trouble grasping the idea that there is more than one way to solve a problem that can be
used to help him. I see this issue whenever I try to help him with his homework. If I try teaching
him a different way to complete his homework assignment it will only confuse him more than
what he already is. He struggles with his homework, sometimes taking hours to complete an
assignment that should take 20-30 min to complete. He needs a lot of extra one on one help to
successfully complete his homework and not leaving him completely lost. In this developmental
area, he has a lot to improve in. He has made improvement over the years but not enough.
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Recommendation
This child has many difficulties in the developmental areas. There are a few areas
he succeeds in, however, there are more areas that he does not do very well in. I believe that the
mom should look for outside resources besides the Boys and Girls Club that are better equipped
to fill in the developmental gaps. Overall, he is trying his best but still can’t grasp the material.
The outside help would help him focus on his school and personal life. By alleviating some of
the pressure he receives in school, it would help him relax during social situations with others.
Along with this, I think it is important for the mother to focus on more positive reinforcements
for her child. Although she is very supportive and cares immensely about her son’s education, I
think it is important to be a supportive by sympathetic role model. I feel this would help with the
thought of him always feeling attacked. Sometimes, all it takes is someone that understands in
order to make a difference. Once he starts to get that sort of relationship at home and school, he
will start to become more socially aware of what is right and wrong. In conclusion, I think it is
important to seek professional help that will help him talk his emotions out since he does respond
better in a one-on-one setting. Meeting with someone on a weekly basis would make a difference
because now he has that centered attention that he has trouble finding everywhere else. Along
with the use of professional help, it is important to receive that support at home.
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PEPSI Chart showing Initial Profile
Physical Emotional Philosphical Social Intellectual
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References
Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). Psychology applied to teaching. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
Emotional Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.emotionaldevelopment.org/
Ellsworth, J. (1996). “Pepsi”: A Screening and Programming Tool for
Understanding the Whole Child. TEACHING Exceptional Children,29(2), 33-39.
doi:10.1177/004005999602900207
Development Milestone Chart. (n.d.). Ohio. October, 2007.Retrieved from
www.rsd.k12.pa.us/Downloads/Development_Chart_for_Booklet.pdf
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Tables
