PEPSI of William Henry Knipper V

PEPSI of William Henry Knipper V

Halie Zerblis

College of Southern Nevada

EDU 220-3001: Principles of Educational Psychology

Professor Hooks

December 14, 2016

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PEPSI of William Henry Knipper V

I have been observing and working with this young man since he

was 6 years old. Though I had never fully realized Ive been tracking

his Physical, Emotional, Philosophical, Social and Intellectual (PEPSI)

qualities I have noticed changes and growths in him. I have started to

officially track his progress starting from September up until

completing this report. I have, to my advantage, carefully recorded and

charted each of those PEPSI characteristics and will give my

recommendations and show where he stands in his development.

Biography

When I first met this family I was a stranger to everyone, but

over time became to know everyone and love their smiling faces and

warm hearts. Especially Williams, though he is the smallest he seems

to have the biggest and warmest heart in the bunch. The youngest of

Rene and William Henry Knipper IV, a hard working stay at home

mom and a veteran who does Emergency Management crisis

prevention and drills, give so much love, time and teachings to not

only the youngest but to their oldest boy and second oldest daughter

(8 and 9 years old) and now niece who is staying with them. William

and his brother and sister are diagnosed with Autism; William is in an

inclusion class and will soon need little to no ABA Home Therapy.
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William is an energetic 7-year-old boy; he loves to play with his Legos

and seldom ever plays on any electronics.

The children go to see their loving poppy on the weekends to

spend quality time; they also see him when he takes them on trips

during the summer or picks them up to go to the museum or to be

taken to boy scouts or girl scouts. Their poppy is also a major puzzle

piece to this hard working family. This family works together on their

routines and schedules to make sure everything is running smoothly.

This family supports each other and always brings out the best in one

another, and little William really helps to bring out that love.
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Physical

William, the little man of the house, is a bundle of energy.

And I wouldnt expect anything else from him. At the young age of 7

years old, William reaches the height of 49.5 in and weighs in at 58 lbs.

He wears glasses and is always on the move, playing tag or rough

housing with his brother. He does fall down or run into things but

brushes it off and says that he is ok. Unfortunately he does not always

take into consideration of fully checking to see if he is ok or making

sure to keep boundaries of what is ok and what is not ok for playing

roughly.

According to Professor JAnne Ellsworth in Northern Arizona

University, 7-year-olds are touching, exploring, feelingtheother

kinestheticactivitiesbecomeexcitingwithloveforcoloring,drawing,marbles,

jacks,doingpuzzles,makingmodelgivinggreatpleasure(Ellsworth,1999).

WhileobservingWilliamInoticedthathedoestendtogetalittletocloseto

people,heasksforhugsorwouldhugsomeonerightaway.Hewouldalsoliketo

touchthingssuchashismomsyogaballandeventrytositonitandbounceonit
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orhiscousinsbooksorcellphone.Peopleinhisfamilywouldtellhimto

rememberthatheneedstoaskfirstandsometimeshewouldnotbeallowedto

playwiththosethings.

Williamalsohassomefidgetingwhenthereisapauseinworkingorwhen

hecannothaveattentionatthemoment.SnowmanandMcCown(2014)saythat

tominimizefidgeting,avoidsituationsinwhichyourstudentsmuststayedglued

totheirdesksforlongperiods.Havefrequentbreaks,andtrytoworkactivity

(suchasbringingpaperstoyoudesk)intothelessonthemselves.(Chapter3,

section2a)ThisisanexcellentstrategythatworksforWilliam,ifhestartstoget

fidgetyeithermomorIwillhaveWilliamrunlaps,draw,orhavefreetimeand

thenhavehimreturntohisworkoncemomorIamready.

LastlyasIwasobservinglittleWilliamIhavenoticedhowheisstartingto

grow;hedoesrequestmoresnacksandhasoutgrownsomeofhishandmedown

clothes.AfterlookingatachartfromaCDCwebsiteandcalculatinghisheight

andweightIwasshownapercentilechartofwhetherornotWilliamwas

underweight,overweightoratahealthyweight. It showed me that he was in

the 77th percentile for boys and is in the healthy weight area. This

doesnt surprise me at all, due to the knowledge that he eats healthy

meals every night and gets plenty of exercise, and as long as he stays

in this area during his childhood and adolescent years he will avoid

becoming over weight as an adult.

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Emotional

William is at a stage in his life where he and his peers may start

to tease and taunt each other, there have been no reports of any such

actions being brought home. William does experience some taunting,

from his brother or sister, but when caught mom will put an end to it.

She will go over why it is mean to be making fun of their brother and

flip the script, ask how they would feel if they were being taunted or

teased. From Snowman and McCown (2014) he is becoming sensitive

to the feelings of others (Chapter 3 section 2c). William is a sensitive

young man but doesnt show any hostility towards others when they

try to tease and taunt him, he is one to try and make things right and

have everyone be happy.

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Looking at Eric Eriksons 8 Psychosocial Stages I see that William

is in stage 4 Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority. Erikson says that,

between the ages of 5 and 12, children should be reinforced on their

abilities of being able to do things and achievements (McLeod, 2013)

At home William is applauded when he stays on task and finishes his

homework before his brother and sister, this then allows him to do

whatever fun activity hed like, playing with Legos or any electronic in

the house, and if he is being above and beyond at home he moves up

on his color chart which will help earn a special prize at the end of the

week and a trip to flipping out at the end of the month.

When William is upset about something, usually minor mistakes

in writing such as backwards letters or erasing, he would hit his head.

This has subsided to him pulling his hair when an error he has made

occurs. JAnne Ellsworth notes in her PEPSI chart that children of his

age have nervous tics and habits (Ellsworth, 1999). This is not a

frequent habit of his, but it has been noticed before and made aware of

to his mom. Other than that William shows appropriate emotional

reactions towards others and little habits/tics for his age.

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Philosophical

William is a very sweet boy who tells the truth, or more so of

what happened. He doesnt stop to think of a lie, when you ask him

about something that happened he will tell you, some of the

information may be jumbled up or incorrect but he doesnt lie about

what went on. This is what I believe JAnne Ellsworths internal sense

of right and wrong developing (Ellsworth, 1999) is mentioning at.

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Though he may get in trouble for also being involved in an occurrence

he will not be punished for lying about it.

A characteristic for young children is for them to think out loud

and or talk out a situation that is difficult for them to keep inside their

heads. Snowman and McCown say Talking aloud to oneself reaches a

peak between the ages of six and seven and then rapidly declines.

(Chapter 3, Section 2d). There have been some instances where I have

seen William talking to himself while working at home, or have

suggested thinking out loud to help him with a worksheet that I had

given him, but usually he declines doing so and works through the

worksheet quietly.

Looking back at JAnne Ellsworth and internal sense of right and

wrong I was able to make a connection with Piaget. Piagets theory of

moral development explains that this sense of right and wrong comes

from a higher authority figure, parents, guardians, teachers or other

role models. These God-like figures have the power, thus the child

follows what they say, and if he or she doesnt will suffer the

consequences. (Angela Oswalt MSW, 2010) Williams always telling the

truth, consciously or unconsciously occurs because his mother has

instilled that each of her children need to tell her the truth, and if she is

lied to then a punishment will occur.

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Social

William likes attention, from his mom, dad, basically anyone who

will look his way. And once he gets your attention he will show you how

smart he is, he will ask for you to play with him, or hell tell you a joke
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that he made up all on his own. His classmates follow his example of

sitting nicely and following the rules in the class. This, in my opinion, is

because he likes to be the example. He wants that praise, and when

the time is appropriate he gets the praise and encouragement that he

is looking for.

JAnne Ellsworth notes that children of his age are withdrawing

and have moodiness (Ellsworth, 1999). For William moodiness usually

never occurs, and if he does withdraw from something its to go play

Legos happily by himself because no one else is free to play with. He is

a sunshine boy, he uses his time how he sees fit, though he does stay

away from reading and focuses more on playing tag or playing with his

brother. He wont gain attention by tattling on his brother or sister, but

by asking for a hug.

Snowman and McCown mention in Social Characteristics that

play skills are important part of young childrens development (Chapter

3, Section 1b) This is an everyday activity for William, he frequently

asks to play. Tag in particular, the running sensation and thrill of being

it or running away from whoever was made it. When he seeks

attention more times than others he goes to his older brother, to play

with and be around.

It is at this stage that the childs peer group will gain greater

significance and will become a major source of the childs self esteem.

The child now feels the need to win approval by demonstrating specific
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competencies that are valued by society, and begin to develop a sense

of pride in their accomplishments. (McLeod, S.A. 2013).

He shows his brother new creations that he has made from his Legos,

or a game that he has made up. Though his older brother does try to

make the new creations or games be to his advantage William will

wither go along with what his older brother says or bicker with him

until the two can come to a compromise.

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Intellectual

William is in 2nd grade, he attends the same school as his brother

and sister. And during his after school therapy with me he absorbs and

works on new skills that he can use everyday. He works on his Fluency,

writing skills, Wh. Questions, and other skills. He shows operational

thinking and good work for an internal sense of value, responsibility.

(Ellsworth, 1999) May it be internal or for another reason, William

always does his best, asks for clarification, and fixes any mistakes he

may have made.

Looking at Piagets theory in knowledge development one sees

the different categories of intellectual processing. Adaptation, schemes

and organization, are three ways that we can help make things simpler

in the world. (Snowman and McCown Chapter 2, Section 2a) William is

able to take in new information this way, have help by his teacher and

members at home in categorizing it and then store it for a later time, a

good example is William memorizing his cub scout code. His older

brother helps William read any of the harder words and explains what it

means, later he will help William by quizzing him to see if he

remembers what the code is.

William is right on par as a second grader, but I do have some

concerns for his reading. He tends to fall back to books he has read

many times before or books that are not age appropriate for him. (R.

Knipper, personal communication, November 13, 2016). This does has

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some concern for me, but I think I would link it back to instant

gratification, were he can feel accomplished in completing a book(s)

and be done with his reading portion for homework. This is not

happening all of the time though, William has read books above his

grade level and has picked books at his grade level or above from book

fairs. He will read them to his mom or his older brother will read those

books to him.
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Graph

PEPSI Chart of William

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Recommendations

Physical William is at a healthy and normal weight and height for his

age, he continues to play and exercise daily. As long as he continues to

eat healthy and continue to exercise I have no recommendations to

give. I will say that as he starts to get older he should be monitored to

see if he gains his fathers growth spurt, and if this does happen to

make sure he follows a healthy routine still. He should also make sure

to stay in his normal percentile, as he gets older.

Emotional Williams warm personality is always a welcome, my

recommendation is to make sure if any mood swings occurs just note it

is normal for his age. Talk to him if anything really upsets him, but

other than that I have no major concerns or recommendations.

Philosophical Continue to have William tell the truth. At a later age,

were he wont use it to his advantage, let him know about different

types of lying. Give him the moral outcomes of what can happen with
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each of the types. Also keep those good examples around of telling the

truth.

Social Though William loves attention I believe that he

should be made aware of the appropriate times when to interrupt and

when to have that attention seeking moment. He should continue

seeking attention from his brother and make sure to work out rights

and wrongs that would occur with him. When ho doesnt gain attention

from anyone we shouldnt worry, instead we should give him his time

of lone playing and then go to him and give him attention by means of

a hug or showing interest in what he is doing.

Intellectual William should practice some more outside

thinking to help his process of thinking. I suggest a recording device or

maybe have him use a bubble map to help write down his thoughts in

an organized way. Do not make this an everyday process so as to allow

him to start organizing his thoughts in his head. Any extra little ideas

are also a welcome.

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References

About Child & Teen BMI. (2015). Retrieved December 14, 2016, from

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about

_childrens_bmi.html

Cherry, K. (2016, November 22). The 4 Stages of Cognitive

Development in Children. Retrieved December 14, 2016, from

https://www.verywell.com/piagets-stages-of-cognitive-development-

2795457

Ellsworth, J. (1999). Seven Year. Retrieved December 14, 2016, from

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/

%7Ejde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year7.html
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McLeod, S. A. (2013). Erik Erikson. Retrieved from December 14, 2016

from

http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

Oswalt, A. (2010, June 9). Moral Development: Piaget's Theory.

Retrieved December 14, 2016, from

https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/moral-development-piaget-s-

theory/

Knipper, R. (2016, November 13). Personal Interview.

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. (2014). Psychology Applied to Teaching (14th ed.).

Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

http://ng.cengage.com/static/nb/ui/index.html?

nbId=365707&nbNodeId=122326559&deploymentId=48735623289285350239629057&

eISBN=9781305390676 - !&parentId=122326760