Pepsi

Understanding the Whole Child

Breehanna Hausman
Principles of Educational Psychology
EDU 220 -1002
Professor: Dr. Rochelle Hooks

I chose to do my pepsi screening on my best friends little sister Megan Hancock. Megan

is a thirteen year old kid who is about to enter into teenage years of her life. She is female and

has two older sisters, Ashley and Veronica. She is the youngest of three children in that family.

Each sister is exactly seven years apart from each other. Megan is thirteen and my friend Ashley
is twenty and her older sister is twenty seven. Megan is much into the arts and loves to draw

and paint pictures. She likes to express herself with clothing and borrows her older sister

clothing a lot of the time. She does not play any sports. Megan is a Christian and is very active in

her faith. She is involved at our church and is in an organization called wild life that introduces

adolescents to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith. Megan is very active in that,

and goes to summer camp every summer and participates in all the events for wild life. She

goes to Lied Middle school in Las Vegas Nevada, and will be going to Shadow Ridge High school

when she begins high school. Megan is a typical teenager, loves to hang out with her friends

and go to the movies and hangout with her older sister. Megan has lived in Vegas her whole life

and likes growing up here. Megan says she wants to be a doctor when she is older, and hopes

to go to college at UNLV to stay close to her family. Her hobbies consists of drawing and riding

her skateboard or long board around the neighborhood. She has a small collection of her skate

boards in her room that she loves to show people. One other hobby she has is nail painting, she

will always have designs on her nails for every holiday and season. She also has three little

nieces and nephews from her oldest sister. She often babysits those kids after school and on

weekends. The kids are two twin boys that are six years old and a girl who is four. Megan’s

family’s socioeconomic status is normal and Megan has not had a job before because she is not

of age yet. Her status in her school is average, and she gets good grades

Adolescents experience a tremendous amount of physical growth and development.

This rapid physical development begins for teens when they begin to get puberty and soon

adulthood begins. Megan is in her early teenage years which is the time where most physical

changes occur. One of the major things that happen is, skeletal growth is marked in long bone
and joint plates. Bone and skeletal attachment damage can easily occur, suggesting less zealous

sports would be appropriate (Northern Arizona University). When girls reach the age of eight to

thirteen they start their growth spurt, and have rapid growth till the age of ten to sixteen. Most

girls are done growing height wise by late teenage years. Megan is about 5’7 and according to

live strong magazine 5’3 or 5’4 is the average height. Several factors can influence potential

height such as genetics and nutrition, as do certain medical conditions and medications that

interfere with digestion and appetite. Also other physical developments are, body mass and

muscle mass while also adding body fat. During adolescence, girls' percentage of body fat will

increase, relative to muscle mass. This additional fat is deposited in her body's midsection, all

this is due to puberty. Megan has experienced this growth during this time and has started her

puberty. All these changes result in body awareness and this is the time where parents need to

assist their kids with their self-acceptance. According to this, Megan should be experiencing all

these things at the age she is currently at.

Another form of the screening process is to evaluate the emotional side of the child.

Emotional development is the emergence of a child's experience, expression, understanding,

and regulation of emotions from birth through late adolescence. It also comprises how growth

and changes in these processes concerning emotions occur (education.com). Emotional

development has effect on the social and cultural influences in the child’s life. Various

emotional development theories are proposed, but there is general agreement on age-related

milestones in emotional development. The age that Megan is at are dealing with the physical

changes in their body like puberty and emotionally as well as physically. This will cause young

teen to feel uncertain, moody and be sensitive to what others think of them, especially their

peers about (parenting.com). The question of “who am I” is not one that teens think about at a

conscious level (University Of Delaware). Teens usually tend to get their opinions from their

peers and not so much their parents. Those people are ones who they think share the same

values and beliefs as they do. Erikson reminds us that there is a crucial shifting in the

personality. The crisis is not limited to who they see themselves becoming. The child works to

define their self and their identity in life. Megan is at this time period with her emotional roller-

coaster. She has just stared to dress differently and pick up her habit of art. She was a very

different kid then she is now as a teenager. I believe she is at the normal stage of development

when it comes to emotional feelings towards herself. Erikson’s stages of development from 12

to 18 years are where Megan is currently at. According to him the, “who am I like I,” as I

previously discussed is very important. Meagan is experiencing this, for example, Erickson says

they like to change their occupational goals a lot; Megan has changed her goal many times to

different careers. This is all due to the changing physiology in adolescents in that age group. The

next development stage is the Philosophical development.

Philosophical development for kids is explained by Kohlberg’s moral reasoning theory. It

basically says how kids and adults respond to certain situations in their lives. He proposed that

people pass thru a series of six stages of moral judgment or reasoning (educational Psychology).
He decided to group all six, in to stages called, preconventional, conventional, and post

conventional. These stages are defined by how the person defines their moral behavior. Each

child is different and will pass thru the stage at different times during their lives. For Megan’s

case she is at the conventional stage in her life. This stage consists of, the individual adopts

rules and will sometimes subordinate own needs to those of the group (Educational

Psychology). Meaning, they have behavior to please or get approved by others. This stage also

is one to be under authority and will maintain respect for it. The ideological pursuit for personal

belief system is littered with parental parameters and demands, peer belief and a sense of

powerlessness to change life (Norton Arizona University). These are all things that consist of the

philosophical development of kids. A student is often overwhelmed with the chaos and

restructuring, so rules and expectations become onerous and area negated as "nothing but

social notions (Norton Arizona University)." Normally at this age in a young girl’s life they are

making friends and they become the most important part of the child’s life. They need this peer

acceptance or status within their groups of friends at this age. Megan is at this stage because

she is making new friends and they are staying friends for a longer period of time. When kids

are at the elementary level they make friends for a short period of time and may have a new

one shorty. Friend making is just based of same sex and similar interests, while middle school

friendships are more mature and will tend to last longer. Megan is at her philosophical

development at the normal pace for her age but I do believe she has not hit that rebelling stage

that teens tend to have at that age. Megan still respects authority and does not question and

much. She is just more recently questioning authority and having her own thoughts and feelings
toward different situations. The next developmental stage of a child is their Social

Development.

During children's younger years, their social sphere included their family, a few friends, a

couple teachers, and perhaps a coach or other adult mentor. But during adolescence, teens' social

networks greatly expand to include many more people, and many different types of relationships.

Therefore, adolescent social development involves a dramatic change in the quantity and quality of

social relationships (Angela Oswalt 2005.) Normally at this age in a young girl’s life they are making

friends and they become the most important part of the child’s life. They need this peer

acceptance or status within their groups of friends at this age. Megan is at this stage because

she is making new friends and they are staying friends for a longer period of time. When kids

are at the elementary level they make friends for a short period of time and may have a new

one shorty. Friend making is just based of same sex and similar interests, while middle school

friendships are more mature and will tend to last longer. Also, preoccupation with and

oversensitivity with self, appearance and others' possible awareness of self may literally plague

the youngster (J'Anne Ellsworth 1999). Megan is at her philosophical development at the

normal pace for her age but I do believe she has not hit that rebelling stage that teens tend to

have at that age. Megan still respects authority and does not question and much. She is just

more recently questioning authority and having her own thoughts and feelings toward different

situations. Intellectual development is the last stage of development a child will encounter in

life.

Intellectual development relates to the cognitive improvement a child makes during

their life. Most boys and girls enter adolescence still perceiving the world around them in
concrete terms like, things are either right or wrong. Children rarely see the future has to hold

for them, which explains younger teens’ inability to consider the long-term consequences of

their actions (2003 American Academy of Pediatrics). According to (Bondless.com) detail the

changes in the brain and cognitive processes that occur during adolescence is their intellectual

side of things. Jean Piaget describes adolescence as the stage of life in which the individual's

thoughts start taking more of an abstract form. This allows an individual to think and reason in

a wider perspective on things and have their own views and thoughts on the situation.

Development of executive functions, or cognitive skills are the brain being able to control and

coordination of thoughts and behavior. When kids are experiencing this development they are

shaping their personalities and how they will think as an adult. According to (Boundless.com)

there are actual biological changes in brain structure and connectivity within the brain that will

interact. This is happening my all the increased experience, knowledge, and changing social

demands to produce rapid cognitive growth. These changes generally begin when puberty

starts or a little after. Megan has developed intellectually because she now thinks more in

depth to thinks and does not just follow what the adults are doing. Megan’s capacity to solve

complex problems and to sense what others are thinking has sharpened sense she has grown

up. According to child (develomoent.com) they say this is because she is still relatively

inexperienced in life, but as she gets older she will apply these new skills to her life and now she

can perform them without thinking about it.

This is a pepsi graph for a gifted student I took from the author J'Anne Ellsworth from the NAU OTLE

Faculty Studio.

.
 This will be Megan’s Graph, she is right at the line for normal for her age group in every category. The only

one I believe after studying her is the intellectual one, I think she is higher than the normal because she shows

signs of being intellectually developed a little more than normal for her age.

There are some recommendations for teachers and parents to see what their child is

placed in according to these developmental stages. Teachers need to know how to assess a

child incase of a special needs situation, where they need to place them in normal classes or

special classes. In assessing a child, particularly a special needs child, our lens is a crucial factor.

Adding an understanding of the nature of growth and development of children and help
teachers and parent’s change of focus in education. This knowledge could make it so we can

teach better and educate the whole child. Some recommendations are for every teacher to

assess the child they are trying to understand more. This will help them decide how to go about

teaching this child and what level they can understand. The PEPSI model provides an

importance for parents as well. Parents can now identify patterns in child behavior, and

perceived misbehavior, and know how to better deal with the problem. By charting the child's

behaviors and reactions and then comparing those to developmental sequences parents and

teachers can see where they fall in their stages of developmental stages. It is possible to

recognize where a child under the age of 18 stands socially, morally and emotionally. One other

recommendation is to take social and cultural expectations into account when forming a

screening. Gender, place in the family, family expectations and social and cultural scripts can

contribute to the child’s development. Not every child will develop the same and we need to

take that into account. Teachers need to attend to the whole child and understand the areas of

development. After screening my friends little sister I saw her as a whole and can now

understand how she thinks a little better and I can now understand if I was her teacher or

parent how to deal with her as a student. Megan Hancock is the 13 year old teenager who

ranks normal in her development but a lot of children do not, and it is up to us as parents and

teachers to understand the importance and know how prepare these kids for life.
 Reference Page

Slavin, R. (1997). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn

and Bacon.

Ellsworth, J. (1999). Building. Retrieved June 25, 2015, from

http://www2.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/assign2-1-1.html

Stages of Adolescence. (2003). Retrieved June 25, 2015, from

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/teen/Pages/Stages-of-Adolescence.aspx

Boundless. “Cognitive Development in Adolescence.” Boundless Psychology. Boundless,

10 Jun. 2015. Retrieved 11 Jun. 2015 from

https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/human-

development-14/adolescence-73/cognitive-development-in-adolescence-283-12818/

Oswalt, A. (2005). Seven Counties Services Inc. Retrieved June 25, 2015, from
http://www.sevencounties.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41167&cn=1310