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PEPSI
Juliana Bahar
Education Psychology
4/24/16

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Biography
The childs name is Maxwell Johnson and he is 9 years old, turning 10 in October. He is
the eldest brother of three boys. He has two parents who are currently going through a divorce.
The school that Maxwell attends is Pinecrest magnet school. This is the second school he is
attending, the first of which was a religious school. His family is higher middle class normally,
but as stated earlier, with his parents going through a divorce making money tighter than normal.
For fun he plays on a soccer team who has practice every Monday and games every Saturday.
Maxwell does take medications for epilepsy that used to be a problem before the medication.
Maxwell spends the rest of his time playing his favorite game, Minecraft, and trying to avoid his
younger brothers. He also has a dog and two cats.

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Physical Development
In order to figure out how well Maxwell Johnson was physically I measured both his
height and weight. He weighs 72 pounds and 55 inches (4 feet 7 inches) tall which puts him
within normal margins for healthy weight for 9 year olds. According to the Med India calculator
for healthy children at age 9 Maxwell is in the 84th percentile for his height. The normal height
for a boy at age 9 is 4 feet 5 making him 2 inches taller than average but still within the normal
range. For his weight, Maxwell is in the 20th percentile with the average weight being 64 pounds.
He is in the upper side of what is considered heavy but still within the normal weight range. That
being said calculator says that his BMI is 12.8 and considered under normal range. This is hard
to determine using mathematical data alone and on inspection his fat ratio appears to be at a
healthy level.
Another note on his physical health is that Maxwell plays soccer which allows for
exercise to be a part of his development. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
Physical Activity recommends that children around Maxwells age should engage in an average
of 60 minutes of physical activity each day (Janssen). Also they mention how aerobic activities
should make up the majority of this activity. During soccer practice and during games there is a
considerable amount of running involved. With the running comes a greater need for air and is
consumed faster. Watching him during one of his games it can be noted that he is a constant
runner with great speed but also needs to take breaks when he pushes himself too hard. Usually
the first sign of fatigue occurs for Maxwell when his breathing becomes harder. The physical
activity that he performs in his games and practices does his body well for staying active.
The last thing to mention is that Maxwell takes a medication called Keppra, which is an
anticonvulsant. When he was younger, Maxwell would have an occasional seizer that he would

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later not remember. It would occur a couple times without anyone noticing until it was
diagnosed. The medication they prescribed him has since greatly helped with this problem. One
of the systems of Keppra is changes in mood or behavior (Truven Health Analytics). When he
first started to take the medication there was a change in his behavior where he became more
agitated and sad but that has since gone away as his body has adjusted to the medication.

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Emotional Development
Being at the age of 9 and in elementary school, Maxwell is considered to be in the
school age within Eriksons model of emotional development. This means that he is in a
conflict of Industry versus Inferiority (Know What to Expect). In this stage teachers and peers
become an important part of the childs development where they become less dependent on their
parents. In this stage success means to create something and failure is when the child does not
meet their own standards or that of others (Slavin). This is seen in Maxwell when he is doing his
homework. If he is having a difficult time on a subject then he becomes emotionally distraught,
often crying or getting mad at those who try to help. This can be an issue until he meets his own
personal goal. At his school the students do online practice in the form of math games. Watching
his do well in this and share his preforms shows that he wants the approval of others. When
speaking to him and telling him how well he has done so far he is very quick to mention how he
still has more to go. Even though he has met the teachers expectations for the day he still has not
met his own. At this point Maxwell is still within this stage of development but appears to
deciding what he wants from himself and others. He is moving through this process naturally and
should continue on to the next stage with no issue.
A situation that is impacting his emotional development is his parents divorce. The news
of the situation resulted in a lot of understandable anger for Maxwell. According to Amy B.
Rosenberg referring to Divorce, separation is considered to be an ongoing issue past when the
legal issues have been dealt with (Goldstein pg. 517-518). Looking at Maxwell now one can see
the anger over the situation and confusion as to why his parents are no longer in love. How he
may react later in his development is based on how his parents talk to him about the issue and

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what the final result will be. This is a challenging situation for any child to face but they can still
live an emotionally balanced life.

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Philosophical Development
Testing Maxwells philosophical development was a difficult task to do since I mostly
saw him in a comfortable environment where he did not meet many dilemmas. In order to figure
out how he thought on difficult matters I had him watch a video about Heinzs Dilemma (Fui). At
the end of this video there are three options to choose from, to do the wrong thing and get away
with it, to do the wrong thing and face the consequences, or not to do the wrong thing and face
an unwanted result. In this case it was about whether a man should steal a drug to save his dying
wife. Maxwell choose that Heinz should steal the drug but face the punishment for his actions.
According to the video this is the choice that most children and adults pick. Using Lawrence
Kohlbergs stages, Maxwell is in the Conventional stage. This is the stage where morals are more
internalized and authority is not questioned (McLeod). In this situation Maxwell understood that
stealing the medicine was the wrong thing to do as a societal standard but on an individual level
it was the correct choice to steal the medicine in order to save a life. After taking the test
Maxwell began to explain why he choose this option without being prompted to do so. He
wanted to be sure I understood that even though he choose to do something illegal that he was
willing to accept the consequences.
Another note on Maxwells philosophical development is the impact of religion on his
life. Before attending the school he has now, Maxwell went to a private Christian school where
the bible was a part of the education system. At his age, Max is in the realistic stage of child
development when it comes to religion (Goldstein, pg. 1251-1253). He sees God as being a
powerful being that watches over people and decides whether their actions are good or not. This
goes along with following societies law described by Kohlberg in that Maxwell follows the rules

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the bible has said to follow yet at the same time is able to freely think about what is right and
wrong in the world.

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Social Development
Maxwell is able to receive social interaction in several places. He spends times with
children his own age at school and at soccer practice, he also spends a lot of time with children
who are younger than him with his brothers and their friends. Each of these areas aids in his
development of his social world. The area where he gets the most interaction is with his
classmates and teachers. In class, he is a very talkative person who at times speaks when he is
not supposed to. In Eriksons fourth stage, children are getting an understanding on the world
around them and the technology that is associated with it (Sharkey). For Maxwell, part of his
social development that would otherwise be fine is dampened by the technology that is around
him. If he is not being told to do something else, Maxwell spends a lot of his time of the internet
playing video games. Even though this can be fine in small, monitored amounts, he often goes
without social interaction for hours. The negative effect that this has on his social life is that the
people which he communicates with online are often older than he is and say things a 9 year old
should not even know. This in turn leads him to say these things in public and around other
children getting himself in trouble. That being said according to a study by NCBI the social
effects are not negative unless the child is addicted to playing online games (Zamani). Luckily
for Maxwell, even though he spends quite a bit of time on the internet, he also has other social
outlets in soccer and school.
Sadly, the current divorce of his parents may cause Maxwells social development to
suffer especially since he is changing schools once again. In Life Span Adjustments of Children
to Their Parents Divorce by Paul R. Amato, he states that children with parents who are
divorced are more likely to have socialization problems later on and suffer from lower average

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well-being (Amato). It is hard to tell exactly how Maxwell will be effected by the divorce until
there is complete separation.

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Intellectual Development
To figure out Maxwells Intellectual Development I used one of Pagets methods of the
water glass. This is in the concrete operational stage, which is when a child begins to
comprehend weight, amount and speed (Sharp). Instead of using water in a glass, I used pieces of
candy. I gave him and myself a candy bar and asked if they were the same amount. He answered
yes. Then I broke my bar into two piece and asked who had more. He said that we had the same
amount and that even though I broke the piece into two pieces from one, the two pieces together
equaled the same as his. I did compare this to his youngest brother who is 3 and he was unable to
tell that they were the same amount after being broken into smaller sized pieces. Maxwell also
does well in his school work, getting As and Bs. According to the Department of Education
Nevada, the reading level of a child in 3rd grade, the grade Maxwell is in, should be able to read
at a second or third grade level (Hull). Having heard him read difficult texts with great ability,
Maxwells reading level is higher than what is considered average. His reading level is more
aligned with 4-5th grade reading level. During Passover, he read from the same text the adults
where and did exceedingly well. According to Medical News Today children who have a better
reading levels are in turn more intelligent (McNamee). Having given Maxwell tests and quiz
games for fun, he always tends to do well at them. He appears to be average in school but can be
above average when he puts his mind to it.

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The graph above is a visual representation of how Maxwells Development is. 250 is considered
average in this chart and 25 plus or minus are slight ups or downs in in how well he is in that
area. According to this graph Maxwell is average in physical development. He is higher than
average in both philosophical and intellectual development and slightly lower in emotional and
social development.

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Recommendations
Physical Development: Maxwells physical state is in good condition. My only recommendation
would be to keep him in soccer and find something for him to do during the off season so that he
still gets exercise.
Emotional Development: My recommendation for his emotional development would be to talk to
him about what is happening with the divorce of his parents. He can get very angry during this
process if he does not get to understand what is happening around him. In order to keep him
emotionally balanced discussion is the best for him.
Philosophical Development: I recommend that he continues learning from people around him
and doing what he is doing. He is higher than average at this stage and it can continue from here.
Social Development: In this category he is slightly lower than average because of the amount of
time he spends on the internet. My recommendation would be to limit this time and to make it
monitored so that he does not learn anything negative. Also he should be kept in social groups
such as soccer.
Intellectual Development: Maxwell is higher than average in this category and I suggest that he
continue doing well in school. His reading level is higher than normal for his age and he should
be given more challenging yet entertaining books so that he does not become bored.

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References
Amato, P. R. (2008, April 1). Life-Span Adjustment of Children to Their Parents Divorce.
Retrieved April 27, 2016, from Life-Span Adjustment of Children to Their Parents
Divorce
Goldstein, S., & Naglieri, J. A. (2011). Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development.
Boston, MA: Springer Science Business Media, LLC. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
Fui, F. (2012, March 20). Heinz Dilemma - Kohlberg's stages of Moral Development
(Animation). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=YxJ07klMhr0
Hull, C. (2014, November 12). Nevada Academic Content Standards. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
Janssen, I., & LeBlanc, A. G. (n.d.). Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity
and fitness in school-aged children and youth. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1479-5868-7-40.pdf&
Know What To Expect! The 8 Stages of Social Development in Children. (n.d.). Retrieved April
27, 2016, from http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/erickson/
McLeod, S. (2013). Kohlberg. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html
McNamee, D. (2014, July 26). Childhood reading skills linked to 'higher intelligence' in young
adults. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280193.php
Medindia. (n.d.). Calculate Ideal Height and Weight for Children. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from
http://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/height_weight_forchildren.asp

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Sharkey, W. (1997, May). Erik Erikson. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/erikson.htm
Sharp, G. (2009, September 15). Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development: Experiments with
Kids. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/09/15/piagetsstages-of-cognitive-development-experiments-with-kids/
Slavin, R. E. (2015). Education Psychology Theory and Practice (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson Education.
Truven Health Analytics. (2016, March 1). Levetiracetam (By mouth). Retrieved April 27, 2016,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0010898/?report=details#side_effects
Zamani, E., Kheradmand, A., Cheshmi, M., Abedi, A., & Hedayati, N. (2010). Comparing the
Social Skills of Students Addicted to Computer Games with Normal Students. Retrieved
April 27, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905509/t