Running head: PEPSI CASE STUDY 1

PEPSI Case Study

Arian Ruby May Smith

College of Southern Nevada, EDU 220

December 5, 2017
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Biography

The individual I decided to use for my PEPSI case study is an eight-year-old elementary

school student (2nd Grade) named Ryan. The student is male and recently moved to Nevada from

Ohio due to his parents divorcing. I picked this student because he is my partner’s nephew and

has recently developed struggles in a few subjects, so he gets extra help for an hour while at

school; the rest of the time he is in a general education classroom. He currently goes to a good

school and his mother is well-off, so they are currently living in Summerlin, a wealthy area of

Las Vegas. When I talked to Ryan’s mother, she told me that she is very involved with what is

going on for his education. However, she stated that she believes that the school should extend

the hour for help and that he shows signs of being anti-social as he only interacts with two other

students and avoids others when he had a large group of friends in Ohio. Otherwise, he is a very

caring and helpful at home and mostly at school unless he is struggling with school work more

regularly than usual. The move and his parents divorcing does not seem to have made a huge

impact on his school yet; but it may later on in the year.

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Physical.

In Ohio, Ryan was involved in a soccer and baseball; so, he had a game to participate in

every week. Ryan’s teachers and his parents encouraged him to join a basketball team as well

due to his love of sports. However, this was during the spilt of his parents and his mother tells me

he has not been involved in any sports since moving to Las Vegas. According to a PBS article,

“This age is the time when youngsters frequently begin to identify themselves as “athletic” or

“unathletic,” thereby influencing their future involvement in sports and physical activity.” (PBS

Parents, 2003). So, while Ryan was in Ohio he most likely thought of himself as athletic;

unfortunately, due to his lack of interest in sports and physical activity he will slowly think of

himself as unathletic which his mother wants to avoid.

Even with his lack of interest in sports, he still makes an effort to go outside and throw a

football around with his older brother or play with their high energy dog, Bear. Ryan’s mother

makes sure to walk the dog for at least thirty minutes and gets Ryan to tag along on the walk;

which sometimes turns into race with the dog. An article called, Your 8-Year-Old-Child: Physical

Development, talks about how children at Ryan’s age need to make sure they have at least sixty

minutes of physical activity per day; and to limit the screen and sedentary time to make sure they

are being active enough. (Lee, 2017). Ryan has been spending most of his time on the family

computer watching YouTube videos or asks to visit his uncle to play on his video games. His

mother told me that she was planning to limit the amount of time he spends on the computer, but

she has felt he needed it due to the move. Ryan’s mother asked for a website for ideas on how to

get Ryan to be more physical and I found an article that recommends, “Make sure your child is

completing three types of physical activity three times a week: aerobic activity such as running;

muscle strengthening such as climbing; and bone strengthening such as jumping rope” (Kid
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Central TN, 2017). Hopefully involving Ryan in different activities from what is in his P.E. class

he will become more interested in physical activity. Overall, he is a very physical child, but it

will just take time for him to get involved in more physical activities.

Emotional.

According to the textbook, Psychology Applied to Teaching, within the primary grades

students are, “sensitive to criticism and ridicule and may have difficulty adjusting to failure [and]

most primary grade children are eager to please the teacher” (Snowman, 2014, pg. 86). Ryan’s

mother talked about Ryan’s report cards always stating he was the teacher’s favorite student

because he was always willing to help other students in his class. However, he would cry if

someone in his class was mean to him about his schoolwork. According to the article, Social and

Emotional Growth, Ryan may, “express frustration in response to activities that they perceive as

areas of personal weakness.” (PBS Parents, 2003). Ryan struggles with reading which is what he

needs an extra hour of help from a resource room with. It is an area he thinks he “sucks” at, and

is quick to give up on reading in class. Ryan’s mother helps with reading at home, so he feels

more confident at school.

There is a chore chart at Ryan’s home and when someone does a chore they get a reward

of their choice. In Ryan’s case, a small amount of money goes into his account. Once his account

reaches a certain amount of funds, he gets to go do something or buy something he has wanted

for longer than two weeks. The article called, Symptoms of Emotional Development Delay in an

8-Year Old Child, talks of an emotionally healthy eight-year old’s who should, “appreciate

clearly defined rules and consequences.” (Johnston, 2011). A consequence Ryan would have if he

did no chores from the chart is that money is taken from the account and once his account has

reached the amount of money for an item, he must wait an extra week to get his reward. Ryan
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has only had this happen a few times as he is quite impatient and does not want to lose his

money. Due to Ryan’s frequent outbursts, I would say he is slightly lower in the emotional

development compared to his peers.

Philosophical.

According to the textbook, Psychology Applied to Teaching, “Seven to ten-year old’s

regard rules as sacred pronouncements handed down by older children or adults.” (Snowman, pg.

59). The textbook also talks about how Piaget realized that younger children see rules as external

and absolute. Ryan believes that rules cannot be changed and that someone is either right or

wrong. Ryan is one of those children that will tell on a classmate if they have done something

wrong, repeatedly. He believes that telling on that student is the right thing to do. So, if a teacher

proclaims that it is now a rule to never eat chocolate again; Ryan will think it is weird at first but

follow it and not eat chocolate because it is a rule now. The article, 5 Stages of Moral Growth of

Children, states that, “Seven-to-ten-year-old’s have a strong sense of fairness, understand the

necessity of rules and want to participate in making the rules.” Ryan helped create the rules

about his chore chart which his mother states helped him follow it better. Ryan’s mother also

uses the Ryan’s sense of fairness to her advantage when she needs something done that isn’t on

the chore list. For example, she has told Ryan she will cook his favorite meal for dinner if he

completes all his homework in advance; not the day it is due.

The author Christine Switzer talks about children becoming increasingly empathetic and

sympathetic; as well as children considering when a behavior is right or wrong. (Switzer, 2017).

For example, when I was visiting – Ryan got mad at the dog and pushed him causing the dog to

yelp. Ryan realized his action was wrong because pushing the dog caused pain and he came in to
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the living room to tell us what happened. Ryan even asked for a punishment because he did

something wrong. Within the philosophical area; Ryan appears to be slightly higher than average.

Social.

Ryan’s mother is very worried about how Ryan is not being as social as he was in Ohio.

He had many friends which would come over to the house and sometimes stay over. However,

Ryan does have two friends he made almost instantly once he moved. According to the textbook,

“Children become somewhat more selective in their choice of friends and are likely to have a

more or less permanent best friend.” (Snowman, 2014, pg. 85). When I asked Ryan if he had any

friends that were girls he quickly said that he only likes boys because they play games better.

However, he did say he was friends with everyone in his classroom because he makes them

laugh.

Unfortunately, there has been some issues with Ryan in regard to physical aggression

towards other boys. Snowman talks about this, “Quarrels are still frequent. Words are used more

often than physical aggression but many boys (in particular) may indulge in punching, wrestling,

and shoving.” (Snowman 2014, pg. 86). Ryan has only been involved in “fights” twice; one was

because he was standing up for a girl who was being bullied by other boys in the class. The

another was due to someone telling him he is playing the game wrong and it scaled from there.

Ryan has recently started being very blunt when talking to adults and other peers. He

expresses his opinions very openly when something bothers him, or he’s never seen something

like it before. According to the article, Your 8 Year Old Child’s Social Development, eight year

old’s will express their opinions about their surroundings and people; they may also be more

involved with current event topics. (Lee/Verywell, 2017). When Ryan’s mother put on weight

this year, Ryan will tell her that she is fat or big as a statement not as an insult. He has also done
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this out in public much to his mother’s horror about stranger’s appearances. Overall, Ryan is at

the normal range in social development for his age.

Intellectual.

Ryan struggles intellectually compared to his peers with most subjects. He has extra help

in the resource room for reading and some writing – he struggles with the other subjects but has

the grades to keep him in a general education class for them. According to the website

Scholastic, children Ryan’s age should be able to, “mentally combine, separate, order, and

transform objects and actions.” (Anthony PhD, 2017). Ryan struggles with mathematics but he is

able to keep up with his peers. Jean Piaget states that Ryan would be in the concrete operational

period of learning where they can reason more accurately. For example; when I put two rows of

pennies in front of Ryan and one was more spread out; he realized he miscounted due to the

space between them.

Due to Ryan’s struggles in reading; his mother helps him when he is home to read.

According to Snowman, “Talking aloud to oneself reaches a peak between the ages of six and

then rapidly declines.” (Snowman, pg. 87). Because Ryan is struggling, she still gets Ryan to

read the words out loud to make sure he understands them. His mother tries to make reading fun

by adding rewards for when he is able to finish a book. Sadly, Ryan does act out and has

difficulty staying engaged in subjects he struggles with like reading. These behaviors could

exhibit cognitive difficulties that may affect Ryan’s learning according to the website Virtual Lab

School. Ryan has ups and downs with his intellectual development; he is either doing really well

in school for awhile and then struggles and has break downs. Developmental milestones include,

“becoming more goal oriented, begin to understand facets of the adult world like money and
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telling time.” (Laumann, 2017). Which Ryan seems to do wonderfully due to his chore chart at

home with money.

Graph.

Developmental Average In PEPSI Areas

60

50

40
Range

30

20

10

0
Physical Emotional Philosophical Social Intellectual
Developmental Areas

Other Students (8 Years Old) Ryan

Recommendations of Improvement.

From the data in the graph, Ryan is struggling in these developmental areas: intellectual

and emotional. He is doing very well in the physical and philosophical area and is doing

normally compared to his peers in social area. I would recommend that Ryan may need to have

more time in the resource room for reading because he acts out more frequently when he does

not understand something in reading, which then shows in other subjects if he stumbles. Ryan’s

emotional area also needs help. I would recommend therapy for Ryan as he just went through a

very big move and will most likely be dealing with the fallout from his divorce soon if not

already.
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References

Anthony PhD, M. (2017). Cognitive Development in 8-10 Year Olds.

Retrieved December 8, 2017, from http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/stages-

milestones/cognitive-development-8-10-year-olds

Johnston, J. (2011, July 18). Symptoms of Emotional Development Delay in an 8-Year

Old Child. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www.livestrong.com/article/495418-

symptoms-of-emotional-development-delay-in-an-8-year-old-child/

Kid Central tn. (2017). Physical Development: Ages 8-10. Retrieved December 8, 2017,

from https://www.kidcentraltn.com/article/physical-development-ages-8-10

Laumann, B. (2017). Cognitive Development: School-Age | VLS. Retrieved December 8,

2017, from https://www.virtuallabschool.org/school-age/cognitive/lesson-2

Lee/Verywell, K. (2017, February 14). Your 8 Year Old Child's Social Development.

Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www.verywell.com/your-8-year-old-childs-social-

development-621090

Lee, K. (2017, August 30). What You May See During Your 8-Year-Old Child's Physical

Development. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www.verywell.com/8-year-old-child-

physical-development-620707

PBS Parents. (2003). Physical Health. Child Development Tracker & Child Development.

PBS Parents | PBS. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from

http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/eight/physicalhealth.html

Sears, B. (2017). 5 Stages of Moral Growth of Children | Ask Dr Sears.

Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www.askdrsears.com/topics/parenting/discipline-

behavior/morals-manners/5-stages-moral-growth-children
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Snowman, J., & McCown, R. (2014). Psychology Applied to Teaching (14th ed.).

Stamford, CT: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Switzer, C. (2017, June 13). Moral Development in Children 6 to 9 Years Old.

Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www.livestrong.com/article/1006869-apply-kohlbergs-

theory-moral-development-early-childhood/