Running head: PEPSI Screening 1

PEPSI SCREENING
VERONICA BULLER
EDU 220
PROFESSOR HOOKS
MAY 12,2017
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PEPSI SCREENING

Biography

This PEPSI screening is on Jayden Buller. Jayden is a Caucasian male he’s a

third grader and is nine years old, he was born on February 9th, 2008. He was born in

Las Vegas Nevada and has lived there his entire life. Jayden lives in a two story four-

bedroom house in the Sunrise Mountain area of Las Vegas. Jayden lives with both

parents Jason and Veronica Buller his grandmother and one brother Anthony Buller. His

parents have been married for sixteen years and have been together for eighteen years.

Jayden’s older brother Anthony is fourteen and they get along like most siblings do.

Jayden has his own room that he decorated with Minecraft, Batman and now Pokémon

posters. Pokémon cards are his newest obsession and he loves collecting and trading

them with his friends. Jayden plays football both tackle and flag, he is on the Las Vegas

Wildcats and he plays the receiver position. He will be going to the Pro Bowl this flag

football season. Jayden loves playing outside and can always find someone to play

with. Jayden is afraid of the dark and even though he sleeps with his dog boomer he still

sneaks into his brother’s room in the middle of the night. Jayden does well in school A’s

and B’s in most subjects with one C in writing. He is in third grade and reads at a fifth-

grade level, but he doesn’t read for pleasure very often. He wants to play college

football and then go on to play for the NFL. His favorite football team is the Oakland

Raiders, and is excited that his team is moving to Las Vegas.

Physical Development
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Jayden is healthy but he looks small for his age, most seven-year-olds are taller

and weigh more than he does. He weighed 7lbs. 9 ounces and was 19inches long at

birth. He has always been in the lower percentile range for both height and weight.

Jayden’s doctor says that he is active and healthy and since he is following a smooth

curve on his growth chart there is nothing to worry about. He currently weighs fifty-nine

pounds; his height is four foot three inches. Jayden is very athletic and has good

coordination he is one of the fastest kids on his team. Stevens-Smith (2016) states that

“Physical engagement assists children in learning how to relate to others, adjust their

muscles and think abstractly” (p.4). He is a very picky eater and struggles to maintain

his current weight. When Jayden was younger he would get sick often and would have

problems breathing. When he was two he developed pneumonia, and needed steroids

and a nebulizer. He had trouble breathing after running or when he was sick but the

problem resolved itself and he hasn’t needed an inhaler since he was five. Jayden’s

family has many preventable diseases and they do their best to keep him healthy. In an

article by Starc and Strel (2012) “Obesity, poor physical fitness of children and their

causal dependency are associated with many preventable diseases and present a

serious current and future public health problem (p.1). Jayden’s mother is a type two

diabetic and has been since she was fourteen, her weight was the big factor in

becoming diabetic so keeping Jayden active is important to his family. In an article

written by Kohl and Hobbs (1998) it states that “It logically follows that an understanding

of determinants of physical activity behavior in children and adolescents will lead to

future opportunities for intervention and prevention of obesity and overweight (p.549).

Emotional Development
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Jayden is very playful and likes to spend as much time as possible with his

friends. Berger (2009) said “One value is almost universally held by school-age

children-the value of friendship. Children want to be liked, and they learn faster as well

as happier when they have friends” (p.393). Jayden also loves animals and helps care

for the families two dogs and two cats. One of the dogs is his, Jayden saw him in the

middle of the street one day, Jayden made signs and his parents made sure the dog

wasn’t chipped. After nobody claimed him Jayden named him Boomer and they are best

friends now. He is very kind to his teammates and always makes sure that they are

alright if they get hurt and reassures his teammates that they are doing a good job.

Jayden loves sarcasm and telling jokes and as stated in Bredekamp and Copple (2009)

children in his age group love to tell jokes especially knock-knock jokes and puns

(p.282). He also likes to be around younger children and helps when his mom babysits.

He plays with the baby and gets him toys and snacks. One of Jayden’s worst habits is

tattling a lot and his teachers have mentioned that he tells on other children for minor

problems. As cited in Copple and Bredekamp (2009) “Having social skills and healthy

emotional states are crucial developments affecting children’s success and happiness in

almost every aspect of school and life” (p.264).

Philosophical Development

He is very positive about his future and thinks of all the different thing he wants to

be when he grows up. He has very high self-esteem and doesn’t let other people’s

opinions about him bother or influence his decisions. He feels secure with his place in

the world and has always had great people around him that make him feel that way.

Jayden has grown up atheist and has never brought up religion even though his
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extended family is Catholic. He attends church for Baptisms and Weddings but shows

no real interest in religion. His parents believe that any choices about religion should be

made once Jayden and his brother are older and can choose what they believe in for

themselves.

Adolescents who had reached identity achievement status by actively

exploring various occupations, beliefs, and value systems, and then

making a commitment, were better adjusted and happier than their peers.

Scoring somewhat lower on adjustment scales were those in the

moratorium and foreclosure statuses. Those in the diffusion status tended

to have the most serious adjustment problems (as cited in McCown &

Snowman, 2015, p.34).

Jayden’s parents want him to make his own decisions about religion, they don’t think

that children should be obligated to follow a religion blindly. His parents will support any

decisions that Jayden makes about his future and help him reach his goals.

Social Development

Jayden has great relationships with his friends and family. McCown and

Snowman (2015, p. 30) suggest that children this age need to bond with and form

relationships with other people so they don’t feel isolated. Jayden’s grandmother lives

with the family because of health problems. Berger (2009) stated that most families are

close knit and help each other raise their families, this includes grandparents, aunts,

uncles and cousins and they often share meals and help each other with financial

support (p.385). Jayden is close to his cousins on his mother’s side. His Aunt took care
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of him while his parents worked and he spent the days playing with her daughter

Izamary. Izamary is a year older than Jayden and when she started kindergarten he

was upset and bored. Jayden and his older brother are five years apart but the age gap

doesn’t keep them from fighting constantly. Even though they fight Jayden still likes to

spend as much time as possible with his brother and always wants to tag along when

Anthony goes out with his friends. Jayden understands that he can’t always do the

same things his brother does. It took him a while to learn that his brother can do things

that he can’t because of their age difference. Jayden is nine and is starting to get some

of the same privileges his brother has and he is enjoying some of his new freedom.

Jayden making his own friends and fostering his own relationships is very important

according to Berger (2009) she stated that “Another key aspect of resilience is found in

children’s ability to develop their own friends, activities and skills. This is possible during

the middle-childhood years and is one reason many children blossom once they are old

enough to be somewhat independent” (p.377)

Intellectual Development

Jayden is bright and loves to learn if he is interested in the subject being taught.

When Jayden was younger he had a slight speech problem and was in an early

intervention program, he was in the program for a year and a half before kindergarten.

Jayden was always social and loved to talk but he would get frustrated when he had to

repeat himself constantly. By the time, Jayden began kindergarten his speech had

improved and the only time speech was an issue was when he was excited and needed

to slow down. As cited in the book Developmentally Appropriate practice by Copple and

Bredekamp (2009) “One of the most important goals for this age group is developing an
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enthusiasm for learning. During the primary grades, it is essential for children to learn to

read, but it is equally important for them to develop the desire to read” (p.257) Jayden

likes reading but because he was reading at a fifth-grade level in second grade his

teachers wanted him to read chapter books he was not comfortable reading yet. He

could read them but he was not comprehending the stories and was failing the tests

they were having him take. He stopped reading and his teacher requested a parent

teacher meeting, when they all sat down to talk about his lack of interest in reading he

finally said that the books were too difficult and he was struggling to comprehend what

he was reading. The teacher agreed to let him pick books at a lower reading level that

interested him and he started reading again. In text written by (McCown and Snowman,

2015) it states that personal accomplishment is the most important of all factors of self-

efficacy (p.301). In other words, it doesn’t matter how much you encourage children if

they don’t succeed they will give up. Even though Jayden reads well he struggles with

writing and it has been the subject that he struggles with the most. Jayden’s writing is

usually illegible unless he really takes his time while writing. In the book written by

Levine and Munsch (2014) “We use writing to communicate our ideas, so writing also

must include composition skills” (p.313). Jayden doesn’t use punctuation or complete

sentences while writing and is currently getting a C in the subject he needs to work on

his composition skills to improve his writing.

Recommendations

For physical development Jayden needs to keep up his physical activity so that

he grows up to be a healthy adult. Jayden’s parents should work on making sure his

BMI is healthy because he tends to be in the underweight range. Jayden’s mother is

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diabetic and exercise and a healthy diet can keep diseases at bay. For emotional

development Jayden is sensitive of other people’s feelings and knows how to develop

friendships with his class and team mates. Jayden needs to work on being less of a

tattler so that his parents and teachers don’t start ignoring legitimate problems. Jayden’s

parents should work at fostering his friendships with others, by continuing after school

activities and sports. For philosophical development Jayden’s parents don’t want to

push him into making decisions about his religion or future but are encouraging him to

set goals and accomplish them. As for social development, I think that Jayden’s

relationship with his brother is normal even though the fight constantly, at the end of the

day they still love and take care of each other. Jayden’s relationships with his friends

and family seem to be supportive. For Jayden’s intellectual development I suggest that

teachers let him make decisions on what he wants to read so he doesn’t get

discouraged from reading in the future. I would only see his reading become a problem

if he started to read below his grade level. Since Jayden struggles with writing I would

have him start writing in a journal daily to improve his writing and get comfortable with

the writing process, it should be done for himself and not be graded. I feel that with all

the love and support that Jayden gets from his family, teachers and coaches he has a

very bright future ahead of him.

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Jayden's Development Chart

Intellectual Development

Social Development

Philosophical Developemnt

Emotional Development

Physical Development

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
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References

Berger, K.S. (2009). The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence

Eighth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers.

Brededekamp, S., Copple, C. (eds.). (2009) “Developmentally Appropriate Practice in

Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. 3d ed.

Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of young children.

Levine, L., Munsch, J. (2014). childhood development An Active Learning Approach.

California: SAGE publications.

McCown, R., Snowman, J. (2015). Phycology Applied to Teaching 14 th Edition.

Stamford: Cengage Learning.

Kohl III, H. W., & Hobbs, K. E. (1998). Development of physical activity behaviors

among children. Pediatrics, 101(3), 549.

Starc, G., & Strel, J. (2012). Influence of the quality implementation of a physical

education curriculum on the physical development and physical fitness of

children. BMC Public Health, 12, 61. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-

61

Stevens-Smith, D. (2016). Active Bodies/Active brains: Practical applications using

physical engagement to enhance brain development. Strategies, 29(6), 3-7.

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