Running head: PEPSI SCREENING 1

PEPSI Screening

Yesenia Lara
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Abstract

I had the opportunity to observe a seven-year-old female, Lily. She attends a local elementary

school here is Las Vegas and from a personal point of view I was able to write about her

physical, emotional, philosophical, social, and intellectual development levels.

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PEPSI Screening

Lily is a six-year-old female, her birthday is March 11, 2010, turning 7. She was born and

raised in the city of Las Vegas and attends a local public school on the east side of the valley.

Lily is raised by both of her biological parents whom are forty-nine-years of age, she has three

older siblings ages 27, 25, and 21. Her parents immigrated to the United States in 1990 from

Mexico, and her first language at home was Spanish. Her cultural background is a mix of both

American and Hispanic traits, and she wears it well. She has brown skin and dark long straight

hair that goes past her lower back, she mixes her English in with Spanish (Span-glish) when she

converses at home, and enjoys watching telenovelas with her mother. Her environment at home

is a little different from the other kids her age. Her parents are a little older, and her siblings play

the part of additional parents. She quite enjoys all of the attention, and does not mind the fun of

being “the baby of the house.” Lily attends a Christian church and participates in the children’s

ministry, she believes in God, and that has been a big part of her life. On the first day of

kindergarten Lily did not cry, she proudly stood at the door backpack in hand ready to begin a

new journey. She likes to prepare herself mentally and asks a lot of questions about “what

happens” and “what ifs.” She excelled incredibly and graduated into the Reading Ranger’s

program. Lily displayed great behavior, social, and intellectual achievements throughout the

year. She has now completed the first 100 days of first grade and four books away from

graduating into Power Reader. Lily’s teacher has never complained about Lily and is one of her

top students both in behavior and intellectual terms. She loves school, and highly dislikes when

she has to miss. Lily is my little sister, and I am her 27-year-old sister.
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Physical Development

Recently, Lily went to her annual check-up at her pediatrician’s office and it was

determined that for her age/height she is overweight. According to an article in KidsHealth.org,

“1 in 3 kids are considered overweight or obese” and those numbers have only been rising. It is

not uncommon for either adults or children to be considered overweight in modern America.

However, this did alarm the family and now they are looking for ways in which her physical

activity could be increased. At school she has one recess throughout her 7-hour school day, that

last approximately 10-15 minutes. After school she does her homework for another 1-hour or so,

has dinner, and when she is done it is nearly bedtime. Lily does not watch a lot of television, nor

is she allowed to spend too much time on other electronic devices. Her spare time at home is

usually spent playing with her dog, writing poems, coloring, reading, and other “quiet activities.”

Snowman, McCown (2015) state that, “Primary grade children are still extremely active.

Because they are required to participate in sedentary pursuits…” (p.54). These sedentary

activities along with lack of proper diet have caused a deficit in her health, however her parents

along with her pediatrician have taken a few steps towards progression. Lily loves to visit the

playground, she enjoys freeze tag, and likes to sprint and jump. It is not a matter of will rather a

matter of increasing these activities and implementing them into her everyday life. Other than

that, Lily’s physical growth has developed properly. She has proper function of all her limbs and

senses, she was born with no impairments or disabilities.

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Emotional Development

Lily’s emotional behavior seems to be “under control” by her. She can be described as

being tough, but she has her weak spots and when they are touched she becomes very sensitive.

For example, she wrote a letter to her teacher and she expressed how much she loved her, and

thought she was the best teacher in the world. When I asked if she had given the letter to Ms. V,

Lily said, “Yes, but she didn’t tell me anything. Not thank you or nothing.” According to our

reading, “they admire or even worship their teachers” (Snowman, McCown p. 86), this is very

evident emotion in Lily. She aspires to become an educator herself when she grows up, and is

very serious about it. Her family have instilled confidence in her by letting her know that she can

achieve anything she wants. There was an instance where we were talking about “being

Mexican” and Lily said, “I don’t want to be Mexican, I want to be American.” We knew she was

not referring to a nationality or place of citizenship. She was referring to her skin color and

language. We knew this current election had put quite some worry in her, because she would

come home and say things like, “I hate Donald Trump because he doesn’t like Mexicans and

mom and dad are Mexican.” KidsHealth.org states that, “Teaching kids to keep problems in

perspective can lessen their worry and help build strength, resilience, and the optimism to try

again. Remind your kids that whatever happens, things will be OK,” which is something that we

began to practice with her and I began to work with her in regards to her emotions about being a

Mexican-American. This past weekend we went to Disneyland and she dressed up as Princess

Elena of Avalor (a Latin Disney princess), so I think that our conversations worked. Her
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environment at home has helped her properly develop her emotional growth. She is surrounded

by people who love, encourage, support and guide her.

Philosophical Development

To observe Lily’s philosophical development is a challenge because it is more about

morality and her perspectives about life. Snowman, McCown state that behavior at her age is,

“dominated by intellectual curiosity and performance” (p.29). Which is very precise, she knows

a lot, however her viewpoints are still a bit rambled. She hears something she is not familiar with

and she questions it until she has gotten a full grasp on the concept. Lily’s conversations usually

revolve around “why, where, how.” This factors into everything from hearing something on the

news to how does popcorn pop in the microwave. Lily knows what is right and what is wrong,

she tries very hard not to hurt other’s feelings, and wants to please others. For example, Lily

does not like cupcakes, cake, or pizza and for her birthday she requested I take cupcakes and

pizza for her classmates. I asked, “why if you don’t like any of those” she responded, “but my

friends loooooove cupcakes and pizza.” One of the levels of morality of Kohlberg, Piaget is

“work to please group, afraid of disapproval of peers, conform with view of majority” this is the

current stage where I feel Lily is currently at it lies between 3. Good boy/girl orientation and 4.

Authority maintaining morality. Her perception on her existence and purpose is a combination

of spiritual belief and self. She knows she lives in a very big world where there are “good and

bad people”, vast oceans, infinite solar systems, and the other day she asked if I knew, “that

killer whales are as bigger than a school bus?” Her role in this world currently is to “take care of

her dog Rosie and do good in school,” as she says.

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Social Development

Lily wants to have many friends, however she tends to be very shy and holds back from

wanting to initiate a conversation. We first noticed her inability to “make friends” when she was

about 3-years-old. She would be approached by other kids to play and she would become

extremely shy and mute. Her parents worried that when she would start school she would have a

difficult time adjusting. Her pediatrician requested for her to receive a full IEP at the age of four,

and I was able to see this personally. When my parents and I arrived at the location Lily thought

she was going to “school” and wanted to have snacks and a backpack with a notebook and

pencils. My parents addressed their concerns for her social skills being low, and her inability to

play. So the tests began, and she saw a few different specialists. Thirty days later, we went back

and her results were, she was very independent and lacks in no area. One of the specialists even

said, “if she wanted to live in her own apartment, she would be able to do so” which was

amusing and a relief to all of us. One of the characteristics of social skills in primary grades is

“grade children often like organized games in small groups” (Snowman, Mccown p.85). This I

have seen to be very true, at a current field observation for a previous course I saw first graders

play a game of “tag” and the rules were that the “girls chase the boys first” and when it was time

for the boys to chase the girls the boys decided that “there was no base.” The girls were not

happy and they ran to me to complain, luckily the bell rang and the game was over. I see this

same concept displayed in Lily, she knows the rules, however when they do not work at her

convenience she changes them or interprets them differently. For example, the rule is “no snacks

before dinner” her interpretation, “but, I did not have a snack at lunch so I need to eat one now.”

Her social skills have increased dramatically after kindergarten, she calls everyone her friend and

I see her approach kids on the playground. She initiates conversations and she does not like
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quarrels, arguments but rather uses her verbal skills to address problems. At home she loves to

talk to her parents about stories from school, or what she learned at school. She also enjoys

listening to stories, and when you tell her something she asks questions like, “where were you

standing” or “how was it outside dark or light” her imagination calls her to fill in descriptive

blanks. Overall her social skills have now developed to average, or slightly above average and

does not struggle with behavior or making new friends.

Intellectual Development

Lily has a better understanding of time management than I do. She knows what time we

need to leave the house in order to be on time to school and usually she rushes me to hurry up.

For her age, which is going on seven-years-old, her intellectual development is exceptional. Her

ability to recall places, situations, movies, songs/melodies, and people is rather impressive. For

example, my husband changed is red turning signal lights on his motorcycle and when she came

over the other day she asked, “why did you change the lights?” or the other day while on the

freeway I told her “I forgot how to get home, tell me where to go” using left and right directions

she led the way by memory. She also has a great way of explaining how other’s feel, for example

she will see something on television and using words like, “brave, afraid, happy, excited, lonely,

nervous” she can illustrate that person’s emotional state. Ellsworth’s chart explains intellectual

development as, “new sense of prowess in really understanding a notion or concept, even

initiating a personal explanation,” and in this particular area I feel is Lily’s greatest highest

ability level. When reading books I ask for her to tell me about the setting and how, when,

where, and when’s of the storyline. While doing this, I simultaneously address her vocabulary

and try to teach her new words. However her comparison skills are on point, and if she does not

know how to explain something she will often use comparison. For example, “my favorite color
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is blue, but blue like they sky with no clouds in the morning” as she has said it. In conclusion her

intellectual skills are incredible and her teacher seems to agree, we hope she makes the GATE

program in third grade.

PEPSI SCREENING

INTELLECTUAL

SOCIAL

PHILOSOPHICAL

EMOTIONAL

PHYSICAL

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

LILY AVERAGE
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References

BMI-for-age (5-19 years). (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.who.int/growthref/who2007_bmi_for_age/en/

Child Development Laboratory. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://childdevelopmentlab.unt.edu/philosophy

Ellsworth, J. (1998). Lesson. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/lesson2-1-1.html

Riverview School District Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.rsd.k12.pa.us/

6 years | Pathways | early childhood development milestones. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://pathways.org/growth-development/6-years/

WIC Growth Charts. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://wicworks.fns.usda.gov/assessment-

tools/growth-charts/wic-growth-charts