Running head: PEPSI SCREENING CASE STUDY

PEPSI Screening Case Study

Tina Johnsen

EDU 220

Professor Hooks

March 12, 2017

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Student Biography

Mary is the student that I chose to observe. She is a seven-year-old first grade student at

J. Marlan Walker International Elementary School. Mary has attended Walker Elementary since

last year, where she also attended full-time kindergarten. Mary lives with her mother, father, and

sister in Henderson. The family has cats for pets, as Mary likes to talk about the hairballs that

they leave on the carpet around the house. Although it is unknown if there is family living in the

immediate area, Mary speaks fondly of her grandparents and other family friends. Mary had a

rough transition into school last year, suffering from separation anxiety; the transition into first

grade has been much easier for her. Marys mother has mentioned a concern regarding Marys

eating and insists that a snack be available to her as needed. Mary is quiet and keeps to herself,

appearing to not have a specific group of children that she prefers to be around. Mary receives

OT for fine motor work, especially with her writing grip, and is responsible for using a special

foam grip on her writing tool. Her achievements in the core subjects are low and she struggles to

stay on task or be able to finish her work on her own. I chose to observe and interview Mary due

to her melancholy demeanor and lack of motivation to obtain academic goals.

Throughout this study, the observations of Mary took place at school: I observed her in

her general education classroom, I spoke to her individually during scheduled pullout

intervention time, and I also observed while Mary had unstructured time such as recess and

lunch. As I do work at the school, I was able to spend several days observing Mary in different

situations at different times of the day. This was beneficial, especially to see her social

interactions inside and outside of the classroom.

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Physical Observations

Mary appears to be of normal height and size for seven years, two months. She is one of

the taller students in her class, definitely compared to the other girls. However, according to

LiveStrong.com, even with a growth spurt occurring between the ages of 6 and 8, the normal

height range for a child is 42 to 51 inches, regardless of gender (Bruso, 2016). Although her

mother has shown concern for her eating, Marys weight is certainly of average to above-average

as she has the stocky look of a child getting ready for a growth spurt. I did observe her at

lunchtime and noticed that she ate minimal amounts of crackers and a juice box.

Mary is well groomed and seems to be in good health, she speaks about experiences at

both doctor and dentist appointments. Mary is reasonably coordinated, her gross motor skills are

developed and she enjoys playing hopscotch and can jump on one foot with no problem.

Running is also coordinated, although physical activity does not appear to be her most desired

activity.

In Chapter 3 of our text, the first physical characteristic listed for six to eight year olds is

their extreme activity including nervous habits like fingernail biting and general fidgeting

(Snowman, McCown, p.84). I have observed Mary biting her nails, picking at the skin around

her fingers, as well as fingering small objects that have been picked up around the classroom.

Although a normal physical development, Marys fidgeting borders on obsessive.

Mary receives services from the school district occupational therapist. The OT works

with Mary to develop her fine motor skills. Mary is left-handed and uses a wrist movement

versus a finger flex to move her crayons or pencil. Mary uses a foam pencil grip to encourage

muscle development in her hand as well as short crayons that require a tight grip and finger flex
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movement. In light of her developing fine motor skills, Mary is on track according to JAnne

Ellsworths Seven Year development chart, with her love of coloring (Ellsworth, 1999).

Emotional Observations

Just in my casual observations, I would have put Mary in a below age-level range

regarding her emotional development. However, after reflecting on the emotional characteristics

on the Seven Year chart by JAnne Ellsworth, Mary fits all of the age appropriate descriptions.

They include Inferiority is a great concern for this age and small setbacks may create a sense of

work paralysis, Life seems to be sung in a minor key, Many exhibit a neurotic set of

behaviors nervous tics and habits, and not hearing direction, having to be brought back to

reality, to tasks at hand (Ellsworth, 1999).

I definitely observe anxiety when Mary needs to answer a question. It appears that she is

nervous or afraid to give the wrong answer; she will just sit, frozen, and not speak or respond,

even if it is an opinion-based question. I observed that the teacher will allow Mary to pick a peer

to help her answer, but the peer just blurts out without consulting Mary. It appears that she does

not even try to answer, automatically assuming her peer will do it for her. As discussed in the

book Ages & Stages, school-age children become more aware of themselves as a member of a

group, now needing to be accepted by peers. They become fearful of making a mistake and of

being embarrassed, which can lead to fears that will inhibit children from trying new things

(Schaefer, DiGeronimo, p.174).

Marys melancholy demeanor that I mentioned in the introduction is consistent

throughout the day with little bursts of personality and smiles. She seems to be happier and more

at ease in the presence of adults. Section 3-2c in Chapter 3 of Psychology Applied to Teaching
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states that children in primary grades are eager to please the teacher (Snowman, McCown, p.86).

In a conversation about school, Mary stated that she is happy this year. The very next sentence

however, she stated that she thinks that everyone is mad at her. I asked her why she thought that,

and her response was that the teacher always had a mad face.

Philosophical Observations

After comparing the information listed on the development charts by JAnne

Ellsworths, I find that Mary is on the lower range of her peers as she fits more of the

characteristics of the sixth year child. Mary needs to be aware of any changes in her daily

schedule, even a slight change to what she perceives as a regular schedule makes her nervous.

Ellsworth states, High levels of structure and ritual calm, soothe the child and Needs help

overcoming own rigidity as sixth year philosophical characteristics (Ellsworth, 1999).

Reviewing a chapter covering character formation, the authors of Ages and Stages

describe morality of most school age children as; children between the ages of 6 and 9 still

understand morality as a matter of simple obedience. Morality is based on someone elses

authority and therefor is external to the child (Schaefer, DiGeronimo, p.209). Mary is very

concerned with teachers, her mother, and other adults being mad at her. She bases her reactions

to her decisions based on what she perceives the adults response is going to be.

Marys teachers report that she does not always seem to understand cause and effect.

However, I observed Mary using crayons at a time that she should not be. As soon as she saw

that I was watching, she quickly put the crayons away, acting like she was tidying up the desk.

When asked about the coloring, she wouldnt tell me that she did or did not do it, but she was
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trying to erase the crayon picture from her paper. Mary clearly knew that she had disobeyed the

teacher and felt guilt for getting caught.

In addition to not appearing to apply cause and effect consistently, Mary also seems

unaware of others point of view and how her actions affect others. This is in line with the

egocentrism of a younger primary child, if not preschool, according to the class textbook

(Snowman, McCown, p.42); again, supporting Marys low range for Philosophical Development.

Social Observations

I was able to observe Mary during some of her unstructured time at school. Her class has

a fifteen-minute recess, followed by a fifteen minute lunch period. During recess, they are

allowed to play on the play set, basketball, hopscotch and jump ropes, or free play on the black

top. Mary played hopscotch on her own, jumping on one foot through the course several times.

No other peers were with her. She then sat at a picnic table, facing away from the other children.

Another child sat at the table and Mary immediately got up and went back to hopscotch. Three

minutes or so passed and the other child resumed play, Mary ran as fast as she could to sit back

down at the empty picnic table. Near the end of recess, I noticed that she was acting like a

zombie toward another child (not allowed at our school). As the whistle blew, indication that the

students should line up for lunch, Mary seemed to not notice. It wasnt until lines were forming

that she joined them. In the lunchroom, Mary sat at a table by herself and boys from her class

filled in around her. She kept her lunchbox closed and took items out one at time, it appeared as

if to keep its contents a secret.

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Withdrawing, moodiness and melancholy, and daydreaming are all typical of a seven year

old (Ellsworth, 1999). These behaviors were all observed but, upon further research, I found that

Mary also exhibits social behaviors of a younger child.

The social characteristics described in my observations of Mary are also in line with

those of preschool and kindergarten aged children. The preference to play alone or observe their

peers, lack of social skills or confidence to join their peers, and mimicking behaviors of peers are

all characteristics that Snowman and McCown discuss in Psychology Applied to Teaching

(Snowman, McCown, p.78-79).

In the classroom, Mary rarely communicates or interacts with her classmates. During

group activities or discussions with tablemates, Mary does not participate without prompting.

When she does participate, it is awkward and the tension and anxiety becomes visible in her

body language. If a verbal exchange takes place, Mary will ignore the peer that is attempting to

engage her in conversation, or she will continue about a topic of her liking.

I noticed that many of my observations of Marys social behaviors were consistent of

those with autism. According to the website Autism Spectrum, children on the autism spectrum

have difficulties with social interaction may manifest in the following ways: limited use and

understanding of non-verbal communication such as eye gaze, facial expression and gesture,

difficulties forming and sustaining friendships, lack of seeking to share enjoyment, interests and

activities with other people, difficulties with social and emotional responsiveness (2017).

Intellectual Observations

According to Piagets Theory, first grade students are typically moving into the concrete

operational stage, but Mary is still in the preoperational stage (Snowman, McCown, p.41-43).
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Mary scores well below her peers in all of the core content areas. The areas of greatest concern

are math and writing. In math, Mary struggles with basic skills, for example place value, and

ordering numbers. She receives resource services for math 20 minutes every day in the resource

room as well as 30 minutes in her general education class. Mary also receives services for

writing. An instructional assistant pushes in for 30 minutes a day for writing in addition to the

math support, I observed during both lessons.

Mary seems to struggle with attending and following directions; she does nothing after

directions are given and even after prompting, does not seem to remember what the instructions

were. After a group discussion about a writing prompt (the best invention), Mary sat at her desk.

When asked what they were writing about, she thought about it for a moment and responded

penguins. With the aide prompting her through the writing process, she struggled with what an

invention was, an example of an invention, the benefits of the invention, etc. The authors of Ages

& Stages discuss the importance of language development, stating Both reading and writing are

forms of symbolic communication that involve, among other things, attention, perception,

memory and association with past knowledge and a particular context (Schaefer, DiGeronimo,

p.185).

After conducting my observations and comparing information from JAnne Ellsworths

development charts, I found that Mary exhibits intellectual characteristics based on the fifth and

sixth year. She prefers rote-learning activities, concepts remain piece meal, her focus needs to be

on either reading or writing, and Mary is very susceptible to shutting down (Ellsworth, 1999).

Marys nervousness and the fact that she attends to stimuli versus the task at hand are having an

impact on her academically.

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Graph

I used information found in our textbook, Psychology Applied to Teaching, the childhood

development book, Ages & Stages, the development charts by JAnne Ellsworth, as well as other

miscellaneous online sources to guide my placements of Marys Physical, Emotional,

Philosophical, Social, and Intellectual development as compared to an average peer. Specific

details are explained in each section.

P E P S I

Normal for Age

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Recommendations

After my time observing Mary, I found that, for her age, she is in the normal range for her

Physical and Emotional development, slightly lower for her philosophical development, and low

for her intellectual development. For her social development, I found Mary to have

characteristics of a typical peer, but she also displayed characteristics much lower.

Physical Recommendations: As Mary seems to be in the average range, I would

recommend that her family continue to offer and model healthy food options and eating habits.

Encourage physical activities; Mary mentioned her desire to join Gymcats to do tumbling. I

mentioned the nervous habits of nail biting and skin picking to the Occupational Therapist.

Emotional Recommendations: Emotionally, Mary would benefit from a boost of

confidence. Her teachers and parents can show that even adults make mistakes and use those

mistakes as learning opportunities. One-on-one moments with the teacher could prove beneficial

to improve the feelings of everyone being mad at Mary. Seeking her help with tasks would

give her value and fulfill her need to please the teacher outside of academics.

Philosophical Recommendations: Mary decides to behave because she does not want the

teacher to be angry or to be punished; Mary needs opportunities to develop her own morals. The

schools character building program gives the teacher opportunities to discuss and praise

prosocial behaviors. Personal experiences with appropriate consequences will also help build her

moral character.

Social Recommendations: Mary needs some assistance with building friendships. She can

practice social skills in different situations with role-playing, showing Mary the appropriate

manners and responses when communicating with others. Pre-planning group activities for

recess would allow Mary time to decide what she would like to participate in and give her a
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reason to join an activity with others. If she is allowed to try new games without the fear of

changing her routine, she might be more comfortable and enjoy being friends instead of

classmates.

Intellectual Recommendations: As Mary is already receiving services to support her in

her core subjects; I cannot necessarily recommend any academic changes at school. However,

Mary mentions several different tutors that come to see her to help her with math and even her

sight words. I think that social interactions would be a better use of time outside of school, as

those interactions will build on all of her developmental areas. Too much pressure on subject

mastery could lead to negative feelings about school and learning.

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References

Australian Autism Alliance. (2017). Characteristics. Autism Spectrum Australia. Retrieved March

2017 from https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/content/characteristics

Bruso, J. (2016). Normal Height & Weight for a School-Age Child. LIVESTRONG. Retrieved

March 2017 from http://www.livestrong.com/article/276954-normal-height-weight-for-a-

school-age-child/

Ellsworth, J. (1999) PEPSI, ESE504 Methods and Materials in Special Education. Retrieved

March 2017, from http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/

Schaefer, C.E., DiGeronimo, T.F. (2000). Ages & Stages. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons,

Inc.

Snowman, J., McCown, R. (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching Fourteenth Edition.

Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.