PEPSI Screening: Lucas Benson, Age 7

Michelle Benzon

Professor Rochelle Hooks

EDU 220

March 16, 2019

 Biography

I had the pleasure of observing Lucas Benson for this assignment. Lucas is an active seven-year-

old boy who enjoys music, telling jokes, and playing video games. I have known Lucas and his

family for six years. His family includes his mom, dad, stepdad, and his older brother Alex who

is ten years old. Lucas is enrolled in an online school and spends most of his time at home with

his nanny and brother. Both his mom and stepdad are educated and have careers that allow for an

affluent lifestyle. Unfortunately, Lucas’s dad lives in Wisconsin which at times has caused

emotional stress and anger for Lucas. His father left when he was too young to truly understand

why and that has had its toll on Lucas. Luckily, he has a strong bond with his stepdad and looks

to him as a father figure in his life. Lucas has a bond with his mother as well and struggles at

times with the long work hours her law firm requires. Lucas and his brother have three nannies

that are involved in their day to day life. Being that I am one of those nannies, I have spent a lot

of time with Lucas during this semester. Because Lucas does school from home, he has more

adult interaction than he does with his peers. At the age of 5, Lucas was diagnosed with ADHD

which has affected his schoolwork at times. Therefore, he requires more time to complete

assignments and extra time devoted to physical activity. Because of his ADHD his mom works

hard on keeping him active in Kung Fu, swimming, and music classes. Overall, Lucas is a pretty

normal seven-year-old boy who has an affinity for his dogs, experimenting, and playing jokes on

others.

Physical Development

Lucas is of typical height and weight for his age. He has well developed muscle strength. Lucas

participates in Kung Fu classes three times a week. I have observed him practicing his skills at
home on a regular basis. It is typical for children his age to “practice skills to become better at an

activity” (www.stanfordchildrens.org). Another trait that Lucas displays is his ability to “learn

sports involving good physical control” (www.kidcentraltn.com). Not only does Lucas do Kung

Fu but he also plays soccer and basketball at home with his stepdad. Lucas is able to dribble the

ball successfully in both sports. He shows great physical control when he shoots a basket and is

able to make contact with the hoop most of the time. Lucas also really enjoys listening to music.

During one of my observations Lucas had one of his favorite songs playing on his iPod. He was

dancing to the song and “able to move in time to the beat of the music” (www. kidcentraltn.com)

which is typical for his physical development at seven years old. J’Anne Ellsworth states on her

website that children this age “tire easily and may need extra rest.

(http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year7.html). Lucas has exhibited

this quite often especially after his Kung Fu classes. His bedtime is typically 7:30pm each night.

When Lucas is doing his schoolwork I have noticed on several occasions that he will rub his eyes

repeatedly, which is common for this stage of his physical development

(www.centerforparentingeducation.com) I have also noticed that Lucas will rub his eyes when he

is feeling frustrated or tired.

Emotional

Because of the amount of time I spend with Lucas throughout the week, I was able to get a pretty

strong sense of his emotions and how he handles them. Lucas consistently second guesses his

abilities, especially his school assignments. If he is not successful with the task at hand he will

freeze up and stop working all together. When Lucas does this, he is displaying that “inferiority

is of great concern and small setbacks create work paralysis”.

(http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year7.html). Lucas is prone to

having emotional outbursts when he is feeling tired or frustrated. This is typical for children his

age to “react to situations impulsively when under stress, tired, or feeling insecure”

(www.pbs.org/parents). I have noticed he will be more impulsive with his actions when

interacting with his older brother during games or chores. It seems Lucas is unsure of himself

and worries that he is inferior to his brother. When Lucas is feeling frustrated, he will on

numerous occasions retreat to his bedroom to be alone. At times he will claim an area in the

house to play and tell everyone else around to leave him alone. By doing this, Lucas is

demonstrating his need to “work alone in a quiet place when frustrated” (www.pbs.org/parents).

Lucas’s understanding

Philosophical

Lucas will remind you of rules regularly and does not hesitate to tattle on his brother. He has a

general awareness of the rules in his house and once reminded of them will for the most part

obey pretty easily. Lucas has the habit of “self-justification” which J’Anne Ellsworth points out

is typical for seven-year-old children.

(http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year7.html). For example, Lucas

has told me he does not need to put his shoes in the shoe cubby because he put them in his room

on the floor next to his door, which is where he likes them to be. To him his action is justified

because he put the shoes away and they are not laying across the floor in other parts of the house.

However, he still was choosing to disobey the rule of all shoes being placed in the shoe cubby.

Another behavior I have encountered is that Lucas will lie to get out of being in trouble or lie just

for the sake of not wanting others to know something. For instance, Lucas was caught taking

money to buy a drink at Kung Fu that he is not allowed to buy. He was insistent at first that he

did not do it but then gradually told the truth. He was full of excuses as to why he did it and why
he should be able to buy the drink. This behavior is typical according to the Center for Parenting

Education. On their website they state that a child “tries to tell the truth but is quick with

excuses” (www.centerforparentingeducation.org).

Social

Lucas is very vocal and loves to tell me stories about his day when I pick him up each day for his

activities. It is easy for him to make friends and enjoys making people laugh. All of Lucas’s

friends are boys. This is typical that children his age “develop friendships usually with the same

gender” (www.mottchildren.org). Lucas does not have the normal school experience of being

able to socialize regularly with his peers. He spends most of his day one on with an adult doing

schoolwork. His closest peer to play with during the day is his older brother Alex, who is ten

years old. Lucas genuinely enjoys playing with his brother but recently Lucas has exhibited an

increased jealousy of Alex. He will say to me “Why does Alex get to do that?” He has expressed

anger towards Alex when he feels it is not fair that his brother gets to do something that he

cannot. This behavior is typical because children at this age tend to be “jealous of siblings or

others” (www.stanfordchildrens.org). Lucas enjoys being independent and lately has been more

and more “independent from parents and family” (cdc.org). He likes doing his own thing and has

definitely retreated from needing constant assistance or attention from the adults in his life.

Although Lucas has withdrawn more from the adults, he will engage in arguments with his

brother and won’t back down until he feels the wrong has been righted. For example, Lucas and

his brother were playing a game with their toys. His brother Alex was teasing him, and Lucas

met the teasing with his own mean words to confront his brother. Lucas wasn’t backing down.

This type of behavior is normal according to J’Anne Ellsworth. On her website she states that

“when upset the child comes to others, battles, to fight, to square things”.
(http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year7.html). Lucas enjoys playing

board games and, on several occasions, I have played with him and his brother. Lucas is

competitive when playing the games and does not handle losing. During one of my experiences

with this, Lucas was so upset that his brother had won Candyland, that he flipped the board off of

the table in anger and proceeded to accuse his brother of cheating. His face was red with

frustration and his eyes began to tear up as he chose to leave the living room. While walking

away he was repeatedly yelling “I never win, I hate this game”. While doing my research I found

that a child this age “is a better loser and less likely to place blame” (www.greatschools.org).

This is not the case for Lucas. His development in this area is below the norm.

Intellectual

Lucas is a very bright child. He is full of ideas and enjoys expressing them with others. He asks a

lot of questions and has a strong curiosity of how things work. Lucas enjoys doing math and will

quiz me on my own math skills. For example, he will ask “Michelle, do you know what 100

times 100 is?” Lucas is showcasing his “concept of numbers” (www.stanfordchildrens.org).

Another area that Lucas enjoys is science. He will create his own experiments in the kitchen to

see what will happen if he mixes certain ingredients or if he were to heat items up over the stove.

On numerous occasions Lucas has asked me if he can do an experiment. He will then say “what

do you think will happen if” in regard to what he is about to experiment with. It is normal that a

child his age “likes to experiment” (www.childdevelopmentinfo.com). When Lucas is

experimenting or doing his school work, he puts a lot of thought into what he is doing and can

express the outcome. Lucas can communicate his ideas on what the cause was when doing

experiments. While doing his assignments for school he will comment on the information he is

learning and ask questions about it. He will also give his own reflection of what he thinks of the
information or result. Lucas is exhibiting his ability to “use serious logical thinking and

reflection” (www.greatschools.org). Lucas has also demonstrated a longer attention span when

engaged in activities of interest. When it is something he does not enjoy or the activity is one that

he doesn’t want to have to complete, Lucas will avoid it at all costs. He will get up to go the

bathroom, stare at the assignment in daze, or get up to get a drink of water. He will pretty much

find anything to distract from the task at hand. This is a typical behavior for seven-year old’s as

they will “procrastinate and be easily distracted” (www.centerforparentingeducation.org). An

area of his intellect that Lucas has begun really enjoying is reading. He shows pride in his skill

when he reads a book aloud. He enjoys books that have humor like one his favorites Captain

Underpants. Lucas’s love for reading showcases the typical behavior of being able to “read age

appropriate books” (www.stanfordchildrens.org).

Graph
 PEPSI: Lucas Benson
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Physical Emotional Philosophical Social Intellectual

Observed Baseline

Recommendations
 References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2019, from
https://www.cdc.gov/

Ellsworth, J. (n.d.). Http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year7.html.

Retrieved March 5, 2019, from
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year7.html
K-12 school quality information and parenting resources. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2019, from
http://greatschools.org/

KidCentral TN. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2019, from http://kidcentraltn.com/

PBS.org. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2019, from http://www.pbs.org/parents

Snowan, J., McCown, R (2015) Psychology Applied to Teaching (14ed.) Belmont, CA

Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

Staff, P. T. (2011, September 05). Child Development Advice And Parenting Help For Parents.
Retrieved March 11, 2019, from https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/

Stanford Children's Health - Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 5, 2019, from https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/

University of Michigan | CS Mott Children's Hospital | Michigan Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved

March 7, 2019, from https://www.mottchildren.org/