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PEPSI Screening

Ezahu Solis

College of Southern Nevada

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PEPSI Screening

Biography

Myles Bolanos is my six year old nephew. He is an only child and has grown up in a

single parent household. While my sister is always there to wake him up in the morning and feed

him breakfast as well as feed him dinner and take him to bed in the evening, she is mostly absent

from his day because of either work or school. Myles spends a majority of his time with my

mom and my dad, who take him to school, take him to extracurriculars, help him with school

assignments if my sister is busy, and feed him lunch.

Myles began going to therapy when he was four years old after my sister became

concerned with his lack of ability to concentrate as well as his unexpected and over the top

emotional outbursts which sometimes made him aggressive or inconsolable. His therapist

diagnosed him with ADHD and he now takes medication regularly to help keep him balanced.

Before the medication, he would be hyperactive at all times of the day (including the middle of

the night when he had trouble sleeping), would have difficulty focusing on a single task without

getting distracted, had frequent emotional outbursts over very minute situations, and would

sometimes become aggressive. Since beginning his medication, however, he has improved

tremendously. Myles seems to be able to concentrate more easily during day to day activities, is

no longer prone to emotional outbursts (his therapist has helped him develop better ways to

express his anger and frustration, he has also taught my parents and my sister how to deal with

his emotions when he experiences moments of agitation), and less hyperactive during the day,

which even led to him sleeping better throughout the night.

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I lived with Myles from infancy until about a year ago (ages 0-5). I chose to observe him

because he has had a very unique upbringing and I felt as though he would be the perfect subject

for a paper such as this.

Physical

Myles is on the taller side for his age at 50 inches tall, which lands him in the 97th

percentile for his age. At two years old, his doctor told my sister that he will be well over 6 feet

tall when he is done growing, which is a surprise considering my sister is only above average

height for women in her age group and Myle’s father is only of average height for men in his age

group. There are also only a small handful of people in my sister’s family that are 6 feet or over

and there are no people in Myle’s fathers family that are 6 feet or over. ​Myles doctor says he is

on the right track of developing for children his age “Children between the ages of 2 and 6 years

tend to grow about 3 inches in height each year and gain about 4 to 5 pounds in weight each

year” (Lumen, 2019). ​Myles weighs about 50 pounds which puts him in the 75th percentile for

his age group.

Like many children his age, Myles is incredibly active. His favorite activities include

running at the park, playing basketball, and playing soccer. He has developed a special love for

soccer as he enjoys kicking the ball as well as running after it and dribbling. If it wasn’t for the

COVID-19 pandemic, he says he would be “very happy to play games with other kids” as he

wants to play on a team. This falls in line with the quote “​they have excellent control of their

bodies and develop considerable confidence in their skills” (Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 85).

Myles feels confident in his ability to play and develop as he always wants to go play and will

even challenge me to games saying he can “beat me.”

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But even at his current rate of quick development, Myles still faces a few challenges. He

has trouble writing, which was pointed out in the text “large-muscle control is still superior to

fine coordination. Many children, especially boys, have difficulty manipulating a pencil”

(Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 85). He sometimes struggles to maintain straight lines when

writing and finds it somewhat difficult to not trip over his own feet every now and then. His

doctor, however, says that is normal for boys his age and that he will continue to develop

normally without the need of outside help.

Emotional

As stated before, Myles is an incredibly active child. He enjoys running around the park

as well as playing soccer. Even under medication, it is still hard for him to sit still. This is,

however, to be expected as he is still a 6 year old child. Primary grade children are still

extremely active. “Because they are frequently required to participate in sedentary pursuits,

energy is often released in the form of nervous habits—for example, pencil chewing, fingernail

biting, and general fidgeting” (Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 85). Not only is he physically

active, but also verbally, which itself is to be expected from a child of his age.

He likes to ask a lot of questions as well as engage in conversation with others. Before his

medication, if we were to talk over him or not let him speak, he would throw a temper tantrum.

Even if no one is around, Myles can be heard talking to himself in his room while playing with

his toys “Talking aloud to oneself reaches a peak between the ages of six and seven and then

rapidly declines” (Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 88).

Myles also moves at a very fast pace when it comes time to do anything. If it is time to go

to the park? He is always the first to be ready and even rushes others to get ready faster. When he

is building a lego tower, he insists on not taking breaks and continuing to work at a very fast rate.
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He is oftentimes very impulsive as well, having a sudden and strong desire to do something or go

somewhere. This falls in line with the quote “Impulsive students are said to have a fast

conceptual tempo” (Zhang & Sternberg, 2009).

Philosophical

Myles has had a difficult time understanding empathy. He can be very self centered and

wants to be the center of attention at all times. The best example of this comes from Myles not

liking other peoples birthdays. When it was my sisters birthday, he did not like that the attention

was not on him and also felt as though he should receive one present for every present that she

received. Another example is if someone receives a package in the mail, Myles claims that it is

his and becomes upset when told that is not the case.

When it comes to empathy, has lack of it may be seen as normal, considering the quote

“In their conversations and in experimental situations in which they are asked to describe how

something would look if viewed by someone else, preschool children reveal that they often have

difficulty seeing things from another person’s perspective” (Piaget & Inhelder, 1956). Empathy

itself may be a skill that is developed later on in life, perhaps in the mid teens when there is a

necessity for it in order to create and maintain longer lasting and more serious friendships.

Myles, surprisingly enough for someone his age, has a general distrust for most things.

Obviously for my sister and my parents' schedule, it is not possible to take him to the park all the

time and spend all day there, so their usual excuse if they cannot take him is “the park is closed.”

But to Myles, the concept of the park being closed is not real and therefore, he argues with them

about it. The same stands true when it comes to snacks. If Myles asks for a cookie, but has

already reached his cookie “quota” for the day, he will be told that there are no more cookies left.
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Myles never believes that there are no more cookies left and will instead insist that they show

him every nook of the pantry in order to be sure that there are no cookies left.

This is a bit unusual for a child his age, as most of them are trusting and do not

understand the concept of mistrust, as pointed in quote “In the first stage, for example, it is

important that the child learn trust, but a person who never experienced a bit of mistrust would

struggle to understand the world” (Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 29).

Myles has been fortunate enough to pick up things very fast thanks to his quick tempo

way of thinking, but this can also work against him in many ways. Because most things have

come naturally to him, he expects everything to come naturally to him, which leads to him

becoming frustrated when they don’t. This led me to witness him become upset with himself and

have a moment of low self confidence. I have not spent a lot of time around children, so this was

surprising to me, as I thought children his age would have more than enough confidence.

According to the quote “At worst, they may believe they will never excel at anything”

(Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 30), that is not always the case.

Social

Myles is a big fan of school and learning in general. He is consistently asking when he

can go back to school and when he can start his homework assignment. There seems to be a

natural curiosity of learning, which is supposedly not unnatural for his age according to our text

“​A child entering school is at a point in development when behavior is dominated by intellectual

curiosity and performance” ​(Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 30). When Myles is done with

school or finishes a homework assignment, he is always excited to talk about what he learned or

what he did, which as well goes along with what the text has said about his age group “Between

kindergarten and sixth grade, most children are eager to demonstrate that they can learn new
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skills and successfully accomplish assigned tasks” (Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 31). Whether

it be simple addition or even learning new words from class, Myles is always very talkative

about what exactly he learned that day and sometimes even what he was told he would be

learning the following day. He has no problems making or maintaining friends at school or even

during his trips to the park.

But even with his enthusiasm and success, Myles does sometimes fall short. Just as with

other things, Myles is not a fan of not getting the results he wanted. If he does poorly on an

assignment or even when he is told that there will be no school, it leads to him becoming very

upset. One of the biggest triggers for his anger/sadness is when he messes up on a drawing or

when he accidentally knocks over the blocks he is working on. As shown in our text “​Gradually

acquires ability to conserve and decenter but not capable of operations and unable to mentally

reverse actions” ​(Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 45). My hope is that over time, he will learn to

understand his mistakes and learn to fix them instead of having emotional outbursts.

Intellectual

Myles has shown signs of developing early critical thinking skills. He uses what he has

learned in class and uses it outside of an early learning environment. Although it is still only

based on early signs, Myles has the capacity to do a lot with his curious mind. As stated in the

text “...teachers can teach the principle of conservation by using simple explanations and

concrete materials and allowing children to manipulate the materials” ​ ​(Snowman & McCown,

2012, p. 46). His teachers have expressed to my sister that he has great promise in his academic

career.

As tempting as it may seem to begin putting Myles in a more gifted setting, he is still

only 6 years old and must be treated as such. He excels at concepts in his age group, but anything
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too advanced could lead to him being harder on himself, considering his knack for getting upset

when he doesn’t understand or do something, as Piaget said “On the other hand, instruction was

likely to be a waste of time if undertaken too soon, such as teaching children to count up to, say,

20 or 50 before they had a genuine understanding of the concept of number” (Piaget, 1983).

While nothing too advanced should be given for instruction with Myles, there should be a

nurturing environment that will help him develop at the pace that he is so far. When you view

gifted children like this, it is important that you continue their progress so that they do not begin

to fall behind. There could be a feeling that becoming too complacent with his progress could

actually lead him to fall behind and become average or below average. His development should

progress at a steady rate for his age group so as to not overwhelm him. With appropriate

measures, his current progress could continue, as children his age have a knack for proper

development, according to the text “One group of researchers (Metz, Sisk-Hilton, Berson, & Ly,

2010) has provided suggestive evidence that primary grade children can be helped to predict,

interpret, and explain basic biological processes” (Snowman & McCown, 2012, p. 47).

Recommendations

Myles is an incredibly smart kid. With continued development, he will be above average

in all, if not then almost all, fields compared to other children his age. Luckily, most of my

recommendations are based around just continuing his current development.

For physical, Myles should continue to be encouraged to play outside and play soccer. He

obviously enjoys it and it helps him “blow off steam” which could also benefit him in the

emotional field. As he gets older, it is important that he is played in organized sports so as to

continue his development and help him not only build his self esteem but also help his social

field as well as his emotional field.

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For emotion, it is absolutely imperative that Myles continues to go to his therapist and

take his medications. He is so far on track with his current measures so that must remain

constant. Continue teaching him how to express his emotions in a safe and healthy way and you

should continue to find a very happy and level headed individual.

For philosophical, Myles needs a bit more help. Myles needs to be more exposed to the

idea of empathy and why it is important. Perhaps spending some one on one time with him and

talking to him about empathy and “sharing the spotlight” could be good for his understanding.

Another approach is sitting him down and playing some movies or tv shows that showcase

empathy as well as sharing and cooperation. This could help with his understanding of these

concepts.

For social, Myles should just continue doing what he is doing. Continue the trips to the

park where he can play and make friends as well as continue taking him to school (obviously) as

well as any extracurriculars where he can socialize with other children his age. As long as he

does not become overwhelmed with social exposure, he should be fine. It is also a good idea to

talk to him frequently about how he is feeling as well as how he is getting along with others at

school and anything that could be upsetting him.

Finally, for intellectual, there must be a balance between continuing his development as

well as ensuring he is not becoming overwhelmed. A slow introduction to more gifted concepts

and learning will be good for him, but anything too overwhelming could lead to a decline in his

emotional health. Myles is a smart, but sensitive kid and must be treated as such. Only give him

what he can handle. In appropriate doses, higher learning concepts can be very beneficial to him

and help him maintain the above average state that he is in.
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References

Learning, L. (n.d.). Lifespan Development. Retrieved November 02, 2020, from

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-lifespandevelopment/chapter/physical-development-

in-early-childhood/

Neumann, Janice (September 2015). Small height differences among kids may reflect

economic disparities. Reuters, Health News. Retried from

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-children-height-poverty/small-height-differences-amo

ng-kids-may-reflect-economic-disparities-idUSKCN0RR11720150927​.

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). ​Psychology applied to teaching​. Stamford, CT:

Cengage Learning.