Running head: P.E.P.S.I.

SCREENING 1

P.E.P.S.I. Screening

Angel Flores

College of Southern Nevada

EDU 220 – 2001

May 2, 2021
P.E.P.S.I. SCREENING 2

Abstract

The following P.E.P.S.I. screening is on my 5 year old cousin, Aurora. Due to COVID-19,

most of my observations of my cousin will be based on what I already know about her.

Thankfully I have been a part of her life since she was born to know enough about her. I have

also made recent observations of her from the very few times I have seen her recently.

Consequent to these recent observations I have come to learn more about her and how she acts,

thinks, and feels. We spend time together when my family and I watch her along with her 2 year

old sister. Therefore, we see all of Aurora’s traits, characteristics, and morals throughout the day

when it comes to sitting at the table, playing games, drawing, and how she treats her sister. I have

also asked her questions to get insight for my observation.

P.E.P.S.I. SCREENING 3

P.E.P.S.I Screening

Biography

Aurora was born on June 8, 2016. She has a father and mother who are together, and

she has a 2-year-old sister by the name of Ariel. Aurora is a delightful young girl who enjoys

physical activity while also enjoying technology. She has played multiple sports so far in her life

including soccer and baseball, and she is currently in gymnastics. Upon her physical activity, we

would all describe Aurora as physical, active, and athletic. She really amazes my whole family

and me because not many kids are into going outside to play anymore or do not enjoy playing

sports while they are at home. Instead, kids spend most of their time on technology. One finding

mentioned that, “the average amount of time spent with mobile devices each day has tripled

(again), going from 5 minutes a day in 2011 to 15 minutes a day in 2013 to 48 minutes a day in

2017” (Rideout, 2017). This information was not including other screen media use including the

T.V., video games, and the computer! We are glad she can spend a fair amount of time and

have a balanced appreciation for both physical activity and technology.

Aurora is a good and respectful young girl. She does have some growing to do, but for

the most part, she is well mannered. We all enjoy being around her and playing with her

because she is never disrespectful or throws fits. However, she does like things done her way

and she does like to be in control. For example, I was drawing with her and we were drawing

the same thing but I was drawing my picture differently and she told me to do it exactly like her. I

had told her we should both be creative and see what we can each come up with and

regardless they will both be amazing pictures because we drew them how we wanted. Aurora

did agree with me and we finished our drawings, but this is something I notice a lot with her.

She likes to have control and she does not like certain things that she is not used to.

Nevertheless, Aurora is still an amazing young girl who has excellent energy to her. She is

definitely a child you want to be around.

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Physical

Aurora is an incredibly active young girl who plays sports and loves to play outside. She

is 5 years old, stands at 46 ½” or 3’8”, and weighs 46 lbs. According to the article “What Is the

Average Height and Weight for a School-Age Child,” Aurora’s weight and height are well within

the range of what a 5 or 6-year-old should be. The article states, “A standard height is around 39

to 48 inches for a 5-year-old boy or girl, and a normal weight is between 34 and 50 pounds”

(Galic, 2019).

Furthermore, Aurora does well physically for her age. She is very coordinated and

athletic. She is in gymnastics currently and she really thrives in it. Aurora even came in first

place in her first gymnastics competition. Aurora has learned how to do awesome tricks like a

cartwheel, a backhand spring, and the full-bridge pose. In order to do these types of tricks, a

child would definitely need to be coordinated and flexible, so this proves how she is exceeding in

the physical aspect. She also has excellent balance and Morin (2019) actually claims this to be a

“key milestone” in which “they will have good balance and better coordination.”

Aurora has not also done gymnastics, but she has done other sports that include a lot of

physical ability like soccer and baseball. She did very well in soccer which involves a lot of

running and foot coordination; she was definitely a strong part of the team. She scored goals and

was an excellent defender. As for baseball, which also includes running, eye coordination, and

being able to catch a ball, she also did pretty well in this sport. Her parents told me that she

would typically always hit the ball when it was her turn to hit, and would catch the ball when

thrown to her sometimes too. Her ability to play multiple sports shows that she is coordinated

and well rounded. Each of these sports requires different techniques and different talents that will

help her in many ways. An article mentions how sports can really help kids develop stating that,
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“Playing sports has a range of physical, emotional, and interpersonal benefits: better vision,

healthy weight, motor skills development, social skills development, self-confidence,

sportsmanship, and friendship” (2021).

Besides that, Aurora does have 20/20 vision where at the age of 5 is when most kids

achieve that. She also knows how to tie her shoes and do many things on her own now. Aurora

starts her day off by brushing her teeth, in which her first adult tooth is actually beginning to

breakthrough, and wetting her face all by herself. If she is going somewhere, as long as her

clothes are set out for her, she will put her clothes on. The only thing Aurora really cannot do by

herself is her hair, which is actually normal; girls do not independently start doing their hair until

the age of 10 to 12 depending on the length and style of the hair. However, for the most part,

Aurora is on the right track and is a healthy and active young girl.

Physical
8

4
Age

0
Aurora Peers

Figure 1 Aurora Compared to Peers

Emotional

Aurora does a good job of expressing her emotions in a reasonable manner. She does not

throw tantrums often. However, she does have moments where she starts to feel an emotion that
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she can be more positive about, rather than being upset for something that does not go her way.

Still, Morin (2019) suggests that “At age 5, children are entering the ‘big kid’ world of better

emotional control and regulation.” Therefore, Aurora is in the stage of learning how to control

her emotions so occasionally if she does have a fit or does not show very good emotional control

it is normal.

I would say that most recently she has displayed great emotional control when she moved

into a new house. Aurora lives with a family who had a beautiful two-story home filled with fun

things to do. She had a trampoline, a pool, a big playhouse upstairs, and all of her games and

toys but without getting into details, they lost it all and had to move into an apartment. Overall,

Aurora was sad that she was going to have to give some of those things up, but she did not cry,

she did not throw a fit. The only thing she was most upset about was the physically moving and

packing part. This was an excellent example of her emotional control because any child who

loses their home might show extreme emotions of sadness or anger, Aurora though did not.

Furthermore, there are still some things where Aurora does need to work on better

controlling her emotions. For instance, we told her we were going to the park and she was

starting to get frustrated and pouting because we were not going right when we told her. Rather

she should have been happy and excited just to know that we were going to take her. She tends to

be impatient, when she wants something or wants to do something, she wants it without delay,

and if it does not work the way she wants it to, she begins to shows emotions including sadness,

anger, and frustration. According to McLeod (2019), this is because “Children’s thoughts and

communications are typically about themselves.” This also correlates to when something does

not work out the way she wants it to like losing in a game, she will get frustrated and upset, not

to an extreme, but she could show better sportsmanship. When she wins though, she is extremely
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happy and rubs it in, which is good but she must have a balance and better control of her

emotions whether she wins or loses.

Additionally, when it comes to other kids Aurora is excellent and she gets along very well

with other students at school. She knows how to make friends and plays with other kids while

knowing that sharing is being a good person. Aurora has actually been excited to go to school

and now that she is finally in school, she loves making friends and meeting new kids. She also

has no problem separating from her parents for the day to go to school and this is something five-

year-olds should be able to do. Morin (2019) states that children should be able to “separate from

caregivers without excessive upset.” The fact that Aurora handles going to school well and is

happy to be going to school shows good signs of Aurora’s emotional development.

At the age of 5, Aurora is also beginning to show signs of empathy, considering Aurora

has a 2-year-old sister who cries a lot and shows extreme emotions so she knows when her sister

is sad and upset or happy. I think this helps her to notice when others are mad, upset, or sad and

asks questions like “What’s wrong?” I remember playing sad with Aurora recently just to see

how she would react and she actually did ask “What’s wrong.” This was a good sign that Aurora

is improving in her emotional development because she should begin to become more

empathetic at her age. “As five- and six-year-olds become more aware of their own emotions,

they begin to recognize them in others, and their emotional vocabulary expands” (Poole and

Miller).
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Emotional
6.2
6
5.8
5.6
5.4
Age

5.2
5
4.8
4.6
4.4
Aurora Peers

Figure 2 Aurora Compared to Peers

Philosophical

Aurora is definitely a wonderful and respectful young girl to be around because she has

morals and she is being taught what is good and what is bad. Aurora has grown up with two

parents who have high expectations for their daughter, along with family members who also

expect her to be a respectful young girl. Aurora has family members who are Jehovah’s

Witnesses and show her videos and give her a religious aspect from life because her parents are

not religious at all. It is definitely interesting because she is learning things from the religion that

are actually good for her but there are things that when she comes home can be conflicting. Still,

Aurora is conscience enough to choose what she believes and what she does not, which is great.

She is only surrounded by family who only wants to see her thrive and do well in life. She is at

an age where she can start to view life from the perspective of her own eyes and know that other

people have feelings. She also knows that there are consequences to her actions which “around

ages 5 to 7 is when kids truly start to understand the consequences of their actions” (2013).
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For example, Aurora always has a tendency to interrupt people when they are talking

because she loves to have all the attention, but when someone points out that what she is doing is

not polite, she corrects herself. Aurora is fully aware that when she is trying to get someone’s

attention, although this person may be in the middle of a conversation, that what she is doing is

disrespectful. However, Aurora is not thinking about how rude she is being at the moment, all

she cares about is getting what she wants.  She does this continuously, time after time, because

what she really cares about is someone to pay attention to her and play with her and give her

what she wants. This is actually normal, according to Munson (2021), “children from the ages of

3 to 7 can’t distinguish the differences between wants and needs.”

Aurora is incredibly smart and she knows what she is doing and she is fully aware of

what she says. Aurora will play whatever role she has to to be in favor of the person she wants

attention from. My brother and best friend had taken Aurora out to the mall and while they were

there my best friend had asked Aurora who her favorite was my brother or me. Aurora, of course,

knew exactly what she was doing so she chose my brother because that is who was in her

presence and she knew he might treat her differently or have hurt feelings if she said me. Later

that day, my best friend had told me what she said and I explained that my little cousin knows

exactly what she is doing. When my brother was not around my best friend and I had asked her

once again who her favorite brother was, and this time she said me. This was proof that she is

very aware of the things she says and that what she says has meaning to it and can affect the

people around her. This is good because although she should probably just say she does not have

a favorite at all, at least she is aware that what she says can affect those around her.

Additionally, Aurora is coming to an age where she is becoming smarter, and she is

learning how to get what she wants because right now, she is all about herself at this age.
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Therefore, Aurora even uses her sister, who is 2 years old, to keep the attention on her. For

instance, when both Aurora and her sister come to my house and someone is giving attention to

Ariel and not her, Aurora will go to Ariel and start giving her attention by playing with her or

being loving to her. However, Aurora only does this to Ariel when someone else is giving her

sister attention because her goal is to get the attention back on her. This shows that Aurora has

come to an age where she is learning how the world works and how to use her knowledge to

benefit and gain from life. In a sense she is “applying logic, problem solving, and identifying

patterns now” which usually happens a bit later then where Aurora is (Zander, 2019).

Philosophical
6

3
Age

0
Aurora Peers

Figure 3 Aurora Compared to Peers

Social

Aurora is extremely sociable. She may come across as shy in the beginning, but within

minutes, Aurora is ready to become best friends. She loves to talk and share her feelings,

thoughts, ideas and loves to play with everyone. Aurora has never really had any bad experiences

with anyone, yes, she gets upset sometimes but overall there is not anyone she ever has a

problem with. In fact, at this age they usually consider everyone friends. Oswalt states, “typically
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kids will consider anyone their friend even if they have just met because friendship is still very

concrete and basic at this age.” Moreover, Aurora is taught that she should be friendly to anyone

and if someone is not friendly to her then she will still be kind to that person. However, since

Aurora has not really had any bad experiences with other kids since she has not been around

other kids her age long enough there is no real way of telling how she will handle a problematic

situation with someone. Aurora might not even experience this because kids her age are

“Generally friendly and helpful, enjoying the interactions with others” (Ellsworth, 1998).

Moreover, 5-year-olds typically enjoy playing house, and Aurora most certainly does. She

actually came over to my house recently and she had her toys and asked me to play with her. For

a moment, I just watched her play with her toys and I noticed how she created a dialogue

between the dolls and was really into what was going on. She then asked me to join her and take

over one of the dolls. It was interesting because when I did not react the way she wanted me to

she would tell me what to do. It was also interesting to see the way she took on a parental role

and was being very bossy, which is actually quite normal for them to do at the age of 5 and when

they start typically doing this.

Furthermore, Aurora has grown up in a family-oriented environment in which all her

cousins talk to her and give her so much attention and she has friends who come over and play

with her. Health Day News (2021) states, “Shy children tend to be innately cautious and warm up

to new situations more slowly than outgoing children.” This ultimately explains why Aurora is as

outgoing as she is and is not that shy because someone is always talking to her and she is always

meeting new people and she genuinely enjoys it. She also recently started going back to school

and she says that she loves it and has already made new friends and she looks forward to seeing

them every day. This is amazing because some kids tend to be shyer and especially in
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kindergarten during the first few weeks, some of them are barely getting used to being around

other kids and away being away from their parents.

Social
6

3
Age

0
Aurora Peers

Figure 4 Aurora Compared to Peers

Intellectual

Aurora is at an early age; therefore, she is still growing every day intellectually.

According to Cherry (2020), she is in the preoperational stage which is from the ages of 2 to 7

where kids learn to begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent

objects. He also mentioned that during this age they tend to be more egocentric and have a hard

time seeing things from other people’s points of view. A lot of this is true for Aurora and really

does align with where Aurora is at this point. She is learning new things every day and now that

she is in school, she is only getting smarter and she enjoys coming home to tell her parents and

everyone what she has learned.

According to her parents, she does pretty well sitting through class and she can do so for

long periods without getting distracted more than the average time span for a 5 year old which is

about 25 minutes (2021). She does need a few reminders every now and then but for the most
P.E.P.S.I. SCREENING 13

part, she just loves to learn. Aurora will participate in class often which might fall in line with her

liking the attention. Still, she is learning and when she is done for the day she repeats what she

has learned and shares it with her parents without them even having to ask. When Aurora came

over recently she has actually shared with us that she can count by tens now. We did not ask her,

she just told us. This made it clear that she truly does enjoy learning and is happy to be learning

new things, which is something common for 5-year-olds. “They have strong language skills and

love to share their ideas and stories (2021).”

Intellectual
6.2
6
5.8
5.6
5.4
Age

5.2
5
4.8
4.6
4.4
Aurora Peers

Figure 5 Aurora Compared to Peers

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4
Age

0
Peers Physical Emotional Philosophical Social Intellectual

Figure 6 Aurora Compared to Peers

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Recommended

Aurora is already well developed physically and way ahead of her peers however, due to

COVID she was not able to go out as much as she should have been able to. Due to this, she

needs to be more active now more than ever to remain active and healthy and make up for lost

time. She is already back in school so recess is a perfect time for her to go outside and run and

play catch. Her parents can also take her to the park and work on her coordination and balance

for gymnastics which will really improve her physicality and keep her ahead of the game.

As for as Aurora’s emotions go, I would say she’s a bit more advanced than her peers and

she is in good control of her emotions. She just needs to look out on good sportsmanship and

learn that it’s okay to lose, she can’t let her emotions get the best of her. Also, when it comes to

not getting what she wants although she may not have an extreme meltdown or tantrum she can

work on just being okay with it. Overall, for the most part, she does not have any emotional

outburst and she needs to be praised for that so when she gets older she can continue to know

that it would not be okay if she did.

Aurora is already pretty conscience and aware of most things and I would continue

making her aware of things so she can grow. She should know that what she says has meaning

behind it and can affect other people, especially since she is starting school. She should also

continuously be told the difference from right and wrong because it is important at this age so

she can be a good student at school and make good choices. She’ll be coming to an age where

she can begin to lie so knowing that this is wrong will help her.

Socially, Aurora is already an outgoing student who is not shy at all which will be

beneficial for her in the friend making process. However, my only worry is that she will continue

wanting to be the center of attention and egocentric. She should know that she has to be a team
P.E.P.S.I. SCREENING 16

player, share, and learn how to work with others. Other than that, she does not worry me with her

social skills.

Aurora is a smart young girl and she is currently on track for where she should be. Since I

work with students at an elementary school I would just make sure that she continues to stay on

track because so many students slip between the cracks and fall way behind. As for now, Aurora

knows how to spell her name, her ABC’s, count to 100, count by 10’s, and so much more which

is amazing! Her parents should continue to push her and put her on educational games that will

help her to grow more intellectually.

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References

Biography

Rideout, V. (2017, October 19). The common SENSE Census: Media use by kids Age zero to

Eight, 2017: Common Sense Media. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-

kids-age-zero-to-eight-2017

Physical

Galic, B. (2019, July 26). Normal heights and weights for school-age children. Retrieved April

12, 2021, from https://www.livestrong.com/article/276954-normal-height-weight-for-a-

school-age-child/

Morin, A. (2019, October 2). What you need to know about your 5-year-old's

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developmental-milestones-620713

Stanford Children's Health. Stanford Children's Health - Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

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Emotional

Mcleod, S. (2019). The Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development. Preoperational Stage -

Egocentrism | Simply Psychology.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/preoperational.html.
P.E.P.S.I. SCREENING 18

Morin, A. (2019, October 2). What you need to know about your 5-year-old's

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old-developmental-milestones-620713

Poole, C., & Miller, S. A. (n.d.). Ages & Stages: Empathy. Retrieved April 12,

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young-children-dos-and-donts-for-parents/#:~:text=Keep%20in%20mind%20that

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Social

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news-124/shyness-ages-3-to-6-645923.html.

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Ellsworth, J. A. (n.d.). 5th Year.

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Cherry, K. (2020, March 31). What Are Piaget's Four Stages of Development? Verywell Mind.

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