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Devyn Dewitt

EDU 220

PEPSI Screening

September 28, 2018

Student Introduction

The biography of the student I will be studying is a personal one. I have changed the

name for personal reasons and to respect the parents. The child’s name will be William. He is a

male that just recently turned 6 years old. He is the youngest while his only other sibling is a

brother. The brother just turned 11 years old. They grew up in a separated home but are very

supported by their grandparents. The grandparents help after school with homework.

In school, the child had to enroll in a speech therapy class. The child was able to attend a

preschool program. The program noticed that his speech was different than the other students. He

was able to understand the homework at his level but was not able to express himself verbally.

The speech therapy lasted a summer and he was able to feel comfortable attending kindergarten

the next school year. His brother has no learning disabilities and has an easy time understand

what is happening in school. His reading level is a grade above average. He is able to help his

brother from time to time but focuses on his work.

William enjoys being active outside from school. His hobbies include art and sports. He

loves to draw with whatever scratch piece of paper is around the house. He is inspired by Disney

and is able to take tutorials online to help him achieve the character style. The sports he likes to

learn are soccer and baseball. He has a lot of energy and enjoys getting that energy out on

something productive. His personality is bold and loving. Everyone knows who he is at school

because he loves to get to know everyone.

PEPSI Introduction

The PEPSI screening devices the student’s learning development into five categories. The

five categories are Physical, Emotional, Philosophical, Social, and Intellectual. There is a
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standard on which each age group should be around. These standards can vary due to the

student’s background and upbringing. The schools ca also be an effect due to the way the student

is learning.

PEPSI was developed to help teachers understand their students more. When student’s

were having a hard time learning, the teachers needed to understand how to make this child

become successful as a student. The PEPSI model was there to show the five developments of

the student. They were also there to help further develop the students knowledge and learning

style.

PEPSI was there to emphasize that teachers want to learn how to love their students

learning style. They understand each student is different and they want different things out of the

classroom. This was directed towards each learning style. It can be hands on, shows guidelines,

provides insight, and helps create a pattern for the teacher. The generic layout of the PEPSI

graph looks somewhat like the example below. This was the guideline to help the kid improve

the skills they needed while using the skills they already have.
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Physical Development

Six years old is the time where kids are able to feel independent but are still the youngest of the

grade school. Student’s these age are ready to start imaging and moving with their emotions. Playing is

important because it involves the mental and physical capacity. They are able to create a story out of thin

air and involve you as if it were actually happening. “Your child’s pretend play is more complex now,

filled with lots of fantasy and drama” (RaisingChildren). They want to share with others in playtime or

story time to get more children involved with the act. That is why they tend to be with others rather than

on their own. “They have excellent control of their bodies and develop considerable confidence in their

skills” (Snowman, McCown).

They want to show off what they are able to do with others. They also are more interested in sports. They

want to show off their show off their coordinated abilities. It is often normal for a six year old to

constantly be moving. They are interested in the world around them and want to be involved every second

of it.

William fits the mold on the physical development. Every moment I interacted with him there

was a new character being developed. He is fortunate enough to visit Disneyland with his family multiple

times a year. This is perfect for his physical development and why, I believe, he is well developed in this

area. He is able to create characters from his mind or copy the characters and make them his own. He

doesn’t ask to be the center of attention but becomes it becasue he is up to something creative. “Your

child is becoming more social and prefers to play with friends rather than on her own” (RaisingChildren).

He loves to be involved with his brother and asks him to color or will watch him play his games. He is

willing to share what he is drawing or will ask to draw a picture with him.

William’s physical life is very important. He is constantly doing something active in sports or

creatively. He loves to involve his family and even strangers at Disneyland. He will be his own character

for as long he wants or find a way to create a new one.

Emotional Development

“Your child can express her feelings, although she might need help and time to identify and talk

about tricky emotions like frustration or jealousy” (RaisingChildren). Students at age six tend to feel

independent and start to understand their feelings. They are able to express and identify how they are

feeling. They might seem more emotional due to the fact they can understand what that means. They

might also seek more attention or love. They want you to notice their accomplishments and approve what

they have been working on. This could make them competitive with themselves or one another. They do

not want to hear no because that could be seen as something they have done wrong. They are

understanding of the world around them. This is the age where fear starts to develop. They might start

being scared of ghosts or bugs.

William is fidgeting and loud when it comes to his emotions. He wants to know everyone is okay

with him and does not want to be in the certain for negative reasons. He is able to understand what love is

from his mother and his family. “Children are becoming sensitive to the feelings of others” (Snowman,

McCown). His brother fights with him and it makes him upset. His brother is often talked to and let him

know that William just wants to be in his company. He is upset because he wants to look up to his brother

and does not want to disappoint him. He is also easily scared now. I would sometimes scare him as a joke

around the house. He is starting to be more spooked during halloween or at nighttime. He seems to be less

interested in his accomplishments and more worries about what his family thinks of himself.

William is emotional stable within himself. He has his moments of being a six year old that are

not over the top. “He wants your approval, is proud of his achievements – and probably doesn’t take well

to criticism or discipline” (RaisingChildren). He wants everyone to be loved and for everyone to love

him. He is starting to get jumpy but that is what happens when you become more curious about life.
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Philosophical Development

Students are becoming aware of themselves and who they are. They are starting to become

curious. “Your child is better at seeing other people’s points of view, which helps him to make friends

and meet new people” (RaisingChildren). They want to become their own person. They focus on

themselves still rather than others. They could start developing certain views on their life. That could turn

into influences from other children their own age while they bicker or start to fight. “Petty theft and lying

begin or frequently increase - child expresses embarrassment if caught” (Ellsworth).

William is definitely his own person. He as able to figure out himself amongst a crowd of other

six year olds. I have often see him try to lie to adults or his brother. His brother often tells that he is lying

and they end up both getting in trouble. William tends to act out more if he does not have his point of

view come across correctly. “Games with rules sometimes challenge your six-year-old, and he might even

accuse others of cheating when he doesn’t win” (RaisingChildren). I have been involved in multiple card

games where I was the cheater and he had to win in the game. There are multiple reasons as to why he is

lying to get his advantage in the game. This is just how he is developing as a six year old. They are able to

process information and understand that you can lie to achieve what you want. He is also aware of

consequences and that lying about everything can result in a time out.
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Social Development

The child around this age wants to be interactive with other children. They want to be involved in

small groups and be in activities. “Parent is no longer center of the world, and child may place self here”

(Ellsworth). They want to be apart of something rather than be on their own. They want to share their

ideas with others. “Words are used more often than physical aggression, but many boys (in particular)

may indulge in punching, wrestling, and shoving” (Snowman, McCown). Even if they become a bit

bossy, the other children will want to know why they are being bossy. Students want to express

themselves in how they know but what they were able to learn. They also become selective with who they

start to include in their groups. These groups often in involve the same sex. This starts competition

between the friends groups. “Although friends disagree with each other more often than with non-friends,

their conflicts are shorter, less heated, and less likely to lead to a dissolving of the relationship (Laursen &

Pursell, 2009; Ross & Spielmacher, 2005)”.

William had a lot of friends in his classroom. (I was able to observe how he interacted outside of

family and his brother). He seemed to have the teacher’s attention and was on the teacher’s best side. His

friends would laugh at his jokes and join along. He seemed to be the attention of most of peers. There was

also talk of him having a girlfriend in the classroom. (Which he denied). The students seems to grow

louder while on the playground and interacted mainly in their same sex groups. They often were running

and playing. There were little to no fights that I witnesses while I was observing.
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Intellectual Development

Students are able to realize there a multiple ways to learn. They want to know the best way to

learn rather than having a hard time understanding. “When an observation can be explained with either a

possible (that is, a theoretical) explanation or an evidence-based explanation, preschoolers fail to see one

as more compelling than the other, but primary grade children usually prefer the explanation based on

evidence” (Snowman, McCown). They are starting to develop scientific thinking. They are able to hold

their attention longer. They are able to start recognizing the world around them. They will acknowledge

days, times, and seasons. They can understand and recall what is familiar to them. They start to talk to

themselves in order to understand what they are processing when it is not familiar to them. “Vygotsky

described private speech as a transition between speaking with others and thinking to oneself. Private

speech is first noticeable around age three and may constitute anywhere from 20 to 60 percent of a child’s

utterances between the ages of six and seven” (Snowman, McCown).

William is able to work alone while asking for help. He needs the assignment to be read to him.

While he listens to the new subject, he is able to ask questions or silently figure out the problem himself.

He is able to recall what he has learned in previous subjects. His skills mainly include redrawing

something he previously drew, working with new math, and he can recall certain books. He can

understand dates and is able to understand when school is. He also remembers when he is going to

Disneyland next.
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Conclusion

Children at the age are developing into becoming an individual. They are aware of the world.

They want to play. They want to learn. They want to love. They want to be involved with others around

them. Students learning at the age is crucial. They are developing their learning styles on their own while

teachers help to guide them in the right direction. This is a crucial age to be helpful while they try to

discover who they are.

William seems to be an average six year old. He had issues with his speech when he was younger.

His family was able to help while getting him into to speech therapy. After that, he was able to develop at

a normal rate with his peers. He is definitely growing towards the outgoing personality. He loves to be

around people. He is always involved and wants to be entertained. He loves his family and does not want

to disappoint them. William will develop into a bright young man with the right family, school, teachers,

and attitude.
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Reference Page

5-6 years: Child development. (2017, November 16). Retrieved from

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

Snowman, McCown. (2015) Psychology Applied to Teach. Stamford CT. Cengage