PEPSI Screening Project

Pepsi Screening Project

Stacey Michelle Ramos

College of Southern Nevada

May 2, 2018
PEPSI Screening Project

Abstract

This PEPSI Screening Project was done on a 10-year old male in good physical health.

Study showed very little in terms of need for the student who is currently in the 4th grade. While

interviewing the subject and his mother I learned about his physical attributes, emotional needs,

school-work and deficiencies, and was also able to identify ways in which he could benefit from

certain activies and exercises to help with his moods and behavior towards his family members.

Subject was identified to be entering puberty and was showing negative and positive impacts as

such. In identifying the subjects level of behavior in reference to the PEPSI stage chart, a plan of

action was devised to help the subject reach his full potential. The findings of my interviews,

studies, and plan of action is outlined in the following pages.

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PEPSI Screening Project

Biography

Subject is a 10-year old male in good overall health. He currently is in the 4th grade and

attends Somerset Academy in North Las Vegas, NV. Subject has two older natural siblings and 3

older blended siblings as a result of his fathers recent remarriage. Subject lives with his mother,

natural two older sisters, two maternal grandparents, and uncle. He enjoys after school activies

and is now fully immersed in his 1st year as a Webelos Scout.

Subject enjoys playing with his friends at school and is relatively athletic. He also emjoys

swimming in his backyard pool as well as watching TV and playing a myriad of video games.

His favorite is currently between Roblox and Minecraft. He gets along with his older sisters well

enough to be expected, and looks up to his uncle. He has a very good relationship with both of

his parents, and although his other has full custody he still sees his dad every other weekend,

some holidays, and usually one day during the school week. His father lives close enough to

wher he can see him whenever he’d like.

Subject does well in school but does sometimes have trouble focusing and would rather

play video games. Mother has expressed some concerns about his behavior and his anxiety,

which I will delve into further in this study. I have known the subject and his family for three

years now, as both subject and my son are in Cub Scouts together and have been since 2015.

Physical Development

Subject is in excellent physical health. Subject had a healthy birth with no complications.
Mother was diagnosed with gestational diabetes but was well controlled throughout the
pregnancy. Subject was never underweight and has always been athletic. Subject has a diagnosed
heart murmur since birth but is in need of no medications and it does not slow him down at all.
The only notable physical ailment learned from interview with mother is the frequent dental
issues he has. She is unaware as to why he has these issues except his father has similar dental
problems. This is in direct correlation with research stating that the “access to and use of health

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PEPSI Screening Project

care services for adolescents is dependent, to a great degree, on the ability to pay for services.
Compared with their insured counterparts, the uninsured are more likely to lack a usual source of
care, have unmet health care needs, and go without contact with a physician during the course of
the year.” (Sutton, 2010) Subject comes from a background of a well-educated, middle-class
family and is fully insured for medical and dental. Subject sees a pediatrician at least once a year
and sees a dentist twice a year. Subject has all health matters attended to as frequently as needed,
and mother ensures that she understands what his needs are and how to provide for them.
Subject has good hand-eye coordination and is good with both gross and fine-motor

skills. He was observed kicking a soccer ball with his older sister and writing a short paragraph.

During the interview the subject expressed an interest in group sports over individual activities,

citing “kickball” as his favorite group activity. He also likes four square, and likes free time best

because he and his friends can choose what sport they’d like to play together. “Children appear

to have very little time for physical education and sports during their free hours: According to

O.A. Kislitsyna (2009), 40% of schoolchildren between 7 and 13 years have never played sports,

including action games, before and after their lessons.” (Kuchma, Milushkina, et. al., 2012)

While subject has no weight problems, I felt the need to cite this statistic as he is very involved

in video games and while he does play sports during school, he has little outside activities after

school. In an interview with the subject’s mother, she explained that he has always been good at

hand-eye coordination and played T-Ball from ages 3-7. While he isn’t in any organized sports

now, his mother says it is because of circumstance. All her children are allowed one after-school

activity due to cost and time constraints, and he is involved in Cub Scouts at the moment. He

showed interest in playing soccer this past season, but missed sign-ups. Subject spends an

average of ______ hours per week on video games and watching television.

As far as the physical development chart is concerned, he is on target for his age group in

all physical areas except those regarding curiosity about sex. In my interview with him he did not

express an interest in sex at all, but did tell me about how his friends come to him for advice on

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PEPSI Screening Project

girls and the conversations he has with them. This was supported by my interview with his

mother, who says the same thing. While she is very open with him about sex and his body, he is

just not developmentally there yet. “Models of adolescent development differ in the number of

tasks they posit and the labels attached to them. However, most agree that the central work of

adolescence includes developing a positive body image, beginning to achieve economic and

emotional independence, more completely defining sex roles, developing relationships with the

opposite sex, preparing for future occupational and family roles, and developing civic

competence.” (Chapin, 2000) Subject is in the process of developing a positive body image, but

is behind in all other areas of sexual proclivity for those cited in the physical developmental

stages for ages 10-11. Subject is very comfortable showing affection to those in his family. He

has no issues expressing himself physically and is welcomed to do so by those in his support

unit.

Emotional Development

In an interview with the mother, I learned about subject’s emotional development.

Mother stated some concerns she has with subject about him hearing whispering at night. I will

follow up with that in my second interview with her on a later date. Regardless of that subject

does have good sleeping habits. Subject also shows nervous habits and mother is concerned

about his anxiety and stress levels. Subject cries easily and is very emotionally vulnerable. He

has issues with social pressures. Mother states her concerns could be because of her recent

divorce from his father. Because of this he is now part of a blended family with 3 additional step-

siblings. He gets along well enough with his father’s new wife and children, but does have some

issues with fitting in. He has experienced some issues with schoolwork since the divorce, and

both his mother and I think it might be due to his sense of belongingness not being adequately

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PEPSI Screening Project

met. “Using survey methodology, Acton and Malathum (2000) also documented a relationship

between the levels of Maslow's hierarchy. Specifically, they discovered that individuals with

higher levels of physical, love/belonging, and self-actualization need satisfaction made better

decisions regarding health-promoting and self-care behaviors.”(Notmeyer, 2012)

Subject is well-liked in school for the most part and during in an interview I had with

him, he talked about what he likes to do with his friends during recess. He agrees that he is not a

risk-taker, and prefers to do things he knows he is good at and doesn’t challenge himself too

much. He is very talkative and friendly and has a good mixture of friends of different ethnicities

and sex. When speaking with his mother about his issues, although I did not feel they were too

severe for his level of development, I quoted J’Anne Ellsworth. “If we are to assist children to be

more socially appropriate, to be more humane, it can best be done with trust building, mutual

limit setting, with assisting the child to take more and more responsibility for self and for his or

her own actions.”(Ellsworth, 1996)

When referring to the Emotional Chart the subject meets and exceeds all of the

components for his age and for the age of 11. It is clear that he is very advanced when it comes

to emotional responsibility and is empathetic and caring. He is also showing an increased ability

to use manipulation towards others in order to get what he wants, which is generally evident at

age 11. Child is good at expressing love and hate, and is emotionally charged during most times.

Subject also loves to be creative, especially using video games like Minecraft, where building

thematic properties and farms is the goal. This is representative of subject meeting most of his

Hierarchy of needs, allowing him to express self-actualization through creativity. “Maslow's

(1954) influential theory suggests that children's ability to be motivated by growth needs (e.g.,

academic achievement) first requires satisfaction of deficiency needs (e.g., safety needs,

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love/belonging needs). Given the vast number of children experiencing deficiency needs, a better

understanding of these relationships can serve as a prerequisite for establishing conditions that

maximize creative outcomes.”(Nottmeyer, 2012) Subject, while having a blended family of non-

traditional scheme shows empathy for others and for the most part, emotional preparedness.

Subject gets decent grades and is mostly without emotional maladies. This is a testament to his

family unit being strong and loving and helping him grow into a self-actualized individual.

References

Chapin, J. R. (2000). ADOLESCENT SEX AND THE MASS MEDIA: A DEVELOPMENTAL

APPROACH. Adolescence, 35(140), 799.

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=3f4286

12-8999-4d43-9b08-

61f8b801a3da%40sessionmgr4009&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN

=4086888&db=hch

Ellsworth, J’Anne. (1996). Pepsi A screening and Programming Tool for Understanding the

Whole Child. Teaching Exceptional Children, Nov/Dec 1996.

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Noltemeyer, Bush, Patton, & Bergen. (2012). The relationship among deficiency needs and

growth needs: An empirical investigation of Maslow's theory. Children and Youth

Services Review, 34(9), 1862-1867. https://www-sciencedirect-

com.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/science/article/pii/S0190740912002265?via%3Dihub

Sutton, A. L. (2010). Adolescent Health Sourcebook : Basic Consumer Health Information

About Adolescent Growth and Development, Puberty, Sexuality, Reproductive Health,

and Physical, Emotional, Social, and Mental Health Concerns of Teens and Their Parents,

Including Facts About Nutrition, Physical Activity.

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=d7ac2a

f8-4444-4ffe-

8bcc02d1e1240920%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d

Vladislav R. Kuchma PhD, S., Olga Yu. Milushkina, Natalya A. Bokareva, Natalya A. Skoblina,

& Elena P. Il`Chinskaya. (2012). Effect of Modern Students’ Lifestyle on their Physical

Development. International Journal of Biomedicine, 2(4), 282-284

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PEPSI
12

10

0
Physical Emotional Philosophical Social Intellectual

Subject Average Age