Running head: PEPSI Screening 1

PEPSI Screening

Christian Prada

College of Southern Nevada

PEPSI Screening 2

PEPSI Screening

This case study will be a PEPSI Screening of a six-year-old boy who will be referred to

as Michael from this point forward. His real name is withheld for the purpose of privacy. We

will be examining five different areas of development which are physical, emotional,

philosophical, social and intellectual.

Biography

I observed Michael as he was under the supervision of his mother. Michael’s parents had

just finalized their divorce a few months prior. Although it was a messy divorce, his parents

decided to split custody 50/50. Their particular arrangement had Michael spending Sunday

through Wednesday with his mother and the rest of the week with his father.

Upon meeting Michael, I was struck with how energetic and imaginative he was. He was

playing pretend and imagining himself as the owner of a toy shop. Instead of acting shy at the

prospect of meeting a new adult, he immediately attempted to draw me into his fantasy world to

play with him.

At any given time, you will find Michael doing something Fortnite related. Fortnite is a

new game that is on both gaming consoles as well as mobile devices and it has taken the country

over by storm. Michael will jump at any chance he gets to show off one of his many Fortnite

dances that comes from the actual game. He is also obsessed with Bendy and the Ink Machine,

an episodic horror game for kids.

While Michael absolutely loves these video games, you won’t often find him actually

playing them. Instead, he prefers to watch other people stream the games on YouTube channels

aimed at children. Michael has a tablet that he is constantly using to watch streamers play games

and talk about the characters from these games.

PEPSI Screening 3

Physical Development

Upon looking at Michael, one of the most immediately striking characteristics is how tall

he is for his age. Michael is the tallest student in his class and the tallest amongst all of his

friends, some of whom are older. Having just turned 6 a couple months before this study, he

stands at 132 centimeters in height, which is the average height of a child 8 and a half years of

age (Komlos & Breitfelder, 2007).

Michael has an overabundance of energy and it is difficult for him to sit quietly for even

a moderately short period of time. Whether he is sitting at his desk at school or sitting on a

couch at home watching a movie, Michael has a hard time staying still. This often leads to him

biting his nails as a result. This is a common occurrence for children from the ages of six to

eight (Snowman & McCown, 2015). Snowman and McCown state “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” (p. 84).

When Michael isn’t being forced to sit still, he is extremely active. He spends much of

his time running full speed from one room of his house to another, jumping on and off the beds

as if they were trampolines. When they are out of the house, his mother has to keep him from

climbing everything he sets his eyes upon. She expresses vocal concern that he might injure

himself. Snowman and McCown (2015) tell us that children from the ages of six to eight “have

excellent control of their bodies and develop considerable confidence in their skills. As a result,

they often underestimate the danger involved in their more daring exploits” (p. 85).

Michael suffers from nocturnal enuresis, which is another term for bedwetting in the

absence of urinary pathology past the age of five (Prynn, 2012). Michael typically wets the bed

once or twice a week, which causes him quite a bit of distress. His mother wet the bed until the
PEPSI Screening 4

age of nine, so she sees no need for alarm in his situation. Prynn states that “nocturnal enuresis,

or bedwetting, is a common occurrence in children. It is not a serious medical disorder, but most

enuretic children feel shamed, embarrassed and isolated.” Michael is still at a very young age

where he has yet to be invited to sleep-overs, so it has not yet led to a feeling of isolation.

Wetting the bed has, however, caused him to feel ashamed and embarrassed which is consistent

with Prynn’s findings.

Emotional Development

It is very evident upon spending time with Michael how much the divorce of his parents

has affected him emotionally. When I first arranged to meet with him, his mother was adamant

about it being on a Wednesday, the final day of his stay with her during the week. As the weeks

went by, I began observing him on all the different days and I quickly realized why his mother

had wanted to begin the way that she did. Michael behaved and reacted very differently based

on what day of the week it was. On switch days, Michael tended to show much higher displays

of aggression, sadness, and loneliness. He would throw more tantrums than usual and general

behavioral problems were intensified. I witnessed him yell at his mother and call her a foul

name, in a way that clearly indicated that he was repeating something he had heard while staying

at his father’s house. This kind of behavior is a common reaction to divorce for children

Michael’s age. Children in this age group tend to mirror and imitate the behaviors of their

divorced parents, particularly the hostile fighting, screaming, and yelling (Oppawsky, 2014).

Michael seems to have a very fragile sense of security because of the divorce. At first, he

kept thinking that the divorce was a vacation of sorts and that everyone would end up back at

home once more. While he is slowly coming to terms with the new arrangement, on switch days

he still tries to say things to manipulate his parents into being together again. He will say things
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such as “aren’t we a family?” and “don’t you love mom/dad?” during the switch. He also often

asks what he did to cause the breakup of the family. Because he is unable to see past himself at

this young age, he has internalized the divorce and blamed himself for it. This is a normal

reaction in younger children who lack the coping skills to deal with the changes that come from

divorce (Atiles, Oliver, & Brosi, 2017).

These emotional issues have not seemed to rear their head at school, however. Michael

absolutely loves going to school and has been named both Student of the Week and Student of

the Month several times. The teacher uses a color-coded system for discipline and Michael very

proudly lets everyone know that he has never been in the yellow or the red before. Snowman

and McCown (2015) explain that “Most primary grade children are eager to please the teacher.

They like to help, enjoy responsibility, and want to do well in their schoolwork” (p. 86).

Philosophical Development

At six years of age, Michael finds himself practicing the morality of constraint (Snowman

& McCown, 2015). Snowman and McCown (2015) tell us that children at this age “find it

difficult to understand how and why rules should be adjusted to special situations” (p. 85).

When I observed Michael playing a game of tag with other children from afar, I found that a

majority of the time was spent arguing about the rules and who had cheated and what rule they

had broken. Michael seemed to be doing this on par with the other children – no more and no

less. They all appeared to be equally involved in the constant bickering and arguing over the

rules.

Children begin to lie as young as the age of two. Most early lies are about misdeeds and

are quite simple in nature. The sophistication of the lies and the ability to support them increases

with age, as children do not generally become skilled at telling lies until later in development
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(Talwar, Renaud, & Conway, 2015). This is consistent with what I observed during my time

with Michael. He lied about simple misdeeds such as eating a snack when he was not supposed

to. He never offered a sophisticated fake story when confronted with a lie, but instead would

offer a long “No!” with a smile that would instantly give him away. He would very quickly

confess to lying and apologize once he had been caught.

Michael cannot stand to lose at any competitive activity. If he is playing a game and he

is not winning, he will begin to cheat. At the age of six, it is common for cheating to occur and

increase as children adopt a mentality where they “have to win” (Ellsworth, 1998). In Michael’s

case, however, his poor sportsmanship seemed excessive. I witnessed him getting called out on

being a “poor sport” and he subsequently began to cry and then yell out that the other person was

the “poor sport.” I found that the adults in Michael’s life would always let him win at games

because when he lost at something even once, he would throw a complete tantrum and refuse to

ever play that particular game again. The extreme nature of this behavior became incredibly

apparent when observing Michael playing with other children. While the other children also

“hated to lose” they did not display the same extreme emotions and behaviors after winning or

losing.

Social Development

Michael is a very social six-year-old who makes lots of friends quite easily, whether it be

at school or on the playground. While he considers many other children his friends, he definitely

has a best friend. His best friend is another six-year-old boy who is the son of a close friend of

his mother. It is typical for children Michael’s age to have a permanent best friend of the same

sex (Snowman & McCown, 2015).

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Snowman and McCown (2015) state that “Primary grade children often like organized

games in small groups, but they may be overly concerned with rules or get carried away by team

spirit” (p. 85). I found this to be quite true in Michal’s case. I observed him on the playground

acting as a ring-leader of sorts with the other children trying to get them to play particular games.

It became apparent after a while that Michael only wanted to play games that he was very good

at and had a very high chance of winning. When he would win, he would excessively celebrate

and “rub it in.” However, on the occasions that he lost at the games he had selected himself, his

very poor sportsmanship would once again rear its ugly head. He would either find a reason to

say that it was “not fair” or that the other children had somehow cheated even when that was

clearly not the case.

Children begin learning social skills starting from infancy. A big part of this for young

children is developing the ability to have positive relationships with adults as well as with their

peers (Conners-Burrow, Patrick, Kyzer, & McKelvey, 2017). Social skills can be divided into

two categories: relationship skills and responsible decision-making skills. Relationship skills

include listening, cooperating, seeking help, and negotiating conflict. Responsible decision-

making skills include the ability to evaluate consequences of actions and also the ability to

consider the wellbeing of others as well as oneself (Conners-Burrow et al., 2017).

I observed Michael getting along well with both his teachers as well as his fellow

students. His poor sportsmanship did not seem to interfere with his ability to have positive

relationships with those around him at this young age. I watched him cooperating with other

children while performing different tasks as well as listening to directions and instructions from

adults, displaying that he is developing good relationship skills. Michael also takes safety very

seriously and looks at safety rules as being completely absolute. In this way he shows his
PEPSI Screening 8

concern for the wellbeing of himself and others, demonstrating that his responsible decision-

making skills are also developing well for his age.

Tattling is a very common form of social communication in children Michael’s age.

Most children will “tattle” when confronted with something they deem out of the norm (Ingram

& Bering, 2010). Michael, however, never “tattled” on another child during my entire

observation. When confronted with behavior that was out of the norm from other children, he

would attempt to handle things himself. Only when his mother called him over and questioned

him directly about it, did he comment on the behavior.

Intellectual Development

At any given time, you will overhear Michael chattering to himself using a combination

of real words and some remnants of baby talk. I found it very difficult to understand what he

was saying when he did this. It is very common for young children to talk to themselves and this

behavior normally reaches a peak at the age of six (which happens to be Michael’s age) and then

rapidly declines after the age of seven (Snowman & McCown, 2015).

When Michael spoke to an adult, he was usually not very clear in what he was trying to

communicate. There did not seem to be much of a logical sequence in the things that he said.

Therefore, most of the time adults would have to fish for information to find out what he was

trying to tell them. He would often use a big word that he had heard somewhere but did not

know the meaning of when he described new things. This is a common occurrence in young

children. Podd’iakov (2012) tells us that “children often use an arbitrary word to denote a new

object that they have already seen but which remains as yet largely undefined for them” (p. 85).

Several times during my observation Michael showed that he was capable of delaying

gratification for something better in the future. He demonstrated this ability with food items,
PEPSI Screening 9

play time, and toys he wanted to own. This is a good sign as the ability to delay gratification

towards a more substantial future goal has been found to be an indicator to predict positive

intellectual development (Cuskelly, Gilmore, Glenn, & Jobling, 2016).

Recommendations

For Michael’s physical development, I would recommend attempting a couple of things

to try and control the bedwetting. First, I would make sure that he empties his bladder before

going to sleep every night. Next, if the bedwetting continues I would recommend looking into

an enuresis alarm. This is a device with a sensor in the child’s underwear that detects urine and

sounds an alarm to wake the child to then go to the bathroom.

Most of the problems with Michael’s emotional development have to do with the divorce

of his parents. I would highly recommend some form of counseling for Michael, whether it be

by himself or with his family. A counselor might be able to help him cope with the divorce and

stop blaming himself.

The biggest problem with Michael’s philosophical development seems to be his

excessively poor sportsmanship. I would recommend sitting down with him to watch some kind

of competition such as a sporting event and using it as a teaching moment. He should be shown

examples of how “good sports” react to both winning and losing and try to get him to emulate

them.

The only problem Michael has socially is directly related to his poor sportsmanship that

we have just discussed. While it has not hindered his ability to make and sustain friends at this

young age, it could become problematic as time goes by if not corrected. Again, I would

recommend that he be shown examples of both “good sports” and “bad sports” and help him

understand the importance of good sportsmanship.

PEPSI Screening 10

In regard to Michael’s intellectual development, my only recommendation would be to

continue with what he is currently doing. He is right at grade level and his cognitive

development seems to be progressing at a completely normal rate.

Conclusion

Michael’s physical development is above that of a normal six-year-old boy. He towers

over other children his age and has an overabundance of energy. His emotional development is

much lower than it should be for his age, most likely due to the effects from his parent’s divorce.

Michael’s philosophical development is also lower than the norm due to his excessively poor

sportsmanship. His social development is slightly higher than normal, as Michael has a facility

to make friends and gets along well with others. Finally, Michael’s intellectual development is

exactly where it should be for someone his age.

PEPSI Screening 11

References

Atiles, J. T., Oliver, M. I., & Brosi, M. (2017). Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of Children

of Divorced Families and Relations to Teacher Efficacy. Educational Research

Quarterly, 40(3), 25–49. Retrieved from

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ue&db=tfh&AN=121620245&site=ehost-live

Conners-Burrow, N., Patrick, T., Kyzer, A., & McKelvey, L. (2017). A Preliminary Evaluation

of REACH: Training Early Childhood Teachers to Support Children’s Social and

Emotional Development. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(2), 187–199.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/10.1007/s10643-016-0781-2

Cuskelly, M., Gilmore, L., Glenn, S., & Jobling, A. (2016). Delay of gratification: a comparison

study of children with Down syndrome, moderate intellectual disability and typical

development. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 60(9), 865–873. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/10.1111/jir.12262

Ellsworth, J. (1998). Online Lesson: 'PEPSI' as a Screening Tool. Retrieved from

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/PEPSIObserv/year6.html

Ingram, G. P. D., & Bering, J. M. (2010). Children’s Tattling: The Reporting of Everyday Norm

Violations in Preschool Settings. Child Development, 81(3), 945–957. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01444.x

Komlos, J., & Breitfelder, A. (2007). Are Americans shorter (partly) because they are fatter? A

comparison of US and Dutch children’s height and BMI values. Annals of Human

Biology, 34(6), 593–606.

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Oppawsky, J. (2014). The Nurse Sees it First The Effects of Parental Divorce on Children and

Adolescents. Annals of Psychotherapy & Integrative Health, 1–8. Retrieved from

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Podd’iakov, N. (2012). Speech and Intellectual Development in Children. Journal of Russian &

East European Psychology, 50(2), 84–86. Retrieved from

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Prynn, P. (2012). Nocturnal enuresis in children and adolescents. Practice Nurse, 42(6), 20–24.

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Snowman, J., & McCown, R. (2015). Psychology applied to teaching. Australia: Cengage

Learning.

Talwar, V., Renaud, S.-J., & Conway, L. (2015). Detecting children’s lies: Are parents accurate

judges of their own children’s lies? Journal of Moral Education, 44(1), 81–96.

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