2016

PEPSI CASE STUDY

Yesica Diaz
EDU 220- 1005
11/29/2016
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The student chosen for this PEPSI Case Study is a 6th grade student at a public charter

middle school. His last name is Diaz and during this case study he will be referred to by only his

last name. Diaz is my eleven year old Mexican American brother. Diaz is the youngest of four

children; which is soon to change when his new sibling is born. I chose Diaz after observing him

at a family gathering and after asking permission from his mother. Diaz can be a very socially

outgoing child. He mingles very well with adults and can hold a good steady conversation. I

emailed one of his teachers to get an in depth look in his classroom behavior. His teacher

conquers that he is for the most part a well behaved student.

He is not however an average eleven year old. His short height and his spunk make him

an easy target to teasing at school. Diaz is fluent in English and has almost mastered the Spanish

language. Of the two languages the dominant one is English, so there are no language barriers at

school, or home. Diaz lives with his beloved dachshund dog, his mother, stepfather, nineteen

year old sister, and sixteen year old brother. Their home is located in Henderson Nevada and it

sits on a large plot of land. They have neighbors all around and Diaz knows many of them. Diaz

loves to play with the neighborhood kids, with his toys, animals, lemonade, video games and

being watching cartoons on Netflix. His favorite T.V. show is The Flash. Diaz does not like the

word no and is having a difficult time adjusting to mothers attempts to add structure into his

currently consequence-less life. Another thing Diaz is having trouble adjusting to be the thought

of not being the youngest child anymore. This is spilling over into his school life and his grades

and reports have begun slip.

Throughout this case study Diaz will be observed in two places: his home in Henderson

and my home in Las Vegas. He does not know that he is being observed because if he did it

might cause him to act differently. Instead he will be told about this after the fact.
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Physical Development:

Upon looking at Diaz you notice that amongst the neighborhood boys and even girls in

his age range he is petite. His height is below average of that there is no question. His height is a

mere 4ft and 11 inches. Rates of development can differ widely among normally developing

children and each child will differ in having a slow or fast development. You and I as adults

know this but this fact that plays no value in the eyes of 11 year old Diaz.

When playing with the neighborhood boys he takes a natural born leader position and

regardless of his small stature he commands without words a certain level of attention. He is very

charming with his neighborhood friends who often poke fun at his stature. Diaz quickly fires

back with clever remarks and jokes. Outwardly he seems to not be bothered by this playful

teasing. However after it continues you see him start to glare disapprovingly at the offender

saying things.

With his mother Diaz is very helpful often over excreting himself in trying to tell her

what to do and how. He means well but his pregnant mother often has to remind him that she

knows and is the adult. This is something normal and universally common, Piaget recognized

age 11 as the beginning of formal operational thinking. Because of his age Diaz is increasingly

more and more able to reason with more logic, he is less dependent on concrete examples. He is

able to relate to things even if they arent real experiences. An example of this is when his

mother is asking him if he is sad that he will no longer be the baby of the family. He responds in

a confidant tone and says, nope, it is just like when my older brother became the second to

youngest, he was just fine and so I will be too, plus I get to boss someone around now too!

Overall Diaz is developing in growth a bit slower than his peers but his cognitive

development for a child his age is on track with the norm.

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Emotional Development:

Like I mentioned earlier Diaz is very social and well liked amongst his friends. However

his emotions are something I got to observe a little more closely in the intimacy of his home

away from his peers. Diaz does surprisingly well at managing his personal feelings,

understanding the feelings of others and expressing himself. Many boys his age do not confide in

others what they are feeling.

One instance that shows his emerging way of coping with responsibility is when his

mother is lecturing him about his poor math and science grades. She is telling him that if he does

not shape up he is going to have to repeat the sixth grade. His face flushes and it is easy to see

that he is not happy with that consequence. He begins to understand that there are consequences

bigger than getting grounded and his video games being off limits to him.

Another thing that Diaz has begun to do is dress himself. What I am referring to is his

style. Whereas before he was ok with his mother or older sister (whom doesnt live at his home),

showing up with a new sweater or top, he now prefers to choose his own garments. He now

strays from the cartoon t-shirts with SpongeBob on them and instead prefers polos and more

grown clothes. His idea is that like he says he doesnt want to look like a baby.

He is physically and emotionally becoming a preteen. The fact that he cares how others

perceive him ties into egocentrism. Its like there exists an audience that is judging his actions

and appearance. He wants to have the same style as his 16 year old brother and he often ask to

borrow his brothers things and if not that asks him for his opinion on certain fashion choices.
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Philosophical Development:

In this stage of development Diaz is also very noticeably active. One of the more notable

things is how much he likes his Netflix shows, not because he does watch a lot of TV but

because of what he infers from his favorite super heroes. The Flash is a show he is very into

watching, like I mentioned earlier.

When asked why he likes the flash so much he said, I guess because he can go back in

time and change things that happened to him as a kid and I think that so cool. This very simple

and straightforward answer is something that we can infer a lot from. He is developing his own

ideas of ideals and worship as well. This brings me to my next point.

Diaz is being brought up as a Christian specifically in the Jehovahs Witness religion. Up

until this age he has always just simply accepted what was being taught to him. Now that he has

had so much change in his life in the last couple of months, you can see him questioning more

and more. This is something perfectly normal for him to do at his age. His mother often finds

herself explaining more and more things to her young son. He asks about the origin of life, why

we suffer and if god loves us so much then why do bad things happen to good people.

This is a good opportunity for mother and son to bond and Diazs mother has definitely

taken advantage of that. She sits with him once a week and together they study a publication

titled Questions Young People Ask, Answers that work. This is a Christian youth book that Diaz

enjoys very much. I got the opportunity to watch him and his mother have one of their weekly

sessions and he expressed that he liked the idea of being able to come to his own conclusions and

also being able to understand the why of his religion. Having these questions answers seems to

lessen his frustration of feeling out of the loop as he puts it. Over the past few Ive gotten the

opportunity to see Diaz develop his philosophical opinions and values more and more.
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Social Development:

We dabbled a bit in Diazs social life earlier in our discussion of his physical growth. The

two are very closely linked in this case. Diaz is a new middle schooler and wants his age to be

recognized; often responding to something his mother is saying with an annoyed I know. Erik

Erickson refers to this age as industry vs inferiority. Diaz is becoming more and more aware of

his own personality. Even though this phase is just beginning for Diaz he seems very sure of

everything and as if he will never change his mind. The fact that he feels like that is also

indicative of his emerging adolescence stage that will carry him from child into young

adulthood.

In this part of his development Diaz will need to learn how to interpret others points of

views and emotions. I was there to see his reaction of being told he would be getting bunk beds

and now rooming with his 16 year old brother. Surprisingly even though he gets along with his

older brother, he was upset. He angrily said that it wasnt fair that the soon to come baby was

getting his room. He argued that the baby didnt need a nursery and that he wouldnt move any

of his things out of his bedroom! Diaz will need to learn that situations dont always work out to

our advantage. He also needs to learn how to use his communication skills better and not just

explode and shut down. Another thing that he will need to learn is how to relate to the real world,

his family, and even his parents.

To do this he will need to develop his interpersonal skills more effectively with his

family. His problem solving skills also need some work, instead of just threatening things in

order to attempt and have his way he will need to understand that that is not the way to solve

problems. In conclusion his conflict resolving skills need to be more developed in due time.
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Intellectual Development:

Most kids this age will tell you that they dont like school but they like seeing their

friends, this is exactly what Diaz has said. He enjoys being social at school and he enjoys some

subjects. He likes working in groups but only if he gets to choose his team members. Keeping

Diaz engaged in learning is a difficult thing mentions his mother. There always have to be many

incentives offered and even then he might still decide to not try his best in some courses.

At this age a kid is moving into more abstract thinking they tend to focus more on issues

that are not necessarily associated with them. Diaz will need to develop this skill further.

When asked if he thinks his academics are important Diaz simply nods his head but also give a

slight shrug of shoulders. In his view he mostly hates school and there is nothing an adult can tell

him to change his mind because according to him adults dont understand because they dont

have to suffer in school like him! Even when told that adults at one point also attended school

just like him, he rebuttals with an, its different; they didnt have to deal with what I have to

deal with.

According to Diaz he has low grades because he hates school and the teachers are mean.

When asked if moving on to the next grade level was a motivator for him to improve he nodded

his head yes, almost reluctant to respond. He goes on to say, I know that I have to do better but I

just hate school so much so I dont want to try harder. Diaz thinking and reasoning are not to

par with what his mother would like but they to par with the average preteens his age. His

intellectual development is about average when comes to reasoning and being able to infer

consequences. Often times like in the case of Diaz, he understands some consequences but also

lacks the motivation to do anything to correct issues. As he grows older the disconnect between

those two things is expected to lessen.

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Supplemental Materials:
Physical Development:

Growth chart to illustrate where Diaz is physically and where he end up according to his
percentile:
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Intellectual Development:
Some of Diazs grade shave improved in the past weeks, but there is still room for improvement.
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Recommendations for parents: Diaz an emerging teenager and this is something that can

be very difficult for parents to grasp. Diaz is going through such dramatic changes in all areas of

his development that it is easy for parents to be overwhelmed. It is important to remember that it

is normal for Diaz to be happy and bubbly in one part of the day and more sluggish in a different

part of the day. Diaz is at an age where self-seeking is common, he is trying to figure out who he

is and who he would like to become. Simple answers like because I said so will not aide him in

his search. Explaining things to him on an adult level will help him mature. There will be times

when he full comprehends and then other times when he wont but the important thing is to keep

trying. He wants to be recognized as older and part of this will call for his opinion. He will give

you his opinion whether you ask for it or not. It would be a smoother transition if you as a parent

did try, whenever possible to take his opinion into consideration. Id like to recommend that he

continue his weekly study of his youth book with either parent (some chapters are more father geared).

Recommendations for teachers: Diaz is at an age where peer recognition is very

important to him like many of his other peers his age. An educators reassurance and acceptance

are two things that are very crucial to being able to get across to students in this age group.

Strong support from your behalf helps kids like Diaz develop further confidence in his abilities.

If Diaz knows he has his teachers support then he will continue to make health choices. This

does not mean that slacking behavior is to be allowed but it does call for a more sympathetic

attitude toward all the changes that a kid this age faces. Diaz also needs to be reminded of the

consequences that can follow him in the future. He also needs to be challenged to complete his

work. I say that this is a challenge because it is something that Diaz lacks some motivation in. As

a teacher you might already deal with and know many of these things but a good refresher now

and then doesnt hurt.

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References:

Educational Psychology Interactive: Cognitive Development. (n.d.). Retrieved December

12, 2016, from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.html

Developmental Milestones. (2016). Retrieved December 15, 2016, from

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html

Child Development. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2016, from

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Child_Development.html?id=Wi23HZl3sK8C

H. (n.d.). Childhood Milestones age 11. Retrieved December 17, 2016, from
http://www.webmd.boots.com/children/guide/childhood-milestones-age-11