PEPSI Screening

Rollie Viray

College of Southern Nevada

Name: Josh Viray

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Filipino

Age: 13

Grade: 9th Grade

The person that I’m observing is actually my cousin. He was born in the Philippines on and

moved to America when he was about 6 years old. He is the oldest among two children and he

has a little sister who is 4 years old. He currently attends Tarkanian Middle School. He is a child

of a middle class family with both parents present in his life.

His upbringing is of an immigrant child so he grew up knowing Tagalog as his first language but

later on in his life he started to learn English. It’s very hard for any child from a different country

to learn a new language and school but he seems to have learned how to adapt.

Growing up he was a crazy child and was very loud, but once he got older he started to become

quiet and more to himself. Anxiety and fears start to creep in at the age he is in. Especially with

high expectations there is a lot going on.

The gap between him and his sister is pretty significant so the relationship he has with her is

more grown up and more parent-like, in which he has to kind of help the parents take care of her.

He is a well mannered young man and is growing into himself.

Josh appears to be a below height of a 9th grade boy, he isn’t tall but he isn’t short. He

weighs about 120 pounds and stands around 5’3, so he is a little bit below average in the height

column (Biggers, 2019) in terms of weight he is normal for his height according to medical news

today (Brazier,2020).

He isn’t the most active person in the world, he plays a lot of video games and spends a lot

of time hanging out with friends outside of school. He doesn’t play any sports even though it is

recommended to do some kind of physical activity for at least1 hour a day.(BMC Public

health,2018)

Normal teenager kid who doesn’t have bad eyesight and is constantly playing video games

just like his dad who has a love of video games. He has no known problems physically and had

no problem getting out and doing physical activities. For a teenage boy he is currently learning

more and more about hygiene and is learning to develop good hygiene.

With not really playing any sports and not participating in any other activities besides

hanging out with friends and being on the phone playing a lot of video games he is susceptible to

being overweight in the future if not taking care of the body. (Gavin,2018)
Emotional Development

Josh overall shows good emotions but he is quiet and is very hard to tell what he is thinking

a lot of the time. I have been to different places with him and his family and I noticed that when

he is not around his parents he is a completely different person. His side of energy and crazy

comes out more when he is not around his parents.

Teenagers like to hide emotions and they sometimes even hide anxiety and depression a lot of the

time. (Ruiz,2017) Emotions are a tough thing to deal with and a lot of the times teenagers don't

know how to express themselves especially going into high school. I asked him about high

school and how it is and he doesn’t really give me much because he has learned to high his

emotions. Teenagers are exposed to many different types of media and the media is destroying

their lives sometimes. Teenagers and media really can affect someone’s mood and it can hurt the

teenager.(Rackl,2019)

The stresses they have as kids are high and with Josh it's a little different because he doesn’t

have any other siblings he can relate to. He doesn’t really hang out with his cousins and there’s

no one his age except his friends but sometimes you want family to be around to kind of help

you through.

He is a smart kid and has a good head, his emotions don’t show out much because anxiety

can become a thing in high school. He’s smart and he’s thoughtful so he is emotional there but

just like any other high school student he’s learning more about himself and learning what he

likes and doesn’t like.

Josh grew up in a Christian household they practice the catholic faith and he obviously

follows along to what his parents say. He goes to church and listens to what his parents say most

of the time. What a child thinks about school shows their philosophical development.(Ellsworth,

J’Anne,1999)

He listens to what his parents say but you can tell when talking to him he has questions.

Questions are important and they are good to challenge one's faith to really get stronger in your

faith in whatever you believe in. (Sollberger,2013) Teenagers need to find their own moral code

and they need to figure out what they hold value in life.(Ginsburg,2018)

Josh is a good kid and he listens very well to his parents on what they ask him to do. They are

very protective and he understands that, so when they say don’t do this and don’t do that he

listens very well and he doesn’t do them. At his age there is a lot of growth happening and he

needs to understand that he needs to find his own morals and values.

Obviously he is not going to learn these things very quickly but the age he is in he will find

it and he will learn. He obeys and listens and that’s fine for now, when I was his age I did the

same. I talked to him about this stuff and he doesn’t really know yet but that’s fine because we

are all learning. He will get there but for now he feels its best to listen to his parents and obey

them.
Social Development

Socially Josh is doing well, he has friends and he hangs out with them. Just recently I went

to one of their parties and he had his friends over to hang out and most of the time he was with

them and they were doing teenager things.

He goes to school everyday and rarely misses any school because his parents are very strict

about not missing school and having a good attendance. He has a good social life but it can

always be better(Forder,2019) contributing in social groups is important for teens to do for

various different reasons. It helps them with their moods and stress. It also helps with their

health. Teens these days are prone to being on their phones and not really doing outside

activities.

After school he likes to go home and nap and play video games and do his homework. On the

weekends he sometimes hangs out with friends but not all of the time. He is constantly in his

room and he doesn’t really get out too much. He is socially a little bit awkward but I feel like

that’s because of anxiety.

Kids his age are kind of awkward because they are learning new things about themselves

and learning new things that they like and do not like. High school is a social activity, and it

requires a lot of social skills and kids can really get trapped in high school. Josh does a good job

and says he is doing well in school and socially he’s doing fine. In high school it is important to

develop students socially and emotionally to further develop them as people(Eva,2019)

Intellectually Josh is actually very smart for his age. He is mature and has grown up to be a

responsible person. Like I said before he listens to his parents very well. Growing up you

wouldn’t think it's the same kid. Growing up he was nothing like how he is today.

For example it was very loud and he was crazy and today he’s quiet and reserved but he is also

very smart. He’s a thinker, it runs in the family and we're all kind of like that in the same way. It

runs in my mom's family, the anxiety and depression can really take hold especially when you're

a thinker like him. (Schimelpfening,2020)

He intellectually is smart and does well in school so school is not a problem for him. It goes

back to being a teenager and learning about yourself and he’s learning about himself. I can tell

when I’m around him that he’s thinking, he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing and doesn’t want

to embarrass himself. His anxiety takes over and it shows a lot.

Growing up he used to be embarrassed when his parents would talk to him in his native

language. He would tell them to speak only English, especially when they were around the

school. Now he has grown up and is not embarrassed as much like when he was a kid.

Intellectually he’s where he needs to be, he doesn’t have any disabilities that stop him from

thinking the way he needs to.(Science Daily,2012) it says that children develop intellectually first

before they develop emotionally.

Recommendations

Josh is my cousin and someone I watched grow up into the man he is today. Physically he has

some work to do in terms of finding something physical he likes to do, getting out more and
understanding what he likes to do besides playing video games and being on his phone because

your phone can be a trap and something that really puts you in a dark hole if you let it. Making

sure he’s gets more physical activity so he can grow more and not be overweight when he gets

older.

Emotional development is fine in this category and he needs work in understanding his emotions

better. But he is growing and learning more about himself so this part can be worked on because

he is doing good because he’s a thinker and he can understand his emotions a little better later on

in life. Philosophical in this category he isn’t very knowledgeable in this category but he is

curious which is good, that’s where it started being curious and learning and asking questions is

the firsts step of learning more about what he believes in and his morals and values.

Socially he does well but he needs to hang out more with his friends in my opinion. He gets out

occasionally but not as much as he should. He’s not a social butterfly but he also isn’t not super

quiet. He’s learning and a little award but that’s fine because a lot of us were like that at his age.

He will get it in time and figure out what group of people he likes as he gets older.

Intellectually he’s smart and he has a lot of potential as a human being. He’s a thinker and

he thinks a lot which is a blessing and curse that runs in the family. He will learn to understand

what he is thinking and hopefully harness it to become better as a human. He’s so smart and he

doesn’t know it. As a kid my mom would tell me about how he would say certain things that an

adult would say but he was saying it as a kid. He’s observant and he sees a lot of things, he will

get it with time.

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Forder, ―M. L., About the Author

Meghan Lynch Forder is the communications director for the Center for the Developing

Adolescent. She started her career in television news, & Meghan Lynch Forder

Meghan Lynch Forder is the communications

director for the Center for the Developing Adolescent. She started her career in television news.

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About the Author

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development at school. Greater Good. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from

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elopment
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