Running head: EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 1

Emily Jane Case Study

Jonathan B. Wood

College of Southern Nevada

EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 2

Emily Jane Case Study

Emily Jane is a female nine year old from Las Vegas, Nevada. She is the older of two

children from a middle class family in a predominantly white neighborhood. Both parents are of

English decent and work full time jobs. Both parents are able to spend every evening and

weekends with their children and therefore maintain a healthy relationship with the little girl and

her brother.

This case is used to identify different characteristics of developmental milestones using

the DSHS Fosterparentscope Child Development Guide. Having the observations then be

analyzed using theories of known psychologist to set a background into her identity and

understand where she is developmentally compared to others in her age range. Through several

interactions with the young child in their home, walking home from school and at play with her

friends, the observations made in the following paper identifies different characteristics of that

model and how they apply specifically to her comparatively to that of the model.

Further we explore how her needs are being met using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and

how they contribute to her wellbeing. Finding ways that may help her continue to grow into a

young woman and answering questions about what could be done to aid her in the future.

Physical

Emily Jane appears to follow all of the normal characteristics outlined by the Child

Development Guide for nine to ten year olds. Her appearance actually looks a bit older than that

of the rest of the kids in her grade level. She has strong control over her actions and does not

stumble or fall when running or walking. Emily appears to always be aware of her surroundings

and those that are near her. On several occasions she will outrun her other friends and take the

lead when it comes to trying out activities that require some skill or strength. On one occurrence
EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 3

the other friends, including her younger brother, seemed to be having difficulty finding a toy in

the house. She was able to lift up small chairs and thick blankets that her friends just ignored or

struggled with.

At home Emily has been tasked with taking out the trash and watching and guiding the

family dog outside when he gets rowdy. The dog itself easily outweighs the little girl by several

pounds, yet it responds best to her and she is able to grab it by the collar and guide it outside.

She prides herself in other physical activities like karate. In her class she is steadily moving up

through the belts at a slightly above average rate compared to that of the other few females in the

class.

When characterizing Emily’s physical ability with Piaget theory, she may be suffering

from a form of egocentrism (Snowman, p. 27). Emily displays characteristics that suggest that

she thinks everyone is able to do the same sort of physical abilities she is capable of. When

letting out the dog she does not understand why her younger and weaker brother cannot do it and

why it is her responsibility to perform the task. This continues as well in her karate classes as

she continues to move up quickly through the ranks while other females of her age or older

continue to struggle.

Emily appears to be displaying a high amount of self-esteem through her physical

characterizations. When comparing that to Maslow Hierarchy of needs she would be just below

realizing self-actualization. She feels strong and demonstrates this strength through actions that

are above her age level when looking at the Child Development Guide. She garners the respect

and the affection of others as she displays her unique abilities in karate and normal household

tasks.
EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 4

When reviewing Carol Gilligan’s theory on females (Snowman, p. 43) and how they go

about task management. Emily Jane’s physical development and how she displays her physical

adeptness compared to that of others seems to be on target. However, this could potentially be

shaken when others, such as her brother, gain strength and her body can no longer perform tasks

that she used to feel superior in. In the event of this occurring it would result in her falling on

Maslow’s theory and would need further review.

Emotional

According to the Child Development guide, Emily appears to be following many of the

characteristics of a normal female in her age range. She displays a lot of dependable and

trustworthy acts with her friends. Allowing them to borrow and use her belongings without any

hesitation and always thinking the best of them. She does not worry about them ruining her

items or even possibly losing them. Her greatest obstacle to her emotional stability comes from

her brother. She by all accounts seems to have the most emotional stress when dealing with him,

as he is younger but is very much more aggressive and physical then she is.

When her younger sibling does something she does not agree with she becomes

increasingly agitated and emotional if it does not work out in her favor. She resorts to throwing

tantrums and seeking her parents for conflict resolution. However, when the parents side with

the brother she will begin to cry and scurry off to her bedroom for solitude and independence.

When at play with others if they do not immediately accept her ideas she will traditionally follow

the lead of another, but then subtlety try and implement what her original idea was.

According to Piaget, Emily is at often times displaying characteristics that may be above

her own age level. When looking at the Formal Operational Stage (Snowman, p. 28), Emily is

engaging in different types of mental manipulations in order to achieve some of the results she
EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 5

seeks. By allowing others to take the lead and subtly changing what they are doing to what she

had originally planned shows a higher level of thinking. Her actions go unnoticed by her peers

of that same age level.

In review of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, she is attaining the belongingness and love

that is required for her journey to self-actualization. Though emotionally she may be struggling

with the self-esteem that is needed because she continues to throw tantrums when the outcome

she desires does not occur. Emotionally, can one ever truly reach self-actualization? There are

too many variables and obstacles that would get in the way.

According to Snowman, Emily Jane is highly influenced by the attitudes of her parents

and therefore are in line with where she needs to be in her emotional state (Snowman p.57). As

she progresses this direction she will continue to seek out their guidance and base her emotional

wellbeing on if she is pleasing them or not. The long term effects of her emotional state will

undoubtable shift and change once she reaches adolescence.

Intellectual/Cognitive

Emily Jane has a very high curiosity about a great many things and is questioning things

all the time rather than just accepting things as the way that they are. On several occurrences she

will be reading or watching something on television and turn away and ask a question pertaining

to what it was she had just read or watched. This is especially true when her parents are

watching more adult based programs where the subject matter would be over her head. As a

family they watch the television show Survivor and Doctor Who. She will often ask them to

pause the program to ask why a character would do this or that because she didn’t catch on to the

plot or the scheme that was taking place earlier.

EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 6

She particularly has a high interest in art and is constantly asking to work in her art

studio. Her parents set up a little corner of her bedroom with an easel so that she can pursue that

interest. It has been something she is deeply passionate about and spends a great deal of time

working on. Surprisingly it has not been a fleeting hobby or something she has grown out of as

she has continued to work on it for over two years now. She allows her imagination to take flight

as she paints and draws out whatever she can think of. According to the Child Development

Guide it is abundantly clear to me that she not only meets the traditional intellectual guidelines

but in fact far succeeds them.

Regarding the findings of such theories regarding child development, Piaget suggests that

Emily has in fact mastered the skill of decentration (Snowman, p. 26). As described in the book,

it is the ability to think of more than one quality of an object or a problem at a time. She masters

the ability of staying passionate about her painting yet still obtaining the skills to leave it for a

time and return to it later. When examining Vygotsky theory on spontaneous concepts

(Snowman, p. 34) we learn that Emily is gaining knowledge through communicating with her

parents while she watches television shows. She is doing this unconsciously and as she goes

about normal everyday experiences.

Furthermore, we can discern that under Sternberg triarchic theory of intelligence

(Snowman p.74), which claims that intelligence is composed of creative, practical and analytical

components, that Emily is in fact showing all of three of these messages. Her ability to

comprehend what is occurring on the television program is using all three of the abilities he

describes.

 Practical – She seeks the relevance of the situation on the program to the overall

plot of the story.

EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 7

 Creative – She provides theories as to what the characters or situations will

comprise of over the length of the program.

 Analytical – She compares them to other things that she has experienced or other

situations she is familiar with.

When comparing Emily’s growth with that of Gardener’s multiple intelligences theory

(Snowman p.75), one could claim that Emily might fall into the category of someone whom is

Intrapersonal. She is aware of her own feelings and uses her own self-awareness to determine

the best way to go about gaining the knowledge she desires or the space that she requires. Her

use of painting indicates that she likes to be in her head with her thoughts and imagination. It is

a time for her to use self-reflection and express herself in a way that does not rely on anyone

else.

Intellectually she appears to be on the cusp of Self-actualization in terms of Malsow’s

Hierarchy of Needs. Her abilities regarding intelligence and cognitive displays seem to be met

on all of the categories underneath it. She has a high amount of self-esteem when it comes to her

homework and her ability to understand a situation or a problem, as well as being motivated to

take on individual tasks that peak her own interests.

In regards to Piaget’s stages of Cognitive Development (Snowman, p. 25) Emily Jane is

acting at a higher level of development. It appears that she has reached a more formal

operational where we see her deal with problems systematically and able to engage is some

mental manipulations. As she continues to grow older she would be able to form hypotheses

quicker and discover answers to her problems herself by continually asking questions and

researching the answers.

EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 8

Social

When interacting with peers of her age and younger, Emily tends to prefer group

activities. She constantly is trying to have a more dominant leadership role and have her friends

do things that she is interested in doing. As per the normal for a child of her age, she best

interacts with children of her same sex as they seem to identify more together with similar

interests. In the observation that took place after school hours and heading home, only a few

male classmates would interact and say goodbye to her, yet nearly every female classmate would

say goodbye and that they would see her later. Many would give her a hug or just wave as they

walked to their parents or to the school bus.

Though as mentioned in the Intellectual portion of this paper, she prefers to keep to

herself and not share many of her art pieces with others. It is one of the times she prefers little to

no social interactions and likes to do things for herself. She will even shy away from displaying

her art to her peers and even at times to her family members. This is one of the few

characteristics that are different than that of the DSHS Fosterparentscope Child Development

Guide regarding Social Development for her age and sex. She further displays this anti-social

behavior at karate where she only interacts with her brother on a social level. She is encouraged

to display her skill with others, and does so with them, but tends not to speak to her fellow karate

classmates once the session is over.

Erikson’s psychosocial development might suggest that Emily could possibly be suffering

from role confusion (Snowman p.19). This is when one is uncertain of what behaviors will be

looked at favorable from others. I could see how this comes into play with her skill in karate.

She could be perhaps intimidated by interacting with male or female counterparts that she had

just dominated over in the dojo. Unsure if by beating them that they would have no interests in
EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 9

being her friend and that the exercise was not a competition but just a practice to hone her own

skill.

Marcia’s notion of Identity Statuses (Snowman p. 20) lead this research to believe that

Emily is part of the Moratorium stage (Snowman, p. 21). She displays qualities that suggest that

she has given some thought to her identity and is still questioning them. She is unsure of some

of her social interactions and is hesitant to share everything she knows or has done. At times

questioning if she really likes a person or a situation that she is in and if she would like to

continue in that direction or not.

Socially it would appear that her feelings of belongingness are not being met on the

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for this category. She is constantly unsure of where her place is

and if she is fitting in with her competitors in her class. This is especially true in regards to boys

in general. She displays an awkward shyness that may stem from her parents or from her own

self-doubts about what is expected of her when speaking with the opposite sex. Deciding to

avoid most interactions with boys we see her continually move closer to the other females in her

age range.

According to Snowman, this is perfectly natural for a child of nine years of age as

friendships become more selective and gender based (Snowman p. 57). This would undoubtable

continue through her adolescence and well into her young teenage years. Findings show that

females within this age range begin to try and find others that identify with them on not only a

physical level but also on an emotional level. We can suspect that this behavior will continue for

a few more years as she continues to age and grow.

EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 10

Moral

The DSHS Foster parent scope Child Development Guide suggests that children in the

subject’s age range are very competitive; this is a characteristic that is not presented by Emily.

While her younger sibling continually tries to show how strong and competitive he is, she often

ignores it and rather congratulates him on his wins or loses. She enjoys the competition but

tends to view it as more of game for the sake of playing rather than an act of who may be

superior to the other. Also she has no issues accepting her mistakes and fessing up to them. It

appears this may because in the past and from watching her other sibling, the consequences for

lying about something seems harsher to her than the initial reprimand would be. Speaking with

the parents makes this more abundantly clear as they themselves have repeatedly told me that

they are ok with mistakes that the children make if the tell them right away before the issue

becomes worse.

Emily Jane easily fits into Piaget theory regarding adaptation (Snowman, p. 23). She is

able to see exactly what her younger brother had done and quickly adjusts her behavior to try and

not follow the same course of action that the sibling took. Taking advantage of the real world

situation and applying them to herself to avoid an unfavorable outcome. Also, one could stress

that Emily Jane still may suffer from Piaget idea of Morality of Constraint (Snowman, p.41) as

she still believes that all rules are established by someone in a person of power or authority.

Thus trying to conform to what they want by not questioning the rules.

This way of thinking leads into Kohlberg’s six stages of moral reasoning and having

Emily fall into the idea of conventional morality (Snowman p. 42) where she is trying to impress

others with her respect for their authority and play it safe. By observing the misbehavior of

others she is trying to attain a better perception for herself. In many respects this also can be
EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 11

seen in Gilligan’s theory (Snowman, p 43) regarding female behavior. Gilligan claims that

woman care less about independence and more about remaining loyal. This could be the

reasoning Emily Jane prefers to adapt her behavior so that she will remain in that favorable

condition that her parents would view as being an obedient and well behaved child. Another

theory by Nel Noddings suggest that this could also be regarded to her caring tendencies

(Snowman, p 43). Which claims that a care theory is based off of relationships. Emily Jane

moral adaptation could be one because she cares about her parents perceptions of her and that

she continually is craving a deep caring relationship about what she is doing.

These contributing factors are showing that her Self-Esteem is rather high for her

morality. She is very confident and does not need to engage in fruitless labors of competition but

rather be happy about just playing the game in general. Her interactions suggest that she is more

satisfied with other females of her age level. With regards to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,

Emily Jane’s Self Esteem is being met on a moral level.

According to Erikson and followed up by James Marcis suggest that she has developed a

good sense of identity (Snowman, p. 21). Since this case study began, she has shown

exceptional growth in this field by continually choosing to invest in her own beliefs that further

her moral strengths. As she continues down this path it would by all accounts appear that she

will become more involved in other promising moral teachings.

Summary

Emily Jane shows many of the general characteristics of a healthy developing nine year

old child. Often she takes the time to assist others and help them out with activates or duties

around the house. The relationship she has built with her brother was an interesting one to

observe as there is a lot of give and take between the two of them. Together the pair seem to be
EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 12

each other’s best friend, but from that dynamic you can also tell in many ways she feels like his

guardian but also feels protected from her younger brother. They both look out for one another

in a strong bond that is very endearing and speaks levels to where she is at in the DSHS

Fosterparentscope Child Development Guide.

Having the viewpoints and theories of many Psychologist enrich the text and are able to

help us discern a clear picture of what is occurring with the young woman as she grows. These

theories provide an ample amount of evidence and depth to what is occurring in the mind of

Emily Jane and gives an insightful look into the mind of the child.

The findings suggest that she is highly intellectual but suffers mildly on the moral scale.

Not in a severely negative way. Just that she does not engage in the typical competitiveness that

is suggested by the study. Her placement in the Physical, Social, Emotional side of the

developmental guide seems to be accurate and acceptable for her age. All accounts point to her

being a healthy normal nine year old.

EMILY JANE CASE STUDY 13

References

DSHS Fosterparentscope (1993) “Development Milestones for a Child nine to ten years”,

Retrieved from

http://depts.washington.edu/allcwe2/fosterparents/training/cdevguid/cdg11.htm

Snowman / McCown, (2013). ED Psych: Student Edition. Wadsworth: Cingage Learning.