Case Study Aydann is a six year old female, who was born in Ft Lauderdale Florida on July 28th, 2004. Aydann has a sister who is 18 years old and is a senior in high school. She lives with her family in a middle class neighborhood in central Florida. Aydann’s mother is of Hispanic decent and her father is of European decent. Spanish is spoken regularly in Aydann’s home by her mother, sister and grandmother, who live one block away, but Aydann has not begun speaking Spanish. Both of Aydann’s parents attended college and have degrees, and work in a professional setting. Aydann’s parents have been married for almost 18 years. The parents reported no complications during pregnancy or delivery. By the age of one Aydann became a picky eater and eventually had to be given supplements to help her gain weight and continue to grow. Although Aydann began babbling at a normal age, she didn’t begin truly speaking, using more than one word when interacting, until she was two. By the time Aydann was two and a half she was back on track language wise with other children her age. She did have another setback in her language progression when she was 5 years old. Do to frequent ear infections she was having trouble pronouncing some sounds. Aydann received tubes in her ears not long after starting kindergarten and was able to receive the help she needed to correct the speech problems she had due to the ear infections. Besides having tubes put in her ears at 5 years old, Aydann has been a healthy child. She is still on the small side, but the doctors say that her small stature is genetic so there is nothing to worry about. Physically Aydann is on track with other children her age. She has not lost any teeth yet, but when asked her mother stated that she lost her teeth later than other children did also. Aydann is very good at sports and she has acquired an enjoyment for running and playing soccer, both she is very good at, even faster than some of the boys that are older than her. Because of Aydann’s athletic abilities I would say that her cognitive skills when compared to those listed in our book on page 223 are normal to above those of other kids her age.
Cognitively Aydann is also on track with her peers. I believe this because Aydann has shown that she can describe her experiences and express her feeling about things. She also is showing less focus on herself and more focus on those around her when talking about things, and how she interacts with kids when they are hurt. Like most first graders Aydann is working on addition and subtraction and only needs a few pointers to help her in completing her work. Also, like most kids her age Aydann’s since of time is screwed. When asked about something that happened, she said that happened when I was little, and when asked how long ago she was little she said a few months ago.
Aydann’s language skill, all though they started out slow, have defiantly caught up with other children her age. She is able to communicate with only a few grammatical/ pronunciation errors. Although I didn’t sit and count the number of different words that Aydann said, between what I saw when I interacted with her and her families reporting of her vocabulary she is well in the range of the 10,000 words that children of the age of six know.
Social Aydann is a very outgoing child. She makes friends easily and enjoys talking to anyone that will listen. Aydann does not seem to have any attachment issues or any shyness with strangers. The one interesting thing that I learned about Aydann is that she will most often be found playing with the boys in her class or in her neighborhood, rather than the girls. While visiting Aydann’s house she showed me her room. Although her room was pink and she had a flowery bedspread and stuff animals, which was as far as “girl” things went in her room. The rest of the toys in her room where cars, airplanes, transformers and other things that one would associate as a boy toy. When talking to her mom she informed me that Aydann has always liked boy toys better and until recently she has refused to wear anything girly, like dresses or skirts. These behaviors are not age appropriate, as the book states that around this age that children’s gender stereo type believes and behaviors strengthen, as well as their preference for same sex playmates.
Since Aydann seems to be progressing at an age appropriate level, I believe that in the next year she will continue to increase her language and cognitive skills, since she is good at sports and is still young enough where peer pressure is not as relevant, she will continue to prefer to play with boys than girls. In five years from now Aydann will be 11; she will be in middle school and gearing up for her teen years. Since she will most likely not lose her teeth till after most kids like her mom, I suspect by now she will have lost all her baby teeth. Aydann has a knack for sports at age 6, so I am sure her agility and sports ability will increase. I am thinking that by age 11, although she will still play sports with boys when she can, she will start hanging out more with girls due to peer pressure and the ever looming changes girls and boys go thru over the next few years. Since Aydann has a stable family unit and support from not only her grandparents, but the church that her family attends regularly, I don’t predict that by age 11 Aydann will have any social or emotional problems. I do see her language skills growing not only her English but also her Spanish; since this was about the age her older sister started taking an interested and wanting to speak Spanish. As time progresses and Aydann turns 16 I see her being an athlete, her agility was very good from a young age and at 6 years old she was faster than most of the boys so I see her continuing with that as a balance to all the school work and pressure of being a teen. Although Aydann will have had several growth spurts by age 16, I think she will still be small for her age, and with the right diet and continued sports activities I do not see any need to worry about her being overweight. I also think this will be the age when we start to see Aydann rebel more. During my time with her you can see that she was mischievous and whenever possible tried to get away with things, so I think as she turns a teen and cognitively she starts thinking more about herself, I see her pushing the envelope more and more.
Although Aydann is mischievous now and that I think she will push the envelope when she is older will be balanced out by her strong family and community support. Aydann’s parents are still married, which in today’s society is a big strength. She has an older sister, who by the time Aydann will reach her teens will be in her mid 20’s, who can help guide Aydann through the things unlike a parent can, but like an older sister can. Aydann not only has her parents and sister to help support her, but she also has her grandparents and two aunts who live close by, and four cousins who are close in age, two who are the exact same age as Aydann. So if they are allowed to continue to grow as friends will be a great support for Aydann to have someone to talk who does not go to her same school. School wise,
Aydann’s parents choice to have Aydann in private school and I don’t see that changing. The school that she attends is a great deal smaller than public schools and is associated with the church that they attend. This is another strong community support for Aydann as she grows.
As far as problems I see occurring, the biggest behavioral thing I see with Aydann is the fact that although she is a girl she tends to relate better to “boy” things. Due to the fact that her parents are understanding and support the fact that she would rather have cars and dinosaurs than dolls and dress up, and her young age has not prompted any problems related to this gender identity issue yet. But if Aydann continues to be reluctant to do “girl” things the maybe future problems with teasing and Aydann having a harder time gaining a confident self image, since society is very boy/girl oriented and does not make it easy on those who don’t follow that gender stereotyping.