CHILD DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN

A CASE STUDY OF A TEN-YEAR-OLD CHILD

A case study report

submitted to the
College of Education
University of the Philippines Diliman

In partial fulfillment
of the requirements in
EDH 115

Submitted by
Renee Andrea B. Arellano

Submitted to
Ma’am Maria Cecilia Zamora

December 13, 2018

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I: Introduction 1
Chapter II: Objectives 1
Chapter III: Profile 2
Chapter IV: Health Description
General appearance 3
Physical Health 3
Cognitive Health 4
Social Health 4
Emotional Health 5
Behavior 5
Environmental Health 5
Chapter V: Analysis 6
Chapter VI: Health Plan 8
Chapter VII: Conclusion 13
References 13
I. Introduction
Children are vital to the nation’s present and future. It is essential that their peers ensure

that they are healthy in order to reach their full potential. Making sure that the child is healthy

during their early years will set the stage for their perspective on health in their adulthood, which

results in healthy adults. Child development is defined as the normal progression from birth to

adulthood. It typically explores the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes seen in

children. The development in the mentioned domains are thought to greatly affect their

adulthood experiences and their overall health. Furthermore, it is a process that involves

learnings skills, which are called developmental milestones. Although children mature at very

different rates, there are certain periods wherein most children will achieve a milestone and there

are expectations of how a child is supposed to perform given their age group.

Observing a child’s progression and health status is important to ensure that a child is’ on

the right track.’ It is also an important tool in screening of any problems. Early detection of

developmental hiccups and risk behaviors is essential in minimizing the impacts to their well-

being and confidence by implementing health programs and offering additional help. In addition,

understanding child development and the need to invest in children will help in maximizing their

future well-being.

This paper focuses on assessing school-aged children, ages 6-12. There are multiple

factors that could influence a child’s development and health such as environmental factors,

biological factors, and interpersonal relationships. However, school-aged children spend majority

of their time in the classroom. This highlights the influential role of teachers and their duties in

their students’ progress and health. Not only to they have the task of teaching but also ensuring

the holistic development of their students, which is why assessing the needs of every child in

their classroom will help them plan out their lessons and teaching methods accordingly. This

stresses the need for a comprehensive school health program that will influence the child’s

knowledge, attitude, and behavior that will ultimately improve their quality of life.

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II. Objectives
This paper has three primary objectives:

1) To assess if the child is generally meeting their developmental milestones

2) To identify the child’s needs in terms of overall well-being
3) To improve the status of child’s health by developing a health plan

III. Profile

Maria Alexandra “Malex” A. Sapungan is a 10-year-old child. She was born on June 8,

2008 and is the eldest among her siblings, with three younger brothers. She is currently a Grade

5 student at Miriam College Grade School. She lives with her family in Marikina but frequently

goes to her grandparents’ house. It is evident that she is very close with her extended family.

Being the eldest, she is very responsible and it shows in how she performs in school. Malex

mentioned that she likes all of her subjects and studies on her own. In general, Malex seems to

be a happy child, smiling often. Although very shy and timid when meeting strangers, she easily

warms up and can hold a conversation effortlessly. She is also very respectful. Her hobbies

include reading and watching movies; she even boasts of being able to read a whole book in one

sitting. Malex is also very interested in clothing and is mindful of her appearance.

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IV. Description of Health

General appearance

The general appearance of Malex seems good, normal, and healthy. Although she wears

glasses, she has normal and clear eyes. There is no discharge present in both her ears and nose.

She also has relatively clean teeth, but it was mentioned that she does not go to the dentist

regularly. Lastly, she has clear and smooth skin with no cuts, bruises, or wounds seen. As for her

body mass index

Physical Health

The child is generally in good physical health. She seems physically active as she

frequents the park with her relatives. She is also active in school as she is part of the cheerdance

club and plays kickball for her physical education class. As seen in her monitoring sheet (see

appendices) however, there are days wherein she would have zero hours of exercise or sports

activity. She does the following independently and regularly: washing hands, brushing teeth,

bathing, dressing up, and eating. In terms of her food and water intake, it could be improved.

Malex eats nutritious food and take vitamins, but she admits that she does not like eating

vegetables and that would only eat it when it is mixed within the dish (e.g. sinigang). It is also

seen that she mostly eats processed foods and likes sweets a lot. As for water intake, she prefers

juice and soft drinks. This is evident in her monitoring sheet, where she only averages of one

glass of water per day; the rest of her liquid intake is juice and soda – which averages to three

glasses and one glass per day, respectively. She regularly sleeps on time for an average of eight

to nine hours per day. She currently weighs 79 pounds and stands at 4’8. Her body mass index is

17.7, which is within the normal range.

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Cognitive Health

After observing Malex, her cognitive development seems to be on the right track. She can

easily identify similarities and differences among objects as seen in how she can identify the

dresses that her aunt describes when she was asked to get it. She is also capable of sequencing

events and displays the capacity to conserve. In addition, the child manifests basic literacy and

numeracy skills, as she is already in middle school. Lastly, she reads with understand and

follows instructions with ease. This is manifested in how she can do her schoolwork on her own.

Social Health

In general, Malex seems to be sociable. She plays and interacts with other children,

especially her relatives. She is very close to her cousins since their age gaps are minimal.

Furthermore, she mentioned that she has four close friends from school. According to her

monitoring sheet, she averages around 5 hours a day for leisure or playtime. At her age, some of

her leisure time is spent at friends’ birthday parties. Most of her playtime goes to watching

movies, playing games on her phone, and reading books. She spends around 3-5 hours on her

phone or watching movies on the weekends. During the weekdays, no screen time is allowed as

her mom keeps her phone and watching television is prohibited. The child is also very polite,

which is seen in the way she interacts with people. She readily expresses what she feels,

however, it was observed that she can be indecisive and rarely says yes. When asked about what

she wants, she either says ‘no’ or ‘I don’t know.’ As mentioned, she is very close to her family –

including her extended family. From conversing with Malex, she mentioned that they do not

have any household help so she helps around the house and has her fair share of household

chores.

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Emotional Health

From the observations, Malex can be considered as ‘socially awkward’ and does not

appear as confident as other children. She rarely starts the conversation, however, she can be

sociable when the situation calls for it. She also has a bit of difficulty in expressing or showing

emotions appropriately, as she normally has a blank face. According to her relatives, she does

not readily express when she feels happy and tends to refrain from smiling. Nonetheless, she

seems generally happy especially when around her friends and family. She also likes studying

and taking care of her younger brothers. It is also observed that she does not have problems when

seeking help and is very helpful, as seen in how she helps her brothers.

Behavior

Malex’ behavior is generally pleasant. She is very cooperative and readily follows

instructions. She rarely complains when her mom asks her for a favor and is responsive during

the observation process. She is also very patient and can generally follow a routine. During

observations, she is very attentive and readily answers questions. Another positive trait was that

she focuses on the tasks. During one of the home visits, Malex was watching a movie but when it

was time to interview her, she stopped watching and was not distracted by the movie the whole

time. It was also observed that she responds accordingly to given situations.

Environmental Health

The child’s knowledge on environmental health is moderate. Malex believes that human

beings have the duty to protect the environment. With this being said, she consciously conserves

energy by turning off electrical appliances and turning off the faucet when they are not in use.

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Furthermore, she practices waste segregation in school; however, the practice does not follow at

home. It should also be noted that they do not have any pets and plants at home so it was difficult

to assess if she cares for animals or plants. It was mentioned earlier that she helps in household

chores and that includes cleaning her own room, however, her room is not as neat. She also does

not have any knowledge on basic first aid and emergency responses.

V. Analysis

According to Manczack and Brayden (2012), children ages 9-10 are more concerned in

clothing and appearance. Furthermore, they are more active as they participate in more sports

and games. This is generally observed in Malex, which means she is progressing at the same

pace with the rest of the children from her age group. However, it was mentioned that there are

days wherein she would have zero hours of exercise or sports. According to World Health

Organization, children aged 5-17 should do at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical

activity daily. Analyzing the child’s activities, she could improve more by adding physical

activity to her routine especially during the weekends. Another area that could be improved on is

her nutrition. There is a lot of deviation between the Food and Nutrition Research Institute’s

(FNRI) recommended eating plan for young children and Malex’ food and liquid intake. A

reason for this is because their family often buys junk food. As for her sleeping habits, she seems

to be meeting the recommended hours of sleep per day. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2016)

Malex’ cognitive health and development seems to be typical for her age group and

generally exhibits intellectual wellness. She has overall good social and emotional health and

seems to be experiencing the typical developmental milestones for her age. However, further

support from family and friends should be given to her since she tends to very shy. It is

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recommended that her family encourages her to be more confident and to be more decisive.

Further research and observations should be done to form proper intervention. Another issue that

should be tackled for her social health is her screen time. According to Australia’s Physical

Activity Recommendations, 5-18 year-olds should accumulate no more than two hours of screen

time per day for entertainment. As seen from observations, there is big deviation from the hours

Malex spends on her phone and watching movies on the TV. Research shows that children who

exceed the recommended screen time are more likely to be overweight, be less physically active,

drink more sugary drinks, eat more junk food, and have fewer social interactions. (SA

Government, 2011) Nonetheless, she shows no problem in terms of her behavior.

Lastly, progress and intervention is needed to increase Malex’ knowledge on

environmental health. Instilling first aid skills in children is important as it is a life skill that will

be carried on to adulthood. Aside from the hard skills, knowing first aid can also help the child

form a better sense of leadership and improve their communication skills. Furthermore,

practicing waste segregation helps save the environment as well as forming discipline among

children. In order to address the child’s physical, social, and environmental concerns, three

health programs that each target the domains mentioned are proposed.

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VI. Health Plan

Health Plan 1: Junk food and sugary drinks

HEALTH CONTENT AREAS
Nutrition: Consumption of junk food and sugary drink may be a habit and could carry on to
adulthood. Proper nutrition is especially important for young children as it could affect their
developmental stages. As for school-aged children, it is specifically important as it increases
their potential to benefit from education and because they are a lot more active at this age.
Physical health: Having an active lifestyle means that school-aged children should get the proper
nutrition to give them energy
Prevention and Control of Diseases and Disorders: When junk food and sugary drinks becomes a
majority of one’s diet, it can leave the child deficient in vitamins. This can result in a weak
immune system that is susceptible to diseases.

OBJECTIVES
- To lessen the intake of junk/unhealthful food such as chips, sweets, and processed food
- To increase the intake of water
- To educate children on the nutritional value of unhealthy food and negative effects of
these on the health of an individual
- To present and promote alternatives for these unhealthy food
- To develop a partnership between the school and home to address the children’s
unhealthy habits

FRAMEWORK
Theory of Behavior Change

Stages in Transtheoretical Negative Behavior (Consuming unhealthy food and sugary drinks)
Model

Pre-contemplation Children consuming junk food and sugary drinks aren’t aware of their
negative behavior. These children may be consuming these because it is
delicious than vegetables or water.

Contemplation Children would realize their unhealthy consumption habits. A close person
may have advised them to watch out for their food intake. School and
media could also be a reason as to why children’s awareness increases
regarding unhealthy habits

Preparation Children would then be offered alternative snacks and would be encourage
to consume the healthier options.

Action The children will start to have healthier eating habits. School-aged

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 children will start bringing their own baon to ensure that they are eating
healthy

Maintenance With the help of the school and home, children will maintain their healthy
eating habits.

STRATEGIES
SCHOOL
Personal Food Pyramid
Purpose: Help students assess their food intake
Procedure:
- Teacher shows and explains the basics about food pyramid 

- Then asks students to honestly make their own food pyramid 

- Each student shares his or her work 

- Processing follows

Healthy food tasting parties

Purpose: Apply nutrition concepts in preparing nutritious food
Procedure:
- Ask the students to research and create a menu of a balanced meal and have them
include healthier alternatives for sweets and junk food
- Students will prepare, serve, and taste the menu as part of their output
- A processing and discussion of the activity will follow

Decision stories
Purpose: Go through the decision making skills process to solve an issue, problem or concern
Procedure:
- Pose different situations/concerns such as deciding what to eat, eating chips,
consuming sweets, deciding between soda or water
- Divide the class into groups and give guide questions that will help the group arrive at
a decision such as the following:
 What is the nutritional value of chips and sugary drinks?
 How often should you consume junk food and sugary drinks?
 Can you balance the consumption of these with physical activities? If yes,
what?
 What composes a balanced meal for you age group?
- Students will present what their group was able to come up with.

Habit tracker

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Purpose: to help students in drinking eight glasses of water everyday into a habit
Procedure:
- Have the students make a list of events that they should do everyday
- Must have a habit tracker in a notebook that includes water intake (other habits to put:
sleep hours, screen time, exercise, food intake, etc.)

HOME
Grocery shopping habits
- The parents must refrain from buying junk food and sugary drinks
- Encourage the children to bring their own baon so that their diet is properly
controlled
- Family must practice proper eating habits as they are role models

Health Plan 2: Screen time and physical activity during weekends

HEALTH CONTENT AREAS
Social health: Screen time lessens actual interaction with other people.
Cognitive health: Since watching movies or playing games on your phone is mostly passive
activity, the brain is not exercised.
Physical health: More screen time during the weekends lessens the time for physical activity.
Personal health: Exceeding the recommended screen time per day has negative consequences on
the holistic health of the child.

OBJECTIVES
- To lessen the screen time of the child during weekends
- To increase the minutes spent on physical activity
- To increase awareness on the dangers of screen time
- To promote alternatives for leisure/playtime

FRAMEWORK
Theory of Behavior Change

Stages in Transtheoretical Negative Behavior (Excessive screen time and low physical activity on
Model weekends)

Pre-contemplation Children do not know the negative consequences of excessive screen time
and not meeting the recommended minutes for physical activity. They
must prefer staying inside and playing games/watching movies because of
emergence of technology

Contemplation Children would start to realize the unhealthy habit. School and family may
have advised them about the dangers.

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Preparation Children would then be encouraged to play outside more

Action The children will start meeting the physical activity goal and start
lessening their screen time. They would also start doing alternatives for
their playtime such as boardgames or arts and crafts

Maintenance With the help of the school and home, children will maintain their healthy
habits and increase their quality of living

STRATEGIES
SCHOOL
Physical Education and Health
- The school should maintain their physical education program and should ensure that they
are offering a variety of activities so that the students are interested
- Their health classes should also tackle why physical activity is important for their
development and why screen time can be detrimental to their health
Alternative learning
- Set time wherein kids could explore different hobbies such as dancing, crafts, painting,
etc.
- This would allow the students to be aware that there are other things they can do besides
being on their phones or watching TV

HOME
Control screen time
- Parents must be more mindful in controlling the screen time of their children
Alternative activities
- Parents should make an effort and letting their children explore different activities
- Must try going to parks or museums
- Should also explore different hobbies with their children

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Health Plan 3: First aid and waste segregation
HEALTH CONTENT AREAS
Environmental health: Learning both first aid and waste segregation are life skills that could
benefit the whole community, not just the children. The children must know that they have a
responsibility to the environment and the community

OBJECTIVES
- To increase awareness on environmental degradation
- To teach first aid
- To teach waste segregation and maintain the practice at home

FRAMEWORK
Life Skills
- This health plan specifically targets the skill of being a responsible citizen

STRATEGIES
SCHOOL
First Aid Workshop
Purpose: to teach students the basic of first aid
Procedure:
- Invite a professional to talk and teach the students
- Allow the students to try it
- Discussion follows about its importance

Environmental Science
- Taking care of the environment must be integrated into their science curriculum

Field trip
- To synthesize what they learn in class, the schools could arrange a field trip to a local
recycling center to learn more about the processes and its benefits

HOME
First Aid Kit and Emergency Hotlines
- In order to maintain the child’s knowledge of first aid, the family must have their own
first aid kit
- Important emergency hotlines must also be posted where the child can see easily (e.g. on
the refrigerator)

Waste Segregation
- The family must have their own waste segregation process at home

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VII. Conclusion
In general, Malex has developed properly in terms of domains analyzed and is on the

right track. Aside from a few aspects in her physical, social, and environmental health that needs

improvement, she is also generally healthy. With the help of the health plans, it is expected that

she will be able to form healthier habits and have a more concrete knowledge on health.

References

American Academy of Pediatrics. (2016). Healthy Sleep Habits: How Many Hours Does Your
Child Need? Retrieved from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-
living/sleep/Pages/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-How-Many-Hours-Does-Your-Child-Need.aspx

Department of Health and Ageing (2004) Australia’s Physical Activity Recommendations for 5-
12 year olds. Retrieved from
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/bf5f3e0045d0b6eda24fae9f9859b7b1/OPALs
creenfactsheet-sss-20110217.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-
bf5f3e0045d0b6eda24fae9f9859b7b1-msgr-uw

Food and Nutrition Research Institute. (n.d.). Daily Nutritional Guide Pyramid for Filipino
Children (7-12 yrs) [Digital Image]. Retrieved from
http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph/index.php/tools-and-standard/nutritional-guide-pyramid#kids-7-
12yrs-old

Manczak, D.W. and Brayden, R. (2012). Normal Development: 9-10 years. Pediatric Advisor
12.2 Index. Atlanta, GA: RelayHealth.

SA Government. (2011) OPAL Screen Time [Fact Sheet]. Retrieved from

https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/bf5f3e0045d0b6eda24fae9f9859b7b1/OPA
Lscreenfactsheet-sss-20110217.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-
bf5f3e0045d0b6eda24fae9f9859b7b1-msgr-uw

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Physical activity and young people. Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_young_people/en/

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