Case Study of

Gerardo, Age 12
Roxana Loya
 Physical
Body growth meant to be fast and uneven.
Growth spurt for adolescents should begin at
about 13 years old for boys.
After growth spurt, the body muscles, heart,
and lungs will be larger in a boys body.
Boys who mature early tend to be more
positive and popular with their peers.
Boys who mature later tend to have poor body
image and low self esteem.
Sexual interest may arise upon puberty. (Snowman
& McCown, 2013, 59).
Gerardo has experienced slight growth in size,
but not yet reached puberty.
Uses a size 8 in shoes.
Gerardo seems to be pretty popular among his
peers.
He has a high self esteem.
Gerardo does not show signs in sexual interest
towards his peers.
 Recommendations for future
development-Physical
According to the University of Washington,
parents should be open to any questions the
adolescent has.
According to the CDC, children tend to be more
concerned with how they look, so it is
Parents should encourage group activities rather important for parents to teach their kids to
than individual dates . love themselves.
Both boys and girls need sexual education.
Help adolescents, they are likely to get acne,
Do not attack the boys about how much food so its important to take them to get help with
they take in or about being lazy. medications.
Acne may begin to appear Help the adolescent feel confident about
Encourage the adolescent in what they wish to oneself.
do, as this is all stated in the University of Encourage the teen to be physically active to
Washington.
maintain a healthy life style.
My personal recommendation would be to gain
the adolescents trust, and be able to adequately
speak to them about what is going on in their
current physical development.
 Emotional
Adolescents usually experience more intense
and heightened sense of emotions compared
to adults.
They do experience more social and emotional
problems, but do not have high social,
emotional, or behavioral difficulties(Snowman
& McCown, 2013, 62).
at 12 years old, adolescents are capable of
taking a third person point of view, which
allows them to understand the expectations of
themselves and others(Snowman & McCown,
2013, 61).
Gerardo tends to overreact and have frequent
mood swings around his family.
He is very sensitive and cares a lot about his
feelings being respected by others
He does not show any signs of depression or
behavioral difficulties.
Gerardo is not violent towards those who
surround him.
Gerardo prefers to do school work in groups as
he learns a lot from his peers. If he does things
alone, he seems to get distracted fairly easily.
 Recommendations for future
development- Emotional
According to the University of Washington,
parents should encourage adolescents to make
their own decisions and set responsibilities for As stated in the CDC, at this age, teens are
themselves. going through puberty, so their hormones are
Do not take the mood swings and change in all over the place. it is important to be patient
attitude extreme as it is only a phase they are and understanding with what they are feeling.
going through. Show interest in the teens life
Being supportive is highly important since the Emphasize what is correct and what is not.
young adults need someone to rely on, as it is
Do not let your emotions get in the way of
stated on the University of Washington.
understanding the child. Their aggressiveness,
My personal recommendation would be to rudeness is only because of the mood swings
listen to what the child wants and be they experience.
considerate of their needs, do not allow a
simple conversation become an argument.
 Intellectual
Piagets formal operational stage: this is the last stage
in Piagets theory.
Students can generalize a particular idea to a whole.
For example: dog is to animal as boy is to human.
The child is able to deal with abstractions, form
hypothesis, and engage in mental manipulations
Gerardo just got out of the concrete operational stage.
(Snowman & McCown, 2013, 28).
Gerardo understands common knowledge as he
Thought that the cognitive development is higher
maintains pretty good grades in school.
influenced by peers than by the adults around the
child. He is very obedient to what his parents ask of him and
have not had nay problems with him rebelling.
Vygotskys theory was referred to as sociocultural
because it maintains how we think is a function of both He has not fallen under the influence of alcohol or dugs
social and cultural forces (Snowman & McCown, 2013, because of his peers or anyone around him.
32).
 Recommendations for future
development- Intellectual
According to the University of Washington, a
parent should not become defensive about the
child, they will not challenge the adults authority.
Support positive ideas and activities they can According to the CDC, at this age children will
interact with. have a better sense of right and wrong, so it is
Try to come up with ways and solutions the important to have a strong communication
adolescent can earn their own income. with the adolescent.
Accept the adolescents feelings, but help them Be honest and sensitive when talking about
be more reasonable or understanding with the delicate subjects with the teen.
situation, as it was stated in the University of Encourage them to make their own healthy
Washington. choices.
My personal recommendation would be to not
Set clear goals and expectations so they can
challenge the child, the adult is always the one
be responsible to reach them.
with the authority and the child will end up being
reasonable. Challenging what they want at the
moment could make things worse.
 Social
Teenagers begin to understand others feelings
better, known as interpersonal reasoning.
Social and conventional system taking-
teenagers begin to understand subtleties of
the interactions involved with others. Actions
are judged by how they might influence all of
the individuals(Snowman & McCown, 2013,
61).
They begin to dress and act like everyone else
around them. (Snowman & McCown, 2013, 60).
Gerardo is very sensitive towards his own
feelings, but does not understand when
someone elses feelings are hurt.
He is not willing to volunteer at anything until
someone else does it first.
He is shy at first then breaks out of his comfort
zone once he has been familiar with his
surroundings.
His style does not reflect upon what his peers
are wearing.
His older sisters or his mother chose his
clothing and he is okay with their choices.
 Recommendations for future
development- Social
According to the University of Washington,
parents should be tolerant to what their kids do.
It is good to have limits and rules, but allow
According to the CDC, at this age teens might
independence whenever it is available to them.
developing an eating problem.

Keep organized and allow extracurricular
activities, as it was stated in the University of
Washington
Do not criticize the circle of friends the child has
made
My personal recommendation would be to keep
the child surrounded by positive events and allow
them to keep themselves busy and happy.
It is possible they experience depression and
sadness, so it is important to be involved in
the teens life.
The teen will feel distant towards the parents,
but it is normal for them to feel different.
May be influenced by their peers and choice of
friends.
 Moral
Kohlberg believed, moral reasoning proceeds
through fixed stages
moral development can be accelerated through
instruction (Snowman & McCown, 2013, 40).
He expanded Piagets theory by doing his
research and adding in his ideas.
12 year old would be aware of different point of
views
Believes that rules can be changed//flexible.
Believe people should listen to the rules because
it is the right of everyone.
Believe aggression should be punished
depending on the victim.
Gerardo is aware that there are other
perspectives other than his own, but always
questions things.
He is secure of himself, but is very curious to
why things are the way they are.
Feels things will accommodate to him as he
goes.
He is not a violent or aggressive young man,
the alterations he has are with his older
brother.
 Recommendations for future
development- Moral
According to the University of Washington, According to the CDC, parents should show
parents need to recognize that child needs to interest in teens academic life.
associate with peers outside of the family.
Make it clear to the teen that the parent is
Help the child understand the consequences of
listening to them and cares about what is
their actions.
going on.
Be aware of the group and things going on
around them, as stated in the University of
Meet and get to know the teens friend in order
to demonstrate a strong sense in
Washington.
communications.
Mutual acceptance and respect for feelings
towards the adolescent and the adult Set reasonable rules and guidelines for the
adolescent to follow at home and when they
My personal recommendation would be to allow are alone.
the child to think of solutions to their own
problems so they can get the hence of what it is Independence and trust is important to the
like. teen at this point in their life.
 References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Child development:
Young Teens (12-14 years of age). Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolesc
ence.html
Snowman, J. & McCown, R. (2013). ED PSYCH. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth,
Cengage Learning.
University of Washington. (1993). Child development: Using the child
development guide. Retrieved from
http://depts.washington.edu/allcwe2/fosterparents/training/chidev/cd06.
htm