GABY 1

Gaby

Samantha Ross

College of Southern Nevada

 GABY 2

Gaby is a fifteen-year-old female. She comes from, what would look like a middle-class

family. Only her parents are filing for bankruptcy. Gaby is the eldest of four children. Her mother

had triplets in May of 2011, to two boys and one girl. Gaby is unaware of the fact that she is

adopted, she does not know her biological mother. Gabys mother Claudia and father Armando

have hired me to tutor the two boys whom have autism. Gaby is of Mexican American descent.

She speaks both English and Spanish. Gaby has been a bit of a rebel when it comes to her school

and social life. When she is not at school she cooks and cleans with her mother who is a stay at

home mother. Intellectually, Gaby is a C average student and suffers from ADHD. She is

heavily influenced by her friends and social media (specifically Instagram and Snapchat). The

subject, spends the rest of her hours watching new movies on her Fire TV Stick. Gaby enjoys

movies so much that she jokingly implies that she is addicted. The remainder of the study will be

focused on Physical -Emotional- Philosophical -Social and Intellectual capacity of my subject

Gaby.

Gaby remains at a steady healthy weight which is approximately one- hundred and

twenty pounds which I was able to establish by asking the subject. I was also able to find out that

she hardly dresses out for her P.E at her high school. Gaby cooks and eats frequently throughout

the day but has mentioned concern about her weight. She is self-contentious about the way she

looks. She often compares herself to models on social media and TV. Although Gaby is very

cautious about what she eats she very rarely works out. It doesnt help that she continues to not

dress out for Physical education at her high school. According to Pardo (2013) she is nowhere

close to the adequate amount of time as recommended in the article entitled Promising School-

Based Strategies and Intervention Guidelines to Increase Physical Activity of Adolescents (p.

234)
 GABY 3

Gaby is extremely unsatisfied with the way her menstrual cycle constantly bring

blemishes to her face. Before the blemishes clear up she gains new ones. Gaby is very particular

to the way she looks. She is very concerned with the clothes she wears. She dresses herself with

as many name brands as possible. She searches the internet in order to find new hair and make-

up tutorials. Ellsworth (2015) states that personal appearance is extremely important amongst the

youth (p. 406). She says she seeks approval amongst the boys at her school. According to

McCown and Snowman (2015), it mentions that it is very likely that a teenager will be sexually

active if the grades of the child are poor (p.102).

Gaby thinks very highly of herself and the way she looks. At Ellsworth (1999) states

adolescents think highly of themselves and in Gabbys case as she thinks of herself now, this

confidence can be gone in an instant (p.407). She tries to eat as healthy as possible. Although she

does not workout, I would consider her to be a health conscious person. Since the subject cares

so deeply about her weight and is always in the kitchen cooking I think that it good that she does

this because it is a good thing to know how to cook healthy. That way she can eat this way versus

always going out to eat fast food. It would be ideal if she were to implement more physical

fitness.

Gaby does not relate well with any of her siblings. Very rarely does she ever speak to her

parents. Gaby usually converses with her friends. Sutton (2010) states this behavior is common,

normal when it comes to teenagers and their parents. Her parents worry about her attitude toward

them because she no longer cares about whether or not she speaks to them or her siblings. She is

often mean towards her sister in particular. Gabys sister Camilla longs for her sisters attention.

Gaby often accuses her sister of being annoying. Gaby has no interest when it comes to her

family. She often spends most of her time hanging out with her friends and wants to be with
 GABY 4

them rather than at home. Gaby is very self-aware, that she knows of. She often wants to be

independent. She considers herself to be able to do things without the help of her parents and

wishes to be free of them. According to an article by Lindsay Cesari entitled Arranging a

Library to Support Adolescent Development, it is normal for sixteen-year-olds to develop a

sense of identity (Cesari, 2014).

As I mentioned before, Gabby is extremely drawn to her friends rather than her family. It

doesnt surprise me that she chooses to confide with her friends rather than her parents or other

family members. She trusts her friends and trusts their conversation more than with her family.

Nor does she have any siblings who are close to her age. The triplets are ten years younger than

she is, so she relates more to her friends. For example, she would have never told her mother that

she was sexually active. Fortunately, enough her mother found out by going through Gabys

social media account. According to Teresa McDevitt and Jeanne Ormond (2010), it is normal for

sixteen-year-olds to show much confidence in friends and peers. According to the book Child

Development and Education, sixteen-year-olds find a lot of reassurance among each other,

rather than their parents (p.207). The challenges that sixteen - year olds undergo are similar.

Sixteen year olds believe only individuals experiencing the same challenges can be able to

understand their predicament.

Gabys social life is surrounded by her friends. During school, after school and at home;

she finds ways to be totally enveloped with her friends. According to Lindsay Cesari (2014), it

is normal for adolescents to spend more time with friends than family members. Gabby most

definitely tells her friends her feelings and secrets, while she doesnt talk to her parents at all.

These relationships are considered in openness, honesty, loyalty, and the ability to keep secrets

(p.44). It seems as if though Gaby has a different kind of personality when it comes to her friends
 GABY 5

and family. Continuing the idea with McDevitt and Ormond (2010) Gaby seem more outgoing

and interested with her friends. For example, Gaby hates going to Chuck-E-Cheese with her

family. She would often say that going to Chuck-E-Cheese is childish. Once one of her friends

mentioned how fun it would be to go to Chuck- E-Cheese, Gaby showed sudden excitement and

agreed how fun it would be to go to Chuck-E-Cheese.

Gabys parents are very strict when it comes to Gabys lifestyle. She sees her friend at

school but after school she is completely accounted for. Her friends can visit Gaby at her house.

Anywhere outside of the house her mother must be present.

While speaking with Gaby it was established that she was capable of reasoning when

encountered with hypothetical situations, according to Slavin (2012) it was is expected of

adolesents (p.103). For instance, when she was asked if according to her opinion she is always

the center of attention when there is a group of people. According to Levine and Munsch (2014)

the concept known as adolescent egocentrism, it was not the answer expected, a considerable

number of youths of her age like being the center of attention. (p.67). When Gaby responds to

some of my questions, it seems as though she does have somewhat of an egocentric attitude. For

example, she told me that if she only had unlikeable clothing and a messy hairstyle she would

not got to school. Through this observation, I dessvocvered that Gaby much more intested in the

way she looked than anything else.

With the utmost respect to my subject. She has expressed her wishes to make a difference

in the world. Gaby displayed an attitude which is common among many adolescents which are

making a difference in the world. She explained to me that she wanted to extreme coupon like

her mother. Than donate the truck load of supplies (that cost her very little) and donate them to

people in need. According to Ellsworth (2015) the desire to make a difference is normal amongst
 GABY 6

adolescents (p.405). In fact she has already started to learn how to coupon on her own without

her mothers help. They spend only pennies when they purchase these items and they dedicate

their work for those who are less fortunate. What she is doing is very admirable and shows a

great sense of selflessness.

Considering what I have observed Gaby needs help with different aspects of her

development. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve her development. When it comes to

Gabys physically, she should be encouraged to workout more. She seems to not be participating

in P.E. at school. If parents and teachers enforced the students to participate instead of letting

them get away with not dressing out. In times of physical development, it is recommended that

both parents and teachers should encourage Gabby to exercise based on the Promising School-

Based Strategies and Intervention Guidelines to Increase Physical Activity of Adolescents

guidelines. It would be ideal if Gaby could work out on her own, she can walk her dog outside or

go to the park for a quick job.

To improve the emotional and social side of the subject, parents should find ways to

relate to Gabby. They should try new or creative ways to spend more time with her, so they can

converse. I recommend that Gabys parents make it a goal to spend time with Gabby in her free

time. The parents and the other sibling can find ways to improve their relationship by finding

way to spend time with each other also, building trust helps the relationship between siblings.

Other than that I recommend for the family to continue to contribute to the society by donating

their product they bought for sale. I believe this is very healthy for Gaby and the family if

everyone were to participate.

 GABY 7

References

Murillo Pardo, B., Garca Bengoechea, E., Generelo Lanaspa, E., Bush, P. L., Zaragoza Casterad,
J., Julin Clemente, J. A., & Garca Gonzlez, L. (2013). Promising school-based
strategies and intervention guidelines to increase physical activity of adolescents. Health
Education Research, 28(3), 523-538. doi:10.1093/her/cyt040

Sutton, A. L., & Thompson Gale (Firm). (2010). Adolescent health sourcebook: Basic consumer
health information about adolescent growth and development, puberty, sexuality,
reproductive health, and physical, emotional, social, and mental health concerns of teens
and their parents, including facts about nutrition, physical activity, weight management,
acne, allergies, cancer, diabetes, growth disorders, juvenile arthritis, infections,
substance abuse, and more ; along with information about adolescent safety concerns,
youth violence, a glossary of related terms, and a directory of resources (3rd ed.). Detroit,
MI: Omnigraphics.

Ellsworth, J. (1999). Today's adolescent: Addressing existential dread. Adolescence, 34(134),

403-8.

Cesari, L. (2014). arranging a library to support adolescent development. Knowledge

quest, 42(4), 44.

McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Child development and education (4th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, N.J: Merrill.

Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Levine, L. E., & Munsch, J. (2014). Child development: An active learning approach (Second
ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.

McCown, R., & Snowman, J., (2015). Psychology applied to teaching (14th ed.). Stamford,