MY VIRTUAL CHILD

CAIDEN APOLLO AT 6 YEARS OLD

There are a variety of approaches to the study of individual differences in cognitive ability. Three areas that are commonly assessed by current cognitive abilities tests are verbal ability, spatial ability, and logical-mathematical ability. Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences approach added additional domains of intelligence based on developmental and neuropsychological evidence: musical ability, physical/athletic ability, intrapersonal skill (understanding of the self and others, theory of mind), interpersonal skill (social competence, perspective taking), and more recently, naturalistic intelligence (understanding of the natural world). In the program, levels of verbal, spatial, logico-mathematical, musical and bodily-kinesthetic ability are influenced by your questionnaire responses. These abilities can be changed slowly by a large number of environmental factors.

The behavior of the child at any given point is consistent with the child's developmental level. For example, a child with high musical ability in middle childhood will be enthusiastic and talented in the school instrumental program, a child with average musical ability will take up an instrument, learn something about music, but not become accomplished at it, and a child with low musical ability will be uninterested in playing an instrument and unable to carry a tune. Another example is that children who are low in verbal ability go through the language milestones (such as speaking in grammatical sentences) at a slower rate, and have lower interest in reading and lower reading comprehension later in childhood, than children of average or above average ability.

The student parent has choices whether to push the child in each ability domain, and in some cases this can result in steady progress. Intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence are captured by underlying variables in the program such as attachment security, emotionality, peer competence, self control, and the three personality types. These aspects of the child are also influenced somewhat by your questionnaire responses, and can change in response to cumulative effects of social experiences and parenting choices. 

Two weeks ago Caiden Apollo fell off the climbing gym at school and broke his arm. Caiden Apollo and the entire family went through a bad couple of weeks with all of the doctor's visits, pain, and difficulty sleeping Caiden Apollo experienced. ngRepeat: answer in moment.content.answer ngIf: admin Caiden Apollo alternates between enjoying the extra attention from the family and being cranky and out of sorts.

1. Caiden Apollo is communicating in grammatically correct sentences for the most part, and has a vocabulary that's steadily expanding.

You are impressed by how well Caiden Apollo’s teacher reads stories. You find some books of interest to Caiden Apollo and read them aloud, using different voices to make the story more dramatic. You pause occasionally (like the teacher) to ask questions and get Caiden Apollo talking.

•         As parents, it is very important to train your child and education actually starts at home so it is one of the responsibilities of the parents to teach their child first and then their teacher at school. Reading incredible stories to Caiden is very helpful especially in his way of thinking, imagining new things and most especially his vocabularies. We let him read books as much as he can so that he could learn more and have enough knowledge when he’s in school. He’s teacher is also good and very smart that she really have a focus with Caiden especially in his Grammar class. It’s a very good practice.

Caiden Apollo really knows the routines now in restaurants and only occasionally gets rambunctious. Now you need to work on Leticia Salvacion! Fortunately, she now has a well-behaved older sibling to imitate, so perhaps your task will be easier this time around.

2. Caiden Apollo seems to be having a new round of colds and stomach aches, and has had to miss several days of school this fall.

You recognize this is part of the normal process of building up immunities, and do nothing special other than to care for Caiden Apollo when he is ill.

•         As parents, we will make sure that his illness would not take too long. We’ll take him to the doctor and make sure to give his medicines and just present an excuse letter to her teacher because of the illness he had. This is only a simple colds and normal aches and there’s also some antibiotics and of course give him a vitamins so that it can’t really affect his body. As parents we will take good care of him and let him eat some nutritious foods and to look out on his proper hygiene.

You and your partner sometimes have arguments over daily issues.  You notice that both Caiden Apollo and Leticia Salvacion are aware of these arguments, and seem to be emotionally upset or misbehave for a couple of hours after the argument. Caiden Apollo is more sensitive than Leticia Salvacion. You explain to Caiden Apollo that sometimes you and your partner disagree but you still love each other and love Caiden Apollo and Leticia Salvacion.

3. Caiden Apollo started to read some easy rhyming books toward the end of kindergarten. In first grade, he really seems to be taking off, and is reading first and even second grade books.

Since Caiden Apollo already has good phonological awareness and has learned to decode, you figure the best thing would be to find fun and challenging new books for him to read with your help.

•         It’s because Caiden really improved so well, we will let him explore more to widen his reading abilities and imagination through letting him read more advance books like for example encyclopedia, adventurous books, discoveries and more. We will help him and be there and when he asks for some questions.

Caiden Apollo is pretty good at learning the words of songs in school and has a decent voice. You ask him if he would like voice or piano lessons but he is not very enthusiastic. However, Caiden Apollo starts to learn how to play the electronic keyboard at home, following the simplified musical notation in the little book.

4. Caiden Apollo has been imitating what Dad does more and more, even down to gestures and turns of phrase. He wants to hang around whenever Dad is doing anything interesting, such as trying to repair the plumbing (without cursing), or going to the store.

You encourage this, but you also try to encourage him to try out traditionally “feminine” activities such as cooking. It helps because Dad enjoys cooking already.

•         As his mother, I will let Caiden learn also the feminine activities like cooking so that he could do more and at the future, he could be a good and all around husband. There’s no big deal if he learns how to cook or sweep the floor, it is one way to teach him to be an industrious kind of man. 

Caiden Apollo's memory is getting better. He can beat you on certain memory games such as Concentration because he remembers where the cards are located. But when he tells people about things that happened to him, he leaves a lot of details out and sometimes gets the order wrong. You join in the retelling of the experience, prompting Caiden Apollo with questions, rather than just butting in and telling it yourself.

5. Caiden Apollo cheats at games when he can get away with it. Sometimes when he gets caught, he gets upset and doesn't want to keep playing the game. You realize that Caiden Apollo hasn't developed a strong sense of morality yet.

You remind Caiden Apollo of the rules, tell him that cheating is bad, and say, “We’ll play again later when you can follow the rules.”

•         With his age and without proper guidance, Caiden will develop to be a cheater or he will never learn how to follow the rules so as parents, we will not tolerate this because cheating is a very serious kind of problem even if it’s a simple game. We will tell him to stop cheating and follow the rules and we will guide him because it is our responsibility as parents to remind him of the good and bad. We will also tell him to be a good sport so that he will learn good conduct.

6.  Caiden Apollo is working at grade level in math and science but isn't particularly interested in these topics in school.

You encourage an interest in math and science by taking Caiden Apollo to the science museum, checking science books out of the school library and reading them, and doing little science experiments described in some of the books, even if Caiden Apollo does not seem all that interested sometimes.

•         We will encourage him to watch some science shows like experiment shows, discoveries and yes, take him to the science museum so that his science skills will develop even more and he’ll be more interested and realize that Science and Math are also interesting subjects.

7. Caiden Apollo is fairly interested in participating in sports, although at present, you would guess he'd be only an average player. However, with a little practice, he could enjoy any number of sports. Based on Caiden Apollo's interest, you enroll him in:

Soccer and baseball

•         We decided to enroll him to a soccer and baseball class or play because it is very rare for a six year old child to play these sports. These sports are very good training for a child.

8. Lately Caiden Apollo has begun to play with a small group of friends in first grade. He is still a bit shy and is not the leader of the group, but is well liked.

You encourage him to participate in an after school or weekend group, sport, or club activity. You think this would be a good social experience and maybe help Caiden Apollo feel more self-confident.

•         As parents, we will let him play and bond  with his friends  and encourage him to be friendly so that he will develop his way of interacting with his friends and the other people. We will bring him to social educated groups or clubs and in catechesis also so that his self confidence will develop.

9. One day Caiden Apollo's pet fish dies and you do the whole backyard burial ceremony. A few days later Caiden Apollo asks if you will die, and whether he will die as well.

You tell Caiden Apollo that usually people live much longer than fish, but sometimes accidents can happen, and that Caiden Apollo should just be careful not to run into the street or eat unfamiliar household items.

•         It is because Caiden can already understand things especially when we discuss it to him, as a parent, I will give him an advice and tell him that if it’s your time, it is your time and explain to him that the life of an animal is very different from a human, I will tell him that it is not easy to let go but sometimes we have to and I will explain to him what and how life is like womb to tomb but tell him that it is not yet the right time and tell him to pray and be careful especially when he is out of the house.

10. Caiden Apollo is very cooperative with you at home, but also seems to be less independent than other kids his age. He is nervous about a lot of new things, such as getting started with swimming lessons at the rec center, or going to another child's house for the first time.

You provide Caiden Apollo with emotional support in these new situations, but also put some mild pressure on him to become more independent, by providing a reward for “going it alone” such as an ice cream cone.

•         We will encourage him to try new things and boost his self confidence so that he will not be afraid especially in trying new things. With his being independent, we will challenge him and give him any reward so that he will be motivated. 

11. You occasionally help out in Caiden Apollo's first grade classroom. One thing you notice during recess is that the boys usually engage in physical activities in fairly large groups and keep the girls out. The girls tend to have small-group or even just one-on-one interactions. What little contact there is between genders usually involves teasing or chasing. Caiden Apollo is able to play with both boys and girls, but mostly plays with boys.

You encourage Caiden Apollo to play with neighborhood kids regardless of their sex. You notice that the age and gender composition of the play group varies a little more than at school.

•         We will guide him with his activities and how he deals with his friends, we will encourage him to play more with his friends especially in our neighborhood. 

Caiden Apollo is about ready to finish first grade. Both parents are working full-time now, and Caiden Apollo's sister is in preschool. 

Caiden Apollo grows serious one day and says something to the effect that you are "nicer" to him than other parents are to their kids. He adds that you have more "rules" (i.e., you are stricter) than other kids' parents. You are a little surprised that Caiden Apollo is so aware of how other parents behave. 

You went to a teacher conference and the teacher went over Caiden Apollo's first grade report card. The report card uses developmental categories rather than traditional grades. Some of the results were expected, but some of them surprised you, and you decide Caiden Apollo's behavior must differ somewhat at home and school. 

You like the neighborhood where Caiden Apollo goes to school and hope you can stay on through his sister's time in school.

Some highlights of the first grade report card were the following ratings:

Usually works cooperatively in groups, usually respects rights and property of others, and usually demonstrates appropriate peer social interaction.

"Demonstrates strength" in reading and writing.

In the comments section the teacher wrote: Sometimes Caiden Apollo over-reacts to stressful situations and can become anxious, moody or slightly depressed. With encouragement, he usually seems to come out of it before the day ends.

"Developmentally appropriate" in the areas of speaking and listening and in content knowledge of social studies and science.

"Developmentally appropriate" in the areas of mathematical problem solving, understanding of data and number concepts.

"Developmentally appropriate" in the areas of spatial understanding and visual arts.

Caiden Apollo was usually appropriately active during recess and physical games, and appropriately quiet during periods of work in the classroom setting. He did not show an unusual amount of impulsive or distractible behavior.

Consistently works independently, consistently listens attentively and follows directions, and consistently follows classroom rules.

Mary Laurenz J. Barbaton, Ryan Cordova, Edel Rose Rivera

BSPT-2C