Keynote Speech Assessment

Running head: KEYNOTE SPEECH ASSESSMENT 1

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KEYNOTE SPEECH ASSESSMENT 2

Keynote Speech Assessment

Introduction

Child psychology professionals dealing with adolescents know for sure that this stage

involves significant physical changes that affect children’s behavior. In the field, an encounter

with the issues surrounding the development of teens gives a new insight on how to help

adolescents deal with the physical changes within and around them (Ricker & Crowder, 2014).

Notably, this speech rotates around a 13-year-old Hispanic boy who struggles with balancing

school, extracurricular and home responsibilities that are pushing him to refuse school. It is up to

the professionals to find recommendable ways of how Miguel and other adolescents can continue

to school amidst all environmental influences surrounding them. The speech will assess Miguel’s

needs, his physical, social, intellectual and emotional development; the impact of family, society

and culture as well as evidence-based concepts which will help develops recommendations.

Miguel’s Needs and Related Theorist

Miguel Soto, a 13-year old Hispanic boy in junior high, is not good enough at school due

to his family environment. His parents and two siblings work for a living due to their low-

income status, while he babysits his younger brother. Given their cultural background, they use

Spanish which limits his linguistic expression and confidence in school. Besides, Miguel is less

friendly because of his language problems. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory

emphasizes the role of society and culture in a child’s development (Levy & Shiraev, 2013). In

the fifth stage, Erik explains the adolescent’s construction of identity and if failed becomes role

confusion. In fact, the theorist explains what Miguel is going through as he must stay in school,

but has issues with attending. Therefore, society and family matters hinder Miguel’s condition of

searching for a personal identity.

KEYNOTE SPEECH ASSESSMENT 3

Social and Physical Development

Miguel’s family is of Hispanic origin, and he is the third of the four children in this

home. The family has financial problems which necessitate that everyone plays a part in

improving his or her condition, a requirement that pushes Miguel to baby caring while the rest

work. The thirteen-year-old is at a stage where building relationships and independence

develops, but has to do that taking care of the baby. He is at the junior high level, but due to his

Hispanic origin, he is not good at English, which limits his level of socialization with

schoolmates and teammates. Therefore, although he has some friends, he cannot express himself

fully and comfortably as required by his stage of development, making deficits in developing the

identity necessary for socialization.

Emotional Development

Miguel is a good boy from the start and tries to do his best to balance home and school.

Since the family speaks no English at home, the reading and speaking in this language are

limited. Evidently, this creates a sense of fear in Miguel and makes him limit the interaction,

talking and engaging in regular school activities as other children. Honestly, this makes him

develop negative emotions about himself and who he is because he cannot fit in the society

around while taking care of the little one. Erik calls this identity crisis in which a child makes

terrible decisions like dropping out of school due to the misfit and confidence issues

(Parta, 2013). Therefore, Miguel’s emotional development has problems, since he has to ensure

he fulfills the needs of home as well as school.

Intellectual Development

At adolescence stage, the child is highly intelligent and can do most of the things with

absolute knowledge. Miguel’s case is entirely different; he does not perform well in class but has

average grades. Findings reveal that intellectual development among teens is evident in their

KEYNOTE SPEECH ASSESSMENT 4

overall class performance and in the kind of decisions they make in life (Carlock, 2013). Miguel

has issues that limit developing entirely intellectually due to his family background and

responsibilities. For instance, he is deficient in math, music, art, drama, and acting, and much

more an indication that the adolescent’s intellectual capacity in school is meager. Therefore, the

environment has to be favorable for a young teen to develop intellectually fully; otherwise, this

causes failure in usual activity and cognitive potential of the child.

Family Influence

The family is significant in child growth and development because it is the immediate

environment that models behavior. Miguel’s family is financially down, which causes all family

members to engage in economic activities to earn a living. Similarly, Miguel is young and not

eligible for employment, which makes him the best candidate for babysitting his younger brother

like the rest work. Besides, they speak Spanish at home, which brings about the language

impairment issues that the teen faces at school. Family background and economic status are

essential for the child’s development the form of support and upbringing (Carlock, 2013). As this

author says, Miguel’s problems have roots in the organization of their family. Therefore, the

adolescent’s family has a significant influence on how he associates with others and his decision

to quit school.

Society and Culture Influence

Society and culture are also present as significant influences to Miguel’s issues in school.

First, the family is of Hispanic origin which makes the adolescent feel like he is in a wrong place

with people from different culture speaking an unknown language. Second, he is in school where

he cannot easily express himself due to language impairments. Finally, he has extra-curricular

activities to take on while studying, as well as staying at home with the little boy. According to

Parta (2013), culture and society are essential for a teenager because it shapes their behavior and

KEYNOTE SPEECH ASSESSMENT 5

helps them develop a sense on of identity and build relationships. Therefore, Miguel has the

cultural issue of language which affects his social life, making him feel like unfitted for the

school society.

Recommendations

The boy is interested in soccer, but cannot participate as required due to language issues

and the babysitting responsibility. Erik’s fifth stage states that adolescence is a change from

childhood to adulthood where the child looks at their future career, family, relationships and

more to fit into society (Levy & Shiraev, 2013). Meaning, Miguel’s parents should allow him

more time at school to take part in soccer to fully develop his identity and learn English.

Otherwise, the adolescent will lose his sense of identity in his society, the school, which

contributes to refusing school. Miguel should be left to develop his personality than keeping him

at home. Therefore, the boy should be allowed more school and activity time to learn English

and fit in with the rest of the students; then interact and express freely in public.

Conclusion

Miguel’s development as an adolescent has several issues that influence what he becomes

and decides. He is 13 years old junior high student who is struggling with learning English to fit

in his society. However, his low-income family, which speaks Spanish and expects him to care

for his sibling limits his efforts. All this ends up as limited school time making Miguel lose

interest in school. The theorist Erik Erikson suggests that full identity development requires an

enabling environment. Meaning, Miguel’s family must consider adopting English in their home

and letting the boy mix with others freely without extra home responsibilities. Ultimately, the

suggested intervention by the family will help Miguel not to refuse school and face the Truancy

court since he will learn English and comfortably express himself in the society.

KEYNOTE SPEECH ASSESSMENT 6

References

Carlock, C. J. (2013). Enhancing Self Esteem. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Levy, D., & Shiraev, E. (2013). Erikson, Erik. The Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural Psychology,

493-494. doi:10.1002/9781118339893.wbeccp202

Parta, M. (2013). Jungian typology and developmental theories of Piaget and Erikson:

Typological and pesona development in childhood. Carpinteria, CA: Pacifica Graduate

Institute.

Ricker, A., & Crowder, C. (2014). Backtalk: 3 Steps to Stop It Before the Tears and Tantrums

Start. New York: Touchstone.

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