Adolescent Development

Alyssa's academic prowess is a source of pride for her parents as she has consistently been a good student and has excelled in most projects that she has decided to undertake and was even a part of the gifted and talented program at her school. As I gave her positive reinforcement about her being involved in extra-curricular activities, her confidence level in attempting these activities increased and her performance bettered. When she started losing confidence in in math and language arts, I was concerned but I decided against grilling her about it, instead I favoured encouraging her other pursuits as it would balance out her academic workload and cause her not to burn out early.
Just before she started high school, I made an effort to help her familiarize herself with biology and all things nature as high school Biology can be challenging. I actively made sure that Alyssa had a bit of grounding in Biology so that when the time came, she wouldn't have trouble being comfortable with the subject. The combination of her exceptional achievement of winning first prize in the school-wide poetry competition and good grades in the 9th grade made us extremely proud, and to show this to her, we took her out to dinner at her favourite restaurant. This way we made sure that she knows that good behaviour and positive academic results will not go unrewarded as both require hard work and strong morals. At the end of her 9th grade, I couldn't make it to the parent teacher conference but I made sure to keep in touch with all her teachers to keep track of her progress and to make sure she wasn't having trouble in any of her subjects. Keeping track of her progress helps us know where our child stands in school and whether she needs help with anything.After taking her PSATs, Alyssa became slightly cocky about her SATs and thought she wouldn't need a SAT prep course. I thought it was important for me to stress on her the various things that could go wrong because she wasn't well-prepared. Instead of scaring her, I put forward all the reasons that made me think she should prepare well and this led to a positive reaction from her and I helped her purchase SAT and ACT prep books.
As Alyssa is intellectually strong, our expectations from her are above average and as such we encourage her academic persuasions, make sure that we are monitoring her progress constantly, this expectation and encouragement helped Alyssa do well in her academic career.
There are many tests that exist to test the intelligence and other mental and other capabilities of an individual. These tests can vary based on the topics they test in. Some of the major tests are, The Stanford-Binet test, pioneered by Alfred Binet (with revisions made at Stanford university), The Wechsler Scales given by David Wechsler, Sternberg's Triarchiac Theory by Robert Sternberg and Gardner's Eight Frames of Mind by Howard Gardner.
Standford-Binet test is the most common test that tests the “intelligence quotient” of the subjects and gives a number which then corresponds to the perceived intelligence of the individual. Alyssa's IQ places high on the scale as she does well in most of her academic pursuits.
The Wechsler Scales test the verbal comprehension, speed of memory processing in addition to regular intelligence testing . Alyssa's verbal comprehension is quite well developed and she achieves quite a lot of success in that area. Her memory processing does give her some problem sometimes as she is not too confident with Math. On an overall scale though, Alyssa would rank high on the Wechsler Scales.
Sternberg's Triarchic Theory tests the subject's Analytical, Creative and Practical intelligence which study the individuals overall capabilities. Alyssa's analytical intelligence is excellent as she has learnt to observe and analyze situations and pick the option that fits her best. Her creative intelligence is quite high as she has excelled several times in creative fields both academically and otherwise. Alyssa's practical intelligence is also high as she has grown up to be a thoughtful child and uses practicality in every situation she encounters. She understands the repercussions and consequences of her actions very well and acts accordingly.
Gardner's Eight Frames of Mind include verbal, mathematical, spatial, bodily, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic intelligence. Alyssa is a high achiever in verbal, bodily, musical interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence. Her achievements in creative arts, volleyball, piano and clarinet skills, the fact that she is a popular person in her school and has a mature head on her shoulders prove her competence in these fields. In the other fields, she also does well but has minor setbacks.
At the age of 14 years, Alyssa is in the Conventional level and Stage 4 of Kohlberg's theory. During this stage adolescents have a predisposition towards authority and maintaining the social order of things. During this level and stage, adolescents have a higher understanding of social order and of laws, rules and regulations. This leads them to study situations critically and favour outcomes that preserve social order and they usually align with authority figures.
This can be gleaned from the incident where students from one of the vocal groups of Alyssa's school were caught stealing trinkets from a shop. They were suspended from the vocal group. Alyssa believed that this punishment was fitting as her mind believed that only because of those particular students, the entire social order was disturbed. Also because that decision was taken by a figure of authority, it appealed to Alyssa's conventional brain even more.
Her approach to her classmates punishment was typical to someone her age, according to Kohlberg's Theory, she was expected to react this way and agree with the punishment doled out. She is conscious of the fact that, her classmates broke the law and upset the current existing social order, her reaction completely falls in line with what she is expected to do according to Kohlberg's stages.

The most important factor in Alyssa's cognitive and social development was the parenting style that we adopted. We inclined more towards the authoritative style of parenting as we wanted Alyssa to grow up to become a self-efficient and self-confident woman who could conduct her life in a manner that would be satisfactory to her. We always stressed upon the importance of good behaviour, having a myriad of interests and working hard to achieve all that she wants to in life. To this effect, we always rewarded her for good behaviour and her achievements and would reason with her when she was in conflict with us instead of only reprimanding her. We made sure to always support her in her various pursuits, keep tabs on her progress and provide the support that she needed when she required it. We were always forthcoming with advice and love when she needed it.
When Alyssa thinks she's gained weight, which is a common adolescent complain, instead of straight putting her down or react in a way that would make her resent me, I just casually mentioned that I would be starting a healthier lifestyle and thought that if she still worried about herself she would join me anad if she didn't then she had gotten over her adolescent fear. This way, I wouldn't be directly confronting her, as this would make her even more insecure, but I would still be supporting her if she wanted to really work on her body.
The other instance was when I overheard Alyssa's conversation with her friend about a party that she was going to and already had permission for. When I overheard that a game of a sexual nature was going to be played, I immediately became a bit concerned. I thought about not allowing Alyssa to go to the party but then I thought that I needed to show her that I trusted her and her judgement. So, with a few cautionary words to Alyssa about how I expected her to behave in a manner that was appropriate and to use her mind in situation, I allowed her to go to the party.