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Child Development  HANDBOOK SHU 21-22 in progress

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Early intervention is about taking action as soon as possible to tackle problems for children and families before they become more difficult to reverse.

We focus on conception to early adulthood because intervention is not just about the early years but also about preventing adolescents and young adults from developing problems.

When a young person is developing and growing up, this is a crucial opportunity to provide them with the skills and support they need. It is much more difficult if they have dropped out of school, become involved with youth crime or developed a serious mental health problem.

Early intervention involves identifying children and families that may be at risk of running into difficulties and providing timely and effective support.

We want every family to develop an intergenerational cycle of positive parenting, relationships and behaviour.

Early intervention is about enhancing the capabilities of every parent to provide a supportive and enriching environment for their children to grow up in. Then the next generation has the best chance to flourish with the skills to engage in positive parenting themselves.

Its purpose is to improve the life chances of children and families and benefit society at large, whilst being cost-effective.

What does early intervention look like?

Early intervention covers an array of different sectors including education, health, and crime. It can take the form of a parenting programme for a pregnant mother and her partner or a behaviour class for adolescents who are at risk of being involved in crime.

Because a child or family can experience an array of problems all at once, early intervention requires a multilevel, holistic approach. For example, in a local area early intervention may involve health visitors and a youth offending team working together to get to the root of a family's issues and refer them to the best support for their particular situation.

Early intervention is about working with children and families to help them. It is a collaborative approach to providing effective support.

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We focus on conception to early adulthood because intervention is not just about the early years but also about preventing adolescents and young adults from developing problems. When a young person is developing and growing up, this is a crucial opportunity to provide them with the skills and support they need.

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When you see this behavior Try this accommodation

1. Difficulty following a plan (has high aspirations but lacks follow-through); sets out to "get straight A's, ends up with F's" (sets unrealistic goals) Assist student in setting long-range goals: break the goal into realistic parts.

Use a questioning strategy with the student; ask, What do you need to be able to do this?

Keep asking that question until the student has reached anobtainable goal.

Have student set clear timelines of what he needs to do toaccomplish each step (monitor student progress frequently).

3. Shifting from one uncompleted activity to another without closure.

Define the requirements of a completed activity (e.g. your math is finished when all six problems are complete and corrected; do not begin on the next task until it is finished).

8. Difficulty with any task that requires memory.

Combine seeing, saying, writing and doing; student may need to subvocalize to remember.

Teach memory techniques as a study strategy (e.g. mnemonics, visualization,
oral rehearsal, numerous repetitions).

10. Confusion from non-verbal cues (misreads body language, etc.)

Directly teach (tell the student) what non-verbal cues mean. Model and have student practice reading cues in a safe setting.

12. Confusion from written material (difficulty finding main idea from a paragraph; attributes greater importance to minor details)

Provide student with a copy of presentation notes.

Allow peers to share carbon-copy notes from presentation (have student
compare own notes with a copy of peer's notes).

Provide framed outlines of presentations (introducing visual and
auditory cues to important information).

Encourage use of tape recorder.

Teach and emphasize key words (the following..., the most important
point...,etc.).

13. Difficulty sustaining attention to tasks or other activities (easily distracted by extraneous stimuli)

Reward attention. Break up activities into small units. Reward for timely accomplishment.

Use physical proximity and touch. Use earphones and/or study carrels, quiet
place, or preferential seating.

14. Frequent messiness or sloppiness.

Teach organizational skills. Be sure student has daily, weekly and/or monthly assignment sheets; list of materials needed daily; and consistent format for papers. Have a consistent way for students to turn in and receive back papers; reduce distractions.

Give reward points for notebook checks and proper paper format.

Provide clear copies of worksheets and handouts and consistent format for worksheets.

Establish a daily routine, provide models for what you want the student to do.

Arrange for a peer who will help him with organization.

Assist student to keep materials in a specific place (e.g. pencils and pens in pouch).

Be willing to repeat expectations.

16. Difficulty with fluency in handwriting e.g. good letter/word production but very slow and laborious.

Allow for shorter assignments (quality vs. quantity).

Allow alternate method of production (computer, scribe, oral presentation, etc.).

Use pencil with rubber grip.

17. Poorly developed study skills

Teach study skills specific to the subject area - organization (e.g. assignment
calendar), textbook reading, notetaking (finding main idea / detail, mapping, outlining), skimming, summarizing).

21. Difficulty participating in class without being interruptive; difficulty working quietly

Seat student in close proximity to the teacher.

Reward appropriate behavior (catch
student being good).

Use study carrel if appropriate.

25. Difficulty remaining seated or in a particular position when required to for a specific activity.

Give student frequent opportunities to get up and move around. Allow space for movement.

30. Frequent involvement in physically dangerous activities without considering possible consequences

Anticipate dangerous situations and plan for in advance.

Stress Stop-Look-Listen.

Pair with responsible peer (rotate responsible students so that they don't wear out!).

35. Poor use of time (sitting, starting off into space, doodling, not working on task at hand)

Teach reminder cues (a gentle touch on the shoulder, hand signal, etc.).

Tell the student your expectations of what paying attention looks like. (You
look like you are paying attention when...)

Give the student a time limit for a small unit of work with positive reinforcement for accurate completion.

Use a contract, timer, etc. for self-monitoring.

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ADHD Students Learn Differently. Try These ADD Classroom Strategies

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When you see this behavior Try this accommodation 1. Difficulty following a plan (has high aspirations but lacks follow-through); sets out to "get straight A's, ends up with F's" (sets unrealistic goals) Assist student in setting long-range goals: break the goal into realistic parts.

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Please read before next week session

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week 6

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Speech and Language development

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increased activity in the setting

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men in the early years

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Log in - BACP - British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

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British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy

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PART SIX OBSERVING CHILDREN

PART SIX

OBSERVING CHILDREN

Observation is the key to understanding young children as learners and a vital tool in finding out more about them as individuals. It is an integral part of the assessment and planning cycle and a firm basis for reflection.

In any high-quality setting, observation is recognised as a fundamental and crucial aspect of the practitioner's role and, as such, is given high priority in terms of training and everyday practice.

Observation is about watching children's actions, expressions, gestures and behaviours, and listening to their talk and interactions. Sometimes it is about joining in with their play or conversations and sometimes about asking and responding to questions. Always, it requires a sensitive and respectful approach to children's play and an attitude of openness to the individual's learning agenda.

Why do we observe?

There are many good reasons why adults observe children in their care and the reason may influence the nature of the observation in terms of who is observed/observing, where the observation takes place and at what time of the day or session. However, although specific reasons for observation may be varied, the general purpose will be to find out more about:

* a child or group of children; or

* the effectiveness of provision.

The ultimate and overarching aim of observations is to enable practitioners to plan an appropriate curriculum, providing for the full range of needs within the setting. (In this part of the series, we focus on observations to find out more about individuals or groups of children. Observations to evaluate provision will be addressed later in the series.) Practitioners will observe children to find out:

* what is interesting and motivating them as individuals or groups;

* how they have responded to a particular activity, experience or area of provision;

* factors that influence their involvement and sense of well-being during the day or session;

* how the children's skills are developing;

* what they know and understand in terms of the Foundation Stage areas of learning;

* how they interact with adults and other children;

* about friendships and dynamics within groups;

* how they approach learning, for example, their attitudes and learning styles;

* which areas of provision and activities they choose to access regularly;

* about patterns in behaviour.

Observation is only the first stage in the process of understanding and addressing children's learning needs and interests. It is what is done next with this information that will impact on children's learning. Assessment is the analysis of observational information that will then inform practitioners' planning.

Who observes?

It is the responsibility of all practitioners to note important information about all the children's learning as it is presented. Children have different relationships with different adults and, through observation, each adult will bring an individual perspective to the assessment process for a particular child.

If only one practitioner, for example, the keyworker, ever observed a child, the information gleaned would be limited to their perspective. It is, therefore, important to be working in a culture of mutual respect for the contributions that colleagues make. Of course, sometimes one member of staff will be charged with a specific observational focus but, over the course of time, there should be contributions from a variety of practitioners.

Likewise, information gathered only in the setting will not offer a full picture of the child's play and learning. Parents' and carers' knowledge of their child must be included in the assessment equation. The more adults within the child's world that contribute positively to the process, the deeper the insight will be.

Where and how do we observe?

The simplest answer to the question, 'Where do we observe?' is 'Everywhere'. Practitioners may not always document everything that they observe but they should develop the skill of registering incidental and significant information throughout the day. The most accurate picture of a child will result from observational information gathered in various contexts, both in and out of the setting.

Observation of young children should always take place in a context that is meaningful to them. Observations that are rooted in child-initiated learning experiences will generate the most sound information for making accurate assessments of learning.

A high-quality learning environment (indoor and outdoor) is, therefore, vital in order to observe children in naturally occurring situations and self-initiated play.

Where a broad and balanced curriculum is offered through provision, there will be a meaningful context for learning and for assessment. In both sessional and full-day care settings, there will also be opportunities for observation during daily routines, for example, as the child enters nursery, snack or meal times. Adults working with young children should always be alert to significant information that children communicate to us through their words or actions.

It is crucial that practitioners are able to respond spontaneously to children's play and learning and to take opportunities for observation as they arise. Many observation opportunities occur incidentally and these can offer useful 'snapshots' of children's learning.

Such observations may be very brief and concise, perhaps focusing on one aspect of learning, but can offer important assessment information, especially when viewed in the context of others. Other spontaneous opportunities may require the practitioner to observe over a longer period of time in order to document a process or continuous activity.

Effective implementation of this observational approach will impact on a setting's short-term planning and teams will need to ensure that adult-led activities do not dominate the curriculum or the adults' time.

There should be flexibility within the working week for adults to support a focus and to observe and support child-initiated learning. Sometimes the team may plan time for an adult to assume the role of 'observer' within the context of child-initiated play. Whatever the organisational issues within a particular setting, it is imperative that the principles of good observational practice should inform decisions and that staff are afforded ample time to observe children and so ensure high-quality assessments.

Practitioners may plan a series of focused observations in areas of provision looking at individuals' self-initiated play in each area. Such an approach can be a very effective way of gathering information about a child in several curriculum areas. Narrative observations offer a more holistic picture of the child's learning at the time of observation and can give the practitioner useful information about what is interesting and motivating the child.

Sometimes practitioners will decide to 'track' a child over the course of a session, a day or longer to find out more about that child as an individual learner. It may be that they want to identify, or confirm, interests or repeated patterns of behaviour. Or, they may want to look more closely at the child's relationships with other children or at the response of the children to the rhythm of the nursery day. They may also want to find out more about that child's style of learning or the choices they make at nursery.

There are different ways of organising staff to facilitate this approach.

It could be that one practitioner is deployed specifically to observe the child for a period of time or that all practitioners record their observations of the child as the child enters the area in which the adult is working. Either way, observations will be recorded at regular intervals throughout the allotted time.

An adult-led or supported focus will provide valuable opportunities to observe children on their learning journey towards identified key goals. Of course, learning during such activities will not be restricted to that planned by the adult. There will be unexpected opportunities for assessment and all significant observations should be registered, if not recorded.

Recording observations Not all observations will be written down and much useful information will be exchanged verbally through informal discussions between practitioners and with parents. However, it is important to build up over time a record of observational information that can be shared more formally and used as a tool for reflecting on, and planning for, children's learning.

Written observations It may not always be appropriate to expect all contributing adults to write down their observations of children's play and learning. Some parents can find this expectation intimidating and scribing their comments can be an effective way of gathering information.

Practitioners can scribe the information during the conversation or record comments later. What is of paramount importance in these circumstances is the sharing of information. Some parents welcome a simple format to help them organise their comments on paper and copies of this should be readily available.

Observations should document what the child has achieved - not what they have failed to do. Depending on the type of observation, practitioners may decide to use a format or a blank sheet. Formats offer a framework that can prompt adults into including important elements in their observation. They can be a particularly useful support as practitioners develop their skills in recording observations.

Some practitioners prefer to make observational notes in a notebook and to organise these into written observations later. This system can offer a valuable opportunity for reflection. However, practitioners should guard against spending long periods rewriting large amounts of material. Short observations recorded straight onto white sticky labels are easily transferred into individual profiles and can save a lot of time.

An observation format may include sections such as:

* name: This should include the surname where first names are duplicated in the setting;

* date: Day, month and year. It may also be appropriate to include the time or duration;

* context: Adult-led? Child-initiated? Independent? Working with/alongside other children? Which area of provision?

* key area of learning;

* adult's observation;

* child's comments - these can offer a very useful, further insight into learning.

Other types of observation may require slightly different formats. For example, a narrative observation would probably identify more than one key area of learning, but a margin may be useful for referencing particular aspects of learning at appropriate points in the observation, either at the time or during assessment later. Date and context are always important and even where a format is not used, these elements should be included in the observation. Samples of work are sometimes included, with the child's permission, for assessment purposes.

Photographic observations Still photographs and video observations are an effective way of documenting the child's learning process. Photographs should always be annotated or cross-referenced to relevant written observations. Where practitioners use digital photography they can print images almost instantly and perhaps with the children.

Practitioners should request written parental permission for using photography to record and document children's learning.

Further reading

* Vicky Hutchin, Right from the Start: Effective Planning and Assessment in the Early Years (Hodder Murray)

* Vicky Hutchin, Tracking Significant Achievement in the Early Years (Hodder Murray)

Series guide

* This 12-part series aims to support practitioners in achieving and maintaining high-quality provision in the Foundation Stage.

* The series is underpinned by the principles for early years education as identified in Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and takes into account the national daycare standards and the 'outcomes' for children as set out in Every Child Matters and laid down in the Children Act 2004.

* Each part of the series will focus on a different aspect of practice, highlight key elements of good practice and offer a benchmark for self-evaluation.

* The series encourages practitioners to be reflective in their practice and to see the quest for quality as a developmental process.

* The elements of quality in early years practice are often interdependent and there will be points of cross-referencing between parts of the series.

CASESTUDY Baring Primary School, south London

Observations are pivotal to the planning process in the nursery class at Baring Primary School, south London, where teacher and nursery nurse undertake three different kinds of observation every day.

'We use observations to identify the next steps in children's learning and how provision needs to be changed or developed,' says nursery teacher and Foundation Stage co-ordinator Joanne Haine.

Daily, she and nursery nurse, Samantha Jones, take it in turns to observe:

* the focused activity of the day, involving children identified from earlier observations;

* a certain child for ten minutes;

* the children generally at play.

The observations are assessed as an on-going process and during dedicated planning time and then fed into the planning process.

What is of particular interest at Baring is how evidence is recorded.

Earlier this year the school was involved in a DfES project looking at the future of electronic records. Staff were encouraged to use electronic files and to add to their recording using digital photography by using video and palm PCs in the classroom to record observations.

Mrs Haine was won over by video as a means of recording. 'It's really powerful as well as excellent evidence, and great to show to parents,' she says.

And, while there was a mixed reaction to non-paper records from practitioners involved in the project, both she and her nursery nurse have become firm converts, holding only electronic and digital records since the spring. They have found it saves on space (with an end to bulky files), money (with savings on paper and printing out photographs) and time (with an end to cutting, pasting, preparing and filing records).

'I feel it's made us more effective and it's been motivating,' says Mrs Haine.

All the children's written records are held on computer with links to photographs and hyperlinks to the video clips (with good sound quality).

All the photographs are also held in one file and annotated to show parents about their children's learning, or are printed out and used in books about how children learn.

As for what is kept on file, Mrs Haine says, 'We're observing all the time and there's always so much happening, so you need to know your children and know in yourself what is important to record.'

And while convinced of the benefits of ICT in record-keeping, she feels discussing observations informally, say, at lunchtime, when setting up or at the end of the day, enable staff to respond quickly to children's needs and remain an invaluable part of the observation process.

SUPPORTING LEARNING

10 steps to quality

1 As a team, have you considered the various reasons for observing children?

2 Are your practitioners organised in such a way that they can always use their allocated observation time?

3 Is the issue of observation time addressed in weekly planning meetings?

4 How do you support staff in developing the skills necessary to recognise and record significant learning?

5 Does the learning environment support children in initiating their own learning?

6 How do you ensure that all involved practitioners feed observations into the assessment process for individual children?

7 How do you encourage parents to contribute observations from home?

8 What systems do you have in place for sharing observations verbally between practitioners?

9 How do you ensure that important elements, such as date and context, are always included in observations?

10 How effectively do you use photographic observations to document children's learning?

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PART SIX OBSERVING CHILDREN PART SIX OBSERVING CHILDREN Observation is the key to understanding young children as learners and a vital tool in finding out more about them as individuals. It is an integral part of the assessment and planning cycle and a firm basis for reflection.

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Child development theories focus on explaining how children change and grow over the course of childhood. These developmental theories center on various aspects of growth, including social, emotional, and cognitive development.

The study of human development is a rich and varied subject. We all have personal experience with development, but it is sometimes difficult to understand how and why people grow, learn, and act as they do.

Why do children behave in certain ways? Is their behavior related to their age, family relationships, or individual temperaments? Developmental psychologists strive to answer such questions as well as to understand, explain, and predict behaviors that occur throughout the lifespan.

In order to understand human development, a number of different theories of child development have arisen to explain various aspects of human growth.

History of Developmental Theories

Child development that occurs from birth to adulthood was largely ignored throughout much of human history. Children were often viewed simply as small versions of adults and little attention was paid to the many advances in cognitive abilities, language usage, and physical growth that occur during childhood and adolescence.

Interest in the field of child development finally began to emerge early in the 20th century, but it tended to focus on abnormal behavior. Eventually, researchers became increasingly interested in other topics including typical child development as well as the influences on development.

More recent theories outline the developmental stages of children and identify the typical ages at which these growth milestones occur.

Why Developmental Theories are Important

Developmental theories provide a framework for thinking about human growth and learning. But why do we study development? What can we learn from psychological theories of development? If you have ever wondered about what motivates human thought and behavior, understanding these theories can provide useful insight into individuals and society.

An understanding of child development is essential because it allows us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and educational growth that children go through from birth and into early adulthood.

Why is it important to study how children grow, learn, and change? An understanding of child development is essential because it allows us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and educational growth that children go through from birth and into early adulthood.

7 Best-Known Developmental Theories

There are many child development theories that have been proposed by theorists and researchers. Some of the major theories of child development are known as grand theories; they attempt to describe every aspect of development, often using a stage approach. Others are known as mini-theories; they instead focus only on a fairly limited aspect of development such as cognitive or social growth.

Freud's Psychosexual Developmental Theory

Psychoanalytic theory originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. Through his clinical work with patients suffering from mental illness, Freud came to believe that childhood experiences and unconscious desires influenced behavior.

According to Freud, conflicts that occur during each of these stages can have a lifelong influence on personality and behavior. Freud proposed one of the best-known grand theories of child development.

According to Freud's psychosexual theory, child development occurs in a series of stages focused on different pleasure areas of the body. During each stage, the child encounters conflicts that play a significant role in the course of development.

His theory suggested that the energy of the libido was focused on different erogenous zones at specific stages. Failure to progress through a stage can result in fixation at that point in development, which Freud believed could have an influence on adult behavior.

So what happens as children complete each stage? And what might result if a child does poorly during a particular point in development? Successfully completing each stage leads to the development of a healthy adult personality.

Failing to resolve the conflicts of a particular stage can result in fixations that can then have an influence on adult behavior.

While some other child development theories suggest that personality continues to change and grow over the entire lifetime, Freud believed that it was early experiences that played the greatest role in shaping development. According to Freud, personality is largely set in stone by the age of five.

Erikson's Psychosocial Developmental Theory

Psychoanalytic theory was an enormously influential force during the first half of the twentieth century. Those inspired and influenced by Freud went on to expand upon Freud's ideas and develop theories of their own. Of these neo-Freudians, Erik Erikson's ideas have become perhaps the best known.

Erikson's eight-stage theory of psychosocial development describes growth and change throughout life, focusing on social interaction and conflicts that arise during different stages of development.

While Erikson's theory of psychosocial development shared some similarities with Freud's, it is dramatically different in many ways. Rather than focusing on sexual interest as a driving force in development, Erikson believed that social interaction and experience played decisive roles.

His eight-stage theory of human development described this process from infancy through death. During each stage, people are faced with a developmental conflict that impacts later functioning and further growth.

Unlike many other developmental theories, Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory focuses on development across the entire lifespan. At each stage, children and adults face a developmental crisis that serves as a major turning point.

Successfully managing the challenges of each stage leads to the emergence of a lifelong psychological virtue.

Behavioral Child Development Theories

During the first half of the twentieth century, a new school of thought known as behaviorism rose to become a dominant force within psychology. Behaviorists believed that psychology needed to focus only on observable and quantifiable behaviors in order to become a more scientific discipline.

According to the behavioral perspective, all human behavior can be described in terms of environmental influences. Some behaviorists, such as John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, insisted that learning occurs purely through processes of association and reinforcement.

Behavioral theories of child development focus on how environmental interaction influences behavior and is based on the theories of theorists such as John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B. F. Skinner. These theories deal only with observable behaviors. Development is considered a reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli, and reinforcement.

This theory differs considerably from other child development theories because it gives no consideration to internal thoughts or feelings. Instead, it focuses purely on how experience shapes who we are.

Two important types of learning that emerged from this approach to development are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by pairing a naturally occurring stimulus with a previously neutral stimulus. Operant conditioning utilizes reinforcement and punishment to modify behaviors.

Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory

Cognitive theory is concerned with the development of a person's thought processes. It also looks at how these thought processes influence how we understand and interact with the world.

Theorist Jean Piaget proposed one of the most influential theories of cognitive development.

Piaget proposed an idea that seems obvious now, but helped revolutionize how we think about child development: Children think differently than adults.﻿﻿

His cognitive theory seeks to describe and explain the development of thought processes and mental states. It also looks at how these thought processes influence the way we understand and interact with the world.

Piaget then proposed a theory of cognitive development to account for the steps and sequence of children's intellectual development.

Sensorimotor Stage: A period of time between birth and age two during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.

Pre-Operational Stage: A period between ages 2 and 6 during which a child learns to use language. During this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and are unable to take the point of view of other people.

Concrete Operational Stage: A period between ages 7 and 11 during which children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.

Formal Operational Stage: A period between age 12 to adulthood when people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning also emerge during this stage.

Bowlby's Attachment Theory

There is a great deal of research on the social development of children. John Bowbly proposed one of the earliest theories of social development. Bowlby believed that early relationships with caregivers play a major role in child development and continue to influence social relationships throughout life.

Bowlby's attachment theory suggested that children are born with an innate need to form attachments. Such attachments aid in survival by ensuring that the child receives care and protection. Not only that but these attachments are characterized by clear behavioral and motivational patterns.

In other words, both children and caregivers engage in behaviors designed to ensure proximity. Children strive to stay close and connected to their caregivers who in turn provide a safe haven and a secure base for exploration.

Researchers have also expanded upon Bowlby's original work and have suggested that a number of different attachment styles exist. Children who receive consistent support and care are more likely to develop a secure attachment style, while those who receive less reliable care may develop an ambivalent, avoidant, or disorganized style.

Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory is based on the work of psychologist Albert Bandura. Bandura believed that the conditioning and reinforcement process could not sufficiently explain all of human learning.

For example, how can the conditioning process account for learned behaviors that have not been reinforced through classical conditioning or operant conditioning According to social learning theory, behaviors can also be learned through observation and modeling.

By observing the actions of others, including parents and peers, children develop new skills and acquire new information.

Bandura's child development theory suggests that observation plays a critical role in learning, but this observation does not necessarily need to take the form of watching a live model.﻿﻿

Instead, people can also learn by listening to verbal instructions about how to perform a behavior as well as through observing either real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books or films.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

Another psychologist named Lev Vygotsky proposed a seminal learning theory that has gone on to become very influential, especially in the field of education. Like Piaget, Vygotsky believed that children learn actively and through hands-on experiences.

His sociocultural theory also suggested that parents, caregivers, peers, and the culture at large were responsible for developing higher-order functions. In Vygotsky's view, learning is an inherently social process. Through interacting with others, learning becomes integrated into an individual's understanding of the world.

This child development theory also introduced the concept of the zone of proximal development, which is the gap between what a person can do with help and what they can do on their own. It is with the help of more knowledgeable others that people are able to progressively learn and increase their skills and scope of understanding.

A Word From Verywell

As you can see, some of psychology's best-known thinkers have developed theories to help explore and explain different aspects of child development. While not all of these theories are fully accepted today, they all had an important influence on our understanding of child development.

Today, contemporary psychologists often draw on a variety of theories and perspectives in order to understand how kids grow, behave, and think. These theories represent just a few of the different ways of thinking about child development.

In reality, fully understanding how children change and grow over the course of childhood requires looking at many different factors that influence physical and psychological growth. Genes, the environment, and the interactions between these two forces determine how kids grow physically as well as mentally.

Additional Reading

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Influential Theories About How Children Grow and Develop

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There are many development theories. Learn some of the best-known child development theories as offered by Freud, Erickson, Piaget, and other famous psychologists.

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The Foundation Stage Forum (FSF) - Home of Early Years Foundation Stage

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We wanted to let you know of a change we are making to the way we charge for Tapestry. During the very early days of Tapestry, most of our customers came from our Early Years Foundation Stage Forum (The FSF). The FSF was available ...

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