Child development theories focus on explaining how children grow and change. Understanding child development is essential as it allows us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social and educational growth from child to adulthood. The following are just a few of the many child development theories proposed by psychologists and researchers. In addition, we will discuss how these relate to the development of play therapy. Erik Erikson is known for expanding Freud’s ideas of psychoanalytic stages and developed a theory of his own. Erikson developed the psychosocial development theory consisting of eight stages across the entire lifespan. His theory focuses on social interaction and conflicts that arise during these different …show more content…
Cognitive theories are concerned with the development of a person’s thought processes. To him, children think differently than adults. His theory describes and explains the development of thought processes and mental states and how these influence the way we understand and interact with the world. His theory accounts for the steps and sequences of a child’s intellectual development. His theory considers that the child passes through 4 stages. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2). This is when the child learns the world through movements and sensations. They also learn about object permanence (that a thing continues to exist even when it cannot be seen). The child learns that they are separate from the people and objects that are around them and that their actions cause things to happen. The second stage is the preoperational stage (2-7 years). During this stage the child begins to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects. Language is at the highlight of this stage. At this stage, the child learns through pretend play but is egocentric and struggles to see things from the perspective of others. The child is still concrete about the world around them. The third stage is the concrete operational stage (7-11 years). The child begins to think more logically and organized, but still very concrete. They begin to use logic or reasoning from information to a general …show more content…
Play is necessary for normal cognitive development. When looking at the stages developed by Jean Piaget, it is not difficult to understand how his theory influenced the concept of play therapy. His four stages are greatly influenced by play. In the first stage (sensorimotor) the child learns about object permanence as well as how to master his or her own bodies and external objects. The child does so through practiced play, he or she learns to manipulate objects and the effects of play on their environment. During the second stage (preoperational) the child’s language is at its peak learning, and the child does so through role playing and make-believe games. By the end of this stage, the child starts to become more interested in games with rules, structure and social interaction. The third stage (operational), the rules of play are more focused on the social aspects and are connected with acceptance by the group. During the last stage, (formal operations) the child’s play becomes more competitive and games with codes of rules begin to
Erikson’s psychosocial theory is an eight stage theory on human psychological development. Erikson broke this theory of eight stages into groups by age. They are labeled as crisis stages and a person cannot move on from one stage to the next stage until the crisis is
Parten’s idea of child lead stages of play would support JNTCP ‘behaviour that is freely chosen, personally directed’ as when the child is ready to progress they make the personal decision. It could be said that Parten’s job would have influenced the way she views play. Being a psychologist may have led her to believe that child led play is more beneficial for the child’s development as they are able to figure it out for themselves, thus making the child more independent. A teacher idea of play however, would be the opposite to that of a child psychologist, as a teacher would believe that adult led play is more beneficial for a child, as it can have a planned outcome and consequently better the child’s social, emotional and physical development. The Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY, 2002) research clearly states that there becomes a point where children need to be supported by an adult in order to further their thinking. Vygotsky theory of proximal development would support the teacher’s idea of child lead play. Proximal development represents the gap between what a child can accomplish alone, and what they can do with the guidance of an adult. Similarly, Bruner’s theory of scaffolding mimics the same idea as Vygotsky, the adult giving a helping hand to the child’s play to better their learning and
In the 1950s, after studying Freud’s work, Erik Erikson developed his theories. Instead of Freud’s psychosexual stages, Erikson developed psychosocial stages. Erikson expanded on Freud’s work, and added that not only were the first years of development important, but that development continued through to early adulthood and
Play is instrumental in the healthy development of children. The development of play throughout an individual life is essential in providing the necessary methods to foster growth and development in critical developmental areas. According to Davies (2011), play is instrumental in providing a bridge for the child to transition from a toddler with a limited capacity to understand the world into a child in the middle years who can think logically. Play is also important in fostering cognitive development, social development, language and communication, moral development, self-regulation, and sense identity.
Play is a wonderful asset for our children and can benefit them in many ways: physical, language, self-concept, and social development are four examples of the different areas that massively impact a child’s development. The different play...
Chapter one provided a brief overview on child development, which included debated topics, theories and the various stages of development. The chapter was an introduction to readers that outlined the basic notions of child development and how they can be implemented while working with children. The field of development includes factors such as nature, nurture, existing conditions for the child and the child’s own traits. In order to understand and effectively work with children, the chapter emphasizes the importance of each factor and how they relate. Child development has been divided into three categories: physical development, cognitive development and social-emotional development. Although different, these domains are interconnected and
Erik Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory of development is made up of eight stages that span the lifetime. The stages correspond to a specific age and provide a blueprint for what to expect universally from someone in that stage in terms of social development. Erikson believed
A major question that is continuously being researched and observed is whether children’s play is beneficial to children’s development. While many scientists have proved that play is, in fact, helpful in the development of children, I want to research how the different types of play affect children’s development, specifically children that are transitioning from late infancy to toddlerhood. The four different types of play that I will focus on observing is exploratory and manipulative play, functional or relational play, social play routines and pretend play. Furthermore, I would observe the children’s agency during their play and the social structures that can prevent children from playing, thus, resulting in lack of development.
When a child is put into play therapy, what they will experience is something much different than a classic therapy scene, but the underlying idea is still the same. The child would be placed in a room filled with toys, puppets, games, and many other creative outlets. Depending on the approach of the therapist depends on how the child is able to interact with these objects. If the therapist chooses to pursue a non-directive therapy session then the child will be able to do as they please. The purpose behind this approach is that when given the freedom to play freely, children will resolve their issues on their own (“Play Therapy”, 2015). On the opposite end, some therapists chose the directed play therapy approach where the therapist may ask the child to perform specific tasks such as acting out a scene with puppets or drawing a picture of their family. Many believe that this approach leads to faster, better results because no pressure is placed on the child to fix their own problems, something that they might not be completely capable of at a young age (“Directive vs Non-Directive Play Therapy”, 2010). At its basis, many forms of therapy stem from the same basic ideas, for play therapy its’ basis can be traced back to Sigmund Freud and his
In the end this is what Erikson found when studying development of children and adults. This explains when he got started , he had a theory about eight stages of development , and how people grow over time. Erikson also found symptoms of children in the self - doubt stages and crisis children go through.
Erik Erikson was a German-born American psychoanalyst, noted for his contributions to developmental psychology. He contributed to society with a theory called The Theory of Psychosocial in which he speaks of a personality development. In his theory, Erikson described 8 stages, or conflicts, in the development of life to which people face. These are routed towards the development of more non-cognitive social sphere. It presents two challenges in each stage, which if you overcome positively the preceding results will show an ability to also mold part of your personality. If each new stage of life a person has achieved vital time for that competition, that person will experience a sense of mastery that Erikson conceptualized as ego strength. Otherwise, you will stay stuck in incomplete stages, hence a structure of unstable personality, which may be overcome in the adult stage through a more complex process.
Childhood play is an important part of every child’s development. This behavior starts in infancy, they begin to explore their world through play. Play behavior serves as an indicator of the child’s cognitive and social development. Research on play and development is essential to helping caregivers understand the importance of childhood play. I will be focusing on the psychological aspects of childhood play behavior and its relation to cognitive development.
Erik Erikson has made a contribution to the field of psychology with his developmental theory. In Erickson’s psychosocial theory, development consists of a sequence of stage, each defined by a unique crisis or challenge. Erikson proposed that individuals go through eight distinct, predictable stages as they develop their sense of self and their relationships with others. At each stage as a child experiences different biological, social and cognitive needs, sort of development crisis provides an opportunity for that child to discover whether her family society and culture can meet those needs. Psychosocial development the socially and culturally influenced process of development. An opportunity for increased potential and healthy development and decreased vulnerability.
Erikson’s developmental theory was very detailed as compared to Freud. His theory describes the influence of social experiences in one’s life; however Freud described development based on sexuality. Another major difference between Freud and Erikson’s developmental theory is the end result of the stages. Freud believed that when fixation occurs in one stage, the problems occur associated with that stage would be permanent. However Erikson claims that the outcome of a particular stage is temporary and can be altered by experiences in later years.
Children develop normally when they are exposed to different types of play that allow them to express themselves while using their imaginations and being physically active. According to the Center for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness, “Play is child’s work”; this is true because it is a child’s job to learn and develop in their first few years of life, in order for them to do this, they play. Not only is playing a child’s full time job, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights listed play as a right of every child. Through their full time job of play, the children develop emotionally, socially, physically, and creatively. Children need to participate in child-led play in order to facilitate healthy development of their minds, body, and creativity.