Parents often are not aware of where their child is developmentally, and how that affects the life and behavior of their child. In an effort to fully understand the biological, emotional, psychological and physical changes that are taking place, here are some developmental theorists that may give you insight about what your child is facing now or may be facing in the future.
1. Erikson’s Life-Span Stages
Conflicts of each age range (ex. Industry vs. Inferiority) and what is necessary to move through the stage (ex. learn skills of the culture).
2. Piaget’s Cognitive Development
What is learned in each stage (ex. symbols), and what abilities are gained in that stage (ex. words and images).
3. Selman’s Perspective Taking
The sense that they feel in each stage (ex. putting themselves in another’s place to judge intentions), and what they are unaware of during that stage (ex. seeing themselves and others simultaneously).
4. Fowler’s Religious Development
What the characteristic of that stage is (ex. interpreting religious stories literally), and what the right of that stage is (ex. fair exchange).
You can search these theorists and get charts and further explanations of what occurs during specific time spans of development. This may assist you in understanding where your child is in terms of the world and his/her understanding of it.