Which developmental theory explains childrens

Answer 1

The development needs or the process of development of children are usually divide into a number of categories such as Physical,

Mental,

Emotional,

Spiritual/Moral development

As far as I know there is no theory that explains all of this at one and the same time. There are books and texts however that do address all of them but they draw from different sources and theories.

Question is what are your concern(s)? Are you concerned about your child's mental development etc or do you want a general "feel" for child development?

One should remember that these things are not independent in a child but very much and noticeably interdependent A child's moral development is dependant on his mental development, there are indications that mental development is stimulated by physical development and use of limbs coordination etc.

So many textbooks divide development into certain periods or years and say that this "should " happen and this function or ability should appear or be taught at age such and such. If everything happens normally and you are in a normal stimulating environment then these things usually work out fine, but there can be exceptions daughter was allergic to milk and by the time this was established and she was on soy milk her teeth was poor due to lack of calcium and stomach acid lost her front teeth when she was very young and this affected her speech that affected her potty training which meant that she wore a diaper "past the age" which affronted her grandmother who we did not see that often and did not lead to emotional problems. What I want to illustrate is that an "event" at one end can affect a series of happenings that could have led to feelings of shame.

Also one must remember that these milestones are averages and that one should use your common sense and ask if there is a good explanation why the child has not reached the milestone and very gently start making enquiries. Remember we have/see one or two children - GP's, physiotherapists etc see 100's and they are a better judge of what is normal than we are. One other thing these milestones are averages and averages have lower numbers and higher numbers that are added together and the average calculated - so your child is one of the lower numbers in walking, that does not make him abnormal only a lower number.

To answer you question and this is my opinion:

Physical - There are lots of resources well documented from Wall-Mart to Wikipedia, you can use any of them.

Mental - I still think Piaget is tops, but he is not an easy read. Find some book that explains his theories in plain English. Again Wiikipedia Resource may help.

Emotional - Eric Ericson. from memory the Ages of Man.

Spiritual - Apart from any religious teaching Kolb's theory on moral development.

Hope this helps.