Child Psychological Development: Integration of Theory in Practice
Client Background
Olivia Jane is a two-and-a-half-year-old girl assessed at her home on July 11th, 2020 in the presence of his mother. The assessment included; observation in play therapy, verbal and non-verbal interpersonal communication, and an assessment using the Denver Development scale. Olivia’s Mother Claire Potter, age 35, works as a clerk in the local post office, and has a flexible schedule that allows her to spend time with her children. His father, Oliver Potter, age 40, is a well-established local real estate agent, who according to his wife works hard enough to provide for their family. Olivia is the last born and has two older brothers. Claire and Oliver’s parents visit from time to time to spend time with their grandchildren.
Environment
Olivia and her family live in a suburban, three-bedroom house in the Cheviot Hills neighbourhood. The house is well organized except for a few stranded toys used by Oliver during playtime. There are family portraits, some including the grandparents, hanging on the wall leading up the stairs. The parents exercise considerable authority on their children, and the children seem to respond well to instruction. The boys share a bedroom, while Oliver sleeps in her room opposite to the boys’ room. Claire and Oliver have well-paying jobs and can comfortably provide their family’s needs. Their parents also help out with financial supplements whenever they can or whenever Claire and Oliver need it. The boys, Jamie, age 8 and Luke, age 5, are playful but respectful and keep the atmosphere elevated and rarely dull.
Family and Cultural Assessment
The family dynamic and hierarchical arrangement are healthy. Olivia responds well to his mother and father and relates well with her brothers. The family believes in equal but respectful parent-parent and parent-child communication. Claire and Oliver strongly believe in the involvement of grandparents in parenting and often seek counsel on parenting from them. During the home assessment, it was clear that Claire was a participative mother with a hands-on approach in taking care of and instructing her children. Except for the dotted conflict between the brothers, the family seems to have a decent understanding and good transactional patterns between them. However, Claire, Olivia’s mother, seems to have more authority on the children than Oliver, and the children take note of this as they depend on their father for passes their mother would traditionally not allow. Claire and Oliver’s parents live in separate houses but visit and call quite often to check on the family. Their relationship with Claire’s parents is extensive, and sometimes Oliver feels they are a little too involved and would prefer a little more independence.
Genogram
Behaviour Observation: Contrast of normal and abnormal development
On Olivia’s 11th July 2020 session, Olivia responded to the therapist greeting appropriately. There were nesting blocks for her to play with as the session progresses. Before she could start playing, Olivia looked up to her mother and requested that she help him stack the blocks. O.J took charge of her activities but appreciated help from her mother. She demonstrated this when Claire stacked a few blocks but O.J took over and stacked the blocks independently. The therapist applauded his ability to stack the blocks and he was deeply grateful. O.J attempted to use a chair as a booster to stack more blocks but her mother discourages her and explains that the blocks may fall on her. Olivia felt discouraged by her mothers’ comment, knocked down her blocks, and ran up to her room. O. J’s mother seemed very concerned for her child as she is playing with her blocks and constantly gazed towards her as we conducted the session. She later accepts her mother’s request to return to the living room but sulks and avoids eye contact with her mother and the therapist.
Normal development for toddlers is hardly similar considering the various intrinsic and environmental influences on growth and development. Toddlers in O. J’s age bracket achieve various milestones in psychological, physical, cognitive, and social growth. Children with normal development cycles achieve self-sufficiency, language articulation, enthusiasm in social interactions, recognize toys and how to play with them. Failure to grasp these milestones is a tale-tale sign of abnormal or delayed development. O. J’s development is normal since she can make out sentence phrases like greetings, is self-sufficient, and recognizes the use of toys presented to him. O.J also showed great development progress on the Denver assessment scale.
Language: according to the scale, a normal two-and-a-half-year-old child should have half understandable speech. O.J could respond to greetings with articulate words and could even express gratitude to a compliment, indicating normal development.
Fine Motor- Adaptive: O. J’s fine motor skills correspond to normal development requirements as she could stack blocks almost as tall as her height.
Personal-Social: O. J’s personal and social skills indicate that she is well within grasping the developmental milestones of a two-and-a-half-year-old. She could dress, her mother expressed she insisted on choosing her outfits and played interactively with her brothers.
Gross-motor skills: She demonstrated good motor skills by climbing onto a chair without help, jumping in excitement when asked to play with the blocks, and running.
Results: Overall, O.J displayed great achievement, exhibited exponential development and successful grasping of all milestones. O.J remained within the normal range of development for his age group but showed marked advancement in language skills.
Developmental Theorist: Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory
The insights of Erik Erikson’s theory of childhood psychosocial development significantly informed O. J’s assessment. Erikson outlines 8 stages, defined by age intervals, where people negotiate between two opposing values to find a balance and gain a new virtue. The first stage in Erikson’s theory occurs between zero and one-and-a-half-years, where infants contend between trust and mistrust and with appropriate care gain the virtue of love. During this stage, parental attachment is critical to creating the child’s attachment style that significantly informs their progress through the other stages. In the second stage, within one and a half years to three years, toddlers contend between autonomy and shame and develop the virtue of will if they successfully negotiate the stage (Orenstein and Lewis, 2020). Erikson’s theory posits that at every stage of development, a child gains a new strength or virtue that reintegrates them into the next stage and informs their later life choices.
In the second stage of development, toddlers being to recognize, perceive and interact with their surroundings. They recognize their parents’ authority and understand the implications of instruction. For a child to successfully negotiate this stage and become willful, parents should promote self-sufficiency while maintaining a secure environment (Orenstein and Lewis, 2020). O.J displays the psychological struggle between autonomy and shame. She struggles to establish autonomy by stacking the blocks higher and independently, and the interruption by her mother causes her to develop feelings of doubt and shame. She then runs away to her room and remains shy and sulky after returning to the living room. Although they may not comprehend their limits, children pride themselves in completing tasks independently and gain the willpower to complete even more tasks. Therefore, O. J’s mother is right to ensure that she stays safe but should encourage O. J’s self-sufficiency as she maintains this safety.
Prevention Measures to enhance Development
- J’s assessment revealed she was aware of the need for independence and felt shame and self-doubt when denied the opportunity to exercise her autonomy. This negotiation is inevitable and parents must equip themselves with strategies that promote their children’s normal development. Preventive strategies such as parental psychoeducation and support, the sit down and play technique would be appropriate for O.J and her mother to promote healthy psychosocial development.
Primary preventative strategies prevent children from having developmental challenges and promote unproblematic growth. One of the most successful primary prevention approaches is pre-birth psychoeducation and support for parents. Counselling and education programs ensure that parents learn about non-harsh parent-child interactions and strengthen the parent-child relationship (Peacock-Chambers et al., 2017). O. J’s mother and father need to recognize both physical and psychological development milestones and how to help their children successfully contend between the positive and negative virtues. Psychoeducation and support for O. J’s parents would help them recognize the psychological needs of their child and incorporate parenting strategies that enhance their mental development.
In cases where children already have difficulties traversing the developmental stages, secondary techniques like the sit-down and play technique help to prevent progression. According to Shah et al. the sit-down and play technique requires parents to take time and play with their children in activities they enjoy during their doctor’s visits (Shah et al., 2017). After learning the need for better interaction with her child, O. J’s mother would employ the sit-down and play strategy to help her child learn autonomy while maintaining safety. Parents and healthcare professionals recognize the impact of parenting behaviours on childhood developmental outcomes. Therefore, active presence in the child’s playtime allows O. J’s mother and father to actively engage in her child’s life and prevent difficulties in struggling between autonomy and shame. Also, O.J responds very well to reinforcement, a strategy that her parents could use to promote her successful psychological development. Reinforcement is an effective strategy in re-educating and maintaining desirable behaviour for children. O.J responds ecstatically to a compliment given by the therapist for her ability to stack blocks so high. Consequently, if she develops irreversible shame, her parents could compliment or reward her when she displays autonomy.
References
Orenstein, G. A., & Lewis, L. (2020). Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
Peacock-Chambers, E., Ivy, K., & Bair-Merritt, M. (2017). Primary care interventions for early childhood development: a systematic review. Pediatrics, 140(6).
Shah, R., DeFrino, D., Kim, Y., & Atkins, M. (2017). Sit down and play a preventive primary care-based program to enhance parenting practices. Journal of child and family studies, 26(2), 540-547.