Patricia A. MacAulay
CHILD DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
Developmental Experiences
All adults who have a relationship with a child have the power and the means to help fill developmental gaps. Adults nurture children's development through shared experiences within a trusting relationship. Dr. Karen Triesman, a psychologist specializing in attachment and relational trauma puts it simply:
‘’Relationships heal relationship trauma.’’
Of course, even without such advice and guidance, adults have always played this lead role in children’s psycho-social development. We do so intuitively and within the framework of personal, cultural, and institutional values. What is being recommended here is simply a more tailored, targeted approach to complement the nurturing already being done.
Dr. Erikson shared his sequential developmental theory as a description only and did not name specific approaches for helping children resolve their conflicting feelings at each stage of their psycho-social development. Dr. Perry has matched certain activities that are key to developing the four main parts of the brain. This can serve as a starting place to help adults know how to help when a child reaches school-age with developmental gaps.
This is not just an individual responsibility. Social, cultural, and educational programming should be offered with this goal in mind. For example, play-based junior kindergarten and kindergarten programs offer great benefits for young children needing to catch up on developmental work when they first arrive at school. Community and culturally-based initiatives go a long way to support children and families in providing safety and nurturing, and, of course, our socio-political and economic environment shapes all aspects of our lives.
Some children, however, will need particular, individualized, targeted support. When we cobble together what we know from a variety of disciplines and practices – educational psychology, developmental psychology, neuro-science, sociology, early childhood education, play therapy, art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, somatic experiencing therapy, expressive arts therapy, art education, physical education, physical therapy, occupational therapy, special education, Indigenous teachings – we can develop ways to 1) observe and understand the child’s current psycho-social developmental challenge and 2) introduce experiences that are most likely to support the child to meet that challenge.
Even if a child is older, adults can offer these nurturing experiences. Dr. Perry is clear on this matter. He writes:
''Traumatized children need patterned, repetitive experiences appropriate to their development needs, needs that reflect the age at which they missed important stimuli or had been traumatized, not their current chronological age. ''
Another researcher, Dr. Bruce Perry, has concluded that if the right intervention is offered at the right time, in the right order, and over a long period of time, developmental trauma can be repaired. Neuro-science reassures us that children’s brains are flexible and are open to being re-shaped and re-ordered through attuned interventions.
What type of experiences foster emotional and social development? Fun ones! There is a lot of overlap among these options, but I often use four main categories to describe what helps children grow.
Play comes perfectly naturally to all children in all cultures. It is a child’s way of thinking, exploring, and communicating. It is their form of ‘’talking.’’ It involves their entire being – their mind, body, and spirit and is experienced through all their senses.
Research into children’s play shows that children progress through various stages of play, moving along a continuum from exploratory play on their own to organized, competitive play.
Watching the type of play preferred by the child can help us understand their psycho-social state, bearing in mind that children like all types of play at all stages of development and the only ‘’right’’ type of play is play that children enjoy.
Above all else, play is about pleasure. If something feels good, we will want to repeat it, and this repetition builds mastery. Thus, play is the most natural, efficient, and inexpensive way to encourage curiosity, risk-taking, and collaboration.
Multiple forms of play are beneficial for development, and these forms of play tend to become increasingly social as the child builds language skills.
Expressing one’s self through artistic means – drawing, painting, sculpting, dancing, singing, acting, etc. – comes as naturally as play and in many ways, is another form of play. Like play, the arts are a highly embodied, active form of communicating, a way for the child to integrate their inner and outer worlds.
As children grow, some may feel motivated to master artistic skills. However, mastery cannot and should not be the only goal of children’s artistic experiences. In fact, having that goal for all children inhibits the psycho-social growth that can occur through arts-based experiences.
For example, mastery in the visual arts has been associated with being a ‘’good to draw,’’ someone who can accurately represent reality. That goal misses the point of the arts – being able to share one’s inner experience with the world and learn from that interaction.
Looking at the visual arts in particular, researchers have shown that the way children typically represent their world through visual means can indicate their stage of psycho-social development.
Human development is an embodied experience. We use our bodies to explore and engage with the world and learn about ourselves and our environment.
At the earliest stages, children move involuntarily. Very soon, however, movements become increasingly self-directed and coordinated as the child seeks greater independence through locomotion.
Increased coordination, balance, and muscle strength enable the child to understand and adapt to their environment. Each new experience develops new skills. Each new skill enables further learning.
Freedom of movement and opportunities to learn the coordination of movement are crucial for emotional and social development. Through movement, children learn about their environment and integrate that learning within their sensori-motor systems.
Movement involves spontaneity, curiosity, imagination, and humour – all aspects of an engaged human being. Movement encourages the development of a mature identity living in a balanced way.
There is no evidence to suggest that children develop life skills in a linear order. Skill development is very much based on the interaction between the child and the environment as the child works to build competencies that have value for themselves and their community within a particular context.
The motivation for skill building comes from a desire to thrive, to improve one’s life and wellbeing. Children tend to first build skills that help themselves and then move onto a mix of skill building that serves their own purposes and meets group needs involving using increasingly complex tools or technologies.
Emotional development is closely intertwined with skill building as the process both demands and integrates psychological and social constructs. Increasingly complex emotional resources are required to initiate skill development, to persist with the learning process, and to reflect upon what is learned. Such demanding work requires interaction between a child and a supportive adult and involves interactions with peers.
Children who are meeting their developmental challenges develop goals for themselves and want to build competence to meet these goals. They will view challenging circumstances as opportunities to learn. Thus, they can persist, define themselves as learners, and transfer their skills across domains, feeling satisfaction as they do so.
More Perspectives ...
Play
Expressive Arts
Movement
Life Skills