Lecture 6a: Rethinking Developmentalism

Describe the univeralized Piagetian stage-based theories of the child?

assert that all children progress through a cmmon pathway as they acquire capacities at specific ages

How are children’s personhood limited?

• viewed as “incomplete person”

• immature

• viewed as a means/pathway to an end

Ethical concerns about decision-making and children’s agency?

• decision-making processes are structured around developmental models that equate cognitive ability with the right to express preferences

• alternative forms of communication are often disregarded

• interventions aimed at achieving developmental milestones take precedence over a child’s comfort, dignity, and personal desires

Societal expectations and the medicalization of development?

• developmentalism promotes a medicalized view of childhood

• medical treatments are often pursued to push children toward socially valued growth patterns despite the distress it can cause

• focus on milestones can overshadow other important elements

Key concepts of child development?

• child development is a foundation for community and economic development

• brains are built from the bottom up

  • complex circuits build on simpler circuits, good foundations support capacity later

• serve and return process is fundamental to the wiring of the brain

• cognitive, emotional and social capacities are inextricable intertwined

• toxic stress can damage development brain architecture and lead to learning and behaviour problems as well as susceptibility to physical and mental illness

• brain plasticity + ability to change behaviour decreases over time

• effectiveness factors can be measured and can inform wise investments in effective policies and programs