Understanding Developmental Stages: what parents must do to maximize potential

1. Understanding Developmental Stages:
what parents must do to maximize
potential
Dr. Dolapo Ogunbawo
Executive Director
Caleb Group of Schools
Saturday, March 21st, 2015

2. Introduction
Caleb Group of Schools
in Collaboration with
Sterling Bank
Important websites for downloading materials
and registering for next workshop
www.sterlingbankng.com/parentingworkshops
and
www.calebschools.com

3. 1st Workshop in the Series
Understanding Developmental Stages: What
Parents Must Do to Maximize Potential.
“The greatest gifts you can give your
children are the roots of responsibility and
wings of independence”
Denis Waitley

4. Expectations
• Duration - 2 hours
• Presentation – 1 hour
• Light touches on development theories
• Focus on what parents need to do –
practicalities
• Sterling Bank Message – 10 minutes while you
complete question/comment sheet
• Response to some questions and comments
• Follow up on websites to download materials
and register for next workshop

6. Understanding Developmental Stages
All seeds grow
All seeds can grow
All children learn
All children can learn

7. Development & Growth
• To live is to change
• All changes – physical, intellectual, personality
and social, are known as development
• Human life is a process of continual
development
• Children develop at different rates. We have
individual differences and variations in
development
• Human development happens in stages
following an orderly sequence known as
developmental stages

8. 2 Perspectives on Development
• Development as maturation – changes
that are governed by genetical and
environmental factors e.g. Baby teeth
• Development as learning – changes that
occur in behaviour in the process of
interaction with environment as a result of
practice or experience e.g. Language
acquisition or learning to read

9. Developmental Tasks
• Robert Havighurst – describes
developmental tasks as the social
expectations for each stage of
development
• “Task which arises as or about a certain
period in the life of the individual,
successful achievement of which leads to
happiness and to success with later tasks
while failure leads to unhappiness and
difficulties with later tasks.”

10. Havighurst’s Developmental Tasks
6 stages of developmental tasks:
1. Infancy and Early Childhood e.g. learning to
walk
2. Middle Childhood e.g. developing skills of
reading, writing and calculations
3. Adolescence e.g. accepting one’s physique
4. Early Adulthood e.g. selecting a mate
5. Middle Age e.g. achieving adult civic and
social responsibility
6. Later Maturity e.g. adjusting to retirement

11. Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
8 distinct stages each with 2 possible outcomes:
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (0 – 1 year)
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1 – 3 years)
3. Initiative vs. Guilt (3 – 5 years)
4. Industry vs. Inferiority (5 – puberty/11years)
5. Identity vs. Role confusion (adolescence)
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (early adulthood)
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood)
8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair (senior citizens)

12. Sigmund Freud – Psychosexual
Development
Freud’s theory is very controversial
• Personality is mostly established by age 5
• Early experiences shape personality and
continue to influence behaviour later in life
1. Oral stage
2. Anal stage
3. Phallic stage
4. Latent stage

13. Cognitive Development - Piaget
Jean Piaget is the most cited and influential
theory of cognitive development
1. Sensorimotor stage (birth – 2years) Object
permanency
2. Pre-operational stage (2 – 7years)
Egocentricism and Conservation (Reversibility)
3. Concrete Operations stage (7 – 12years)
ability to see different perspectives of concrete
objects
4. Formal Operations stage (12+) development of
abstract view of the world

14. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
• Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I
avoid punishment?)
2. Self-interest orientation (What's in it for me?)
• Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (The good
boy/good girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(Law and order morality)
• Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience)

15. Why parents need to understand
the developmental stages
“The majority of reading problems faced by
today’s adolescents and adults are the
result of problems that might have been
avoided or resolved in early childhood.”
National Research Council, USA

16. Developing the Whole Child
• Physically
• Mentally/Intellectually
• Spiritually/Morally

17. Physical Development
• Understanding the physical body and its
developmental process
• Nourishment
• Exercise
• Body image
• Self esteem

18. Intellectual Development
• Understanding the process of intellectual
development
• Stimulation/motivation
• Structure and discipline – setting
boundaries
• Teaching thinking and reasoning skills
• Developing an enquiring mind

19. Spiritual/Moral Development
• Moral Values
• Principles of life
• Setting goals, targets and standards
• Having a vision and a mission – a purpose
for everything
• Modeling good example (walk the talk)

20. Research Findings
What data tells us

22. Research Findings
What Causes These Gaps?
1. Socio economic status
2. Parental income
3. Mother’s education
4. Special needs status
5. Gender
6. Family type – single parenting
7. QED i.e. month of birth

24. Schools and Society
• Schools cannot do everything
• Social policy is also vital to good education
– Housing, employment, health, child care
• More equitable societies have better
outcomes
• Health and social problems are worse in
more unequal countries

25. High Achieving Children
• High aspiration
• Self belief or self confidence
• Positive attitude (can-do)
• Goal oriented (focus)
• Skill to learn from experience

26. High Aspiration
The secret of success in life is for a man to
be ready for his opportunity when it comes
Benjamin Disraeli - British prime minister (1804-1881)

27. Self Belief or Self Confidence
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible
objections must first be overcome
Samuel Johnson - British author (1709-1784)

28. Positive Attitude (Can-Do)
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental
attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on
earth can help the man with the wrong
mental attitude
Thomas Jefferson - American president (1743-1826)

29. Goal Oriented (Focus)
The difference between a successful person
and others is not a lack of strength, not a
lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will
Vince Lombardi - American football coach (1913-1970)

30. Skill to Learn from Experience
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in
rising every time we fall
Confucius

31. Understanding Learning
• Learning is more than teachers
• Learning is continuous adaptation
• Learning is building on children’s prior
knowledge
• Learning requires children’s engagement
• Learning is progression to higher order
tasks
• Learning requires second chances

32. Improving Learning
• Recognize that learning matters more than
curriculum
• Prevent failure as much as possible
• Build on children’s knowledge and
interests
• Have high expectations in everything
• Teach thinking and reasoning skills
• Encourage self-directed learning

33. What It Takes to Do This
• Have clearly stated and articulated values
• Make clearly defined action plans and set
goals
• Focus relentlessly on the things that really
matter
• Establish a positive and supportive culture
of high expectations for everything
• Provide the support children need to get
better at their work

34. Challenges
• Wrong priorities
– Focus on competition and ‘our blame culture’
– Focus only on schools or government failing
the children
• Distractions
– Lack of focus on what really matters
– Failure to take responsibility
– Wishing we have better children

35. Implications for Parents
• Focus on what really matters
• Build your own networks and support
• Work in collaboration and not competition
• Create a positive climate
• Work to support rather than blame

37. V. O. R.
• Vision – of greatness and positive
outcomes
• Optimism – every day is a great
day
• Realism – work with what you’ve
got

38. Vision, Optimism, Realism

39. Reflection
• What has extended or deepened your
learning?
• What has challenged your thinking?
• What do you intend to follow up on and
how?

40. Questions & Comments