Child Development, Psychology and Counselling
Child Development, Psychology and Counselling asks how children grow, learn and behave, and what a warden should do with that knowledge: Piaget, Vygotsky, Kohlberg, Erikson, intelligence, learning disabilities, adolescence and basic counselling skills.
Core theory
- Piaget: sensorimotor (0-2), preoperational (2-7), concrete operational (7-11, when conservation and classification appear), formal operational (11+, abstract reasoning).
- Vygotsky: learning is social; the Zone of Proximal Development is the gap between what a child can do alone and what the child can do with help, and scaffolding closes it.
- Kohlberg: pre-conventional (reward and punishment), conventional (approval and law), post-conventional (universal principles).
- Erikson: industry versus inferiority (6-12) and identity versus role confusion (12-18) dominate the residential years.
- Rogers: empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence are the core counselling conditions.
Worked example
A nine-year-old insists a tall thin glass holds more water than a short wide one, though both hold the same. Reasoning: this is a failure of conservation of liquid, which normally appears in the concrete operational stage from about age seven. A nine-year-old still failing it suggests preoperational thinking or a developmental delay worth noting and supporting, not punishing. Answer: use pouring and comparison activities rather than correction by scolding.
Traps
Equating IQ 100 with genius (90-109 is average); calling dyslexia a vision problem when it is a phonological processing difficulty; treating confidentiality as absolute, when safety and abuse disclosures must be reported; confusing guidance (informational) with counselling (therapeutic and confidential).