Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the benefits of school counselors being familiar with the developmental theories. The paper explains that reviewing existing theories can help counselors better understand normal growth and development and gain insight into what individuals need to do to reach fulfillment in their lives. The paper highlights some classical ideas from the developmental literature and presents contemporary ideas relating to concerns of individuals in the 21st century. The major developmentalists reviewed are Arnold Gesell, Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg and Erik Erikson. The paper discusses how the classic developmental theories have been both praised and criticized, yet the basic tenets of these theories still provide the basis for many assumptions in counseling.

From the Paper:

"Counselors are concerned with how people think, because problem solving, decision-making and other interventions are governed by an individual's thinking. Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory focuses on how individuals think and how the thinking process is unique at different developmental stages. Piaget describes the thinking process of four developmental stages; the Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years of age); Preoperational (2 to 7 years of age); Concrete Operations (7 to 11 years of age); and Formal Operations (11 years to adulthood). Each of these stages is characterized by unique ways of thinking and therefore determines how adults interact with others. The preoperational, concrete and formal stages are important concerns for counselors."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Crain, W. (1992). Theories of development: Concepts and applications (3"' ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Feldman, R. (2000). Development across the lifespan (2"'' ed.). Needham Heights, Mass: Allyn & Bacon.
• Gilligan, C. ( 1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women 's development. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
• Ivey, A., Ivey, M. B., & Simek-Morgan, L. (1997). Counseling and psychotherapy. A multicultural perspective (4'" ed.). Needham Heights, Mass: Allyn & Bacon.
• Marcia, J. (1967). Ego identity status: Relationship to change in self esteem, "general maladjustment," and authoritarianism. Journal of Personality, 38, 118-133.

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