Life Span Development Reflective Paper

Life Span Development Reflective Paper Introduction

Brenda Watson
Leadership Coaching
September 19, 2010

This has been a very fascinating journey from prenatal, birth to old age. The goal of this paper is to show how my knowledge and understanding of life span development has increased, as well as demonstrate how this knowledge and understanding will apply to and can be used within my area of specialization, Leadership Coaching.

As a Social Worker, I have had the opportunity to work with children and families from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. My experience and training includes extensive work with prenatal, infant and early childhood education and development. Through this course I have been able to not only reinforce what I know, but develop greater knowledge in my areas of expertise as well as gain a deeper understanding of the areas of least experience and knowledge (i.e. adolescent, early/middle adulthood and late adulthood).
I will discuss how research and theory has enhanced my knowledge and understanding of the various stages of life span development and which ones more closely match the way I think and how they can be applied and contribute Leadership Coaching.

Research and Theory of Life Span Development

When evaluating the contributions of theories and research their impact as they relates to life span development; there are several that stand out for me and I feel apply well to my area of specialization. These theories and research, although not directly related to my area of specialization affect and influence the way in which I will be able to work with each individual alone or in a group setting. Because of my strong belief that the environment can have significant impact on the development of the individual as a whole many of the stages theories (i.e. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development; Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development and Piaget’s Cognitive Stages of Development), although important in

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