The Lifestart Growing Child programme is theoretically underpinned by the following:
- Ecological (Bronfenbrenner)
- Attachment (Bowlby)
- Cognitive Constructivism (Piaget)
- Social Constructivism (Vygotsky)
- Social Learning (Bandura)
- Discovery Learning (Bruner)
However, central to our understanding of the processes that impact on children’s development, learning and well-being are the concepts of ‘Holistic Development’ and the ‘Whole Child’.
Holistic development: looking at the whole child and understanding that it is the integration of all the different developmental areas that is important. However, ‘breaking down’ development into different domains does enable a better understanding of how children grow and learn. The four main domains for children’s development are emotional, physical, intellectual and social. Each of these domains can be differentiated into further themes of interest, for example, in emotional development we can also consider attachment and bonding, identity-formation, self-discipline, self-esteem and feelings.
A whole child approach recognises that children do not grow up in isolation and relationships, particularly the parent/child relationship, are extremely important in a child’s life and crucial to their well-being.
The Growing Child is also written and regularly reviewed (every four years) by the following child development experts:
Phil Bach, O.D., Ph.D
George Early, Ph.D
Liam Grimley, Ph.D
Sylvia Kottler, M.S.
Miriam Bender, Ph.D
Joseph Braga, Ed.D
Laurie Braga, Ph.D
Carol R. Gestwicki, M.S.
Robert Hannermann, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Bill Peterson, Ph.D