Lifespan Development Theme

Several themes are demonstrated in the course of lifespan development. Although each child develops individually, common themes can be seen throughout the development. The following are explanations of four universal themes of human development, including the continuity-discontinuity issue, nature versus nurture, the active-passive issue, and the development across domains issue, and how my personal experiences relate to the understanding of each theme.

Early Development is Related to Later Development but Not Perfectly

Shaffer and Kipp (2010) describe a pervasive theme in lifespan development, in which our early development during infancy and childhood correlates to how we later develop as adults, known as the continuity-discontinuity issue.

At the age of twelve-months, I was at the stage of development when walking was a natural milestone to achieve. According to Piaget, I was in the tertiary circular reaction substage of sensorimotor development, which is a time for trial-and-error experimentation (Bee et al., 2018). Walking is part of human nature and all children who develop normally will begin progress toward walking at this age, as it is part of our nature. Nurture, however, was also a factor in my personal experience of learning to walk, as it took intervention of the environment to encourage me to take my first steps. My parents coaxed me to walk toward them by holding shiny objects in my view, verbally praising and calling for me, and using gestures, which is an example of how the environment can have an effect on childhood development. Nature and biology dictated that I was developmentally ready to walk, and the nurturing of my environment supported me in taking my first

Language acquisition is a fundamental stage of childhood, as is generally the focus for 6- to 12-year-old school children (Bee et al., 2018). As a child, I was encouraged by my parents to read as an independent hobby. Research suggests the importance of motivating children to prepare for independent reading in school, as it contributes to one’s reading performance in adulthood (Bee et al., 2018). My genuine passion and interest in reading influenced my literary ability from an early age, and I was reading novels by kindergarten and was often placed in gifted reading programs. Had I not been so interested in reading as a child, my literary aptitude may not be at the level where it is