The developmental challenge that is becoming more common is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASD is a disorder that affects the child’s social interactions and their ability to see someone else’s perspective as well as their motor skills (Berger, 2015). The age range at which this is arising is during the elementary school years: six years to 11 years. Professionals are able to evaluate children with ASD to see how this disorder really affects them. Does it just affect them mentally or does it have effects on mobility?
Relevant Theorists: The first theorist that is relevant to Autism Spectrum Disorder is Erik Erikson. Erikson is a psychosocial theorist and believes that family and culture is important to children. The stage group that Erikson mentions that is the same age group for when ASD is common is named Industry vs. Inferiority. In this stage, children experience two different ways of experiencing life. For instance, they either try to overcome new skills by practicing or they either think they cannot do anything right (Berger, 2015).
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Vygotsky has the perspective of a sociocultural theorist. This type of theorist believes that children learn because their parents help them and teach them in life (Berger, 2015). Autism Spectrum Disorder is based on the deficiencies in social interaction and Vygotsky would explain how the surrounding social experiences are connected to one another. For instance, Vygotsky has a concept about Zone of Proximal Development, in which children have many different levels of social interactions that are close in their lives. For instance, children go to school, they interact with their peers and even talk to teachers or a pastor at a church they attend. Each adult or peer that they interact with is a part of a social experience, which they can learn and benefit from. Vygotsky would agree that people do not only learn in school, they learn by their surroundings and every day