Sigmund Freud's Contribution To Child Development

1501 Words7 Pages
Child development is an area of significant interest to professionals who deal with children on a daily basis. It is through child development theorists and their theories that we begin to form an understanding of how children develop emotionally and socially to become fully grown adults in society with a moral and emotional compass/. Teachers need to study child development in order to provide developmentally appropriate educational experiences for children. Health professionals also need to understand this area to support children in their physical, social, emotional and cognitive journey to becoming functioning adults in society. Childhood is a concept that is affected by social context and also by history. Here in the West childhood was not always considered to be a fundamental developmental phase in life with children in Victorian times working from as early as the age of four. The Industrial Revolution did highlight the poor treatment of children and bring to the forefront the morality of allowing children to work such long hours and subsequently depriving them of an education. This essay will focus on the work of Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud outlining the contributions of both theorists to the child development debate and to the field of Play Therapy. Both theorists have contributed to the field of play therapy. Freud used play therapy to help a child with a horse phobia. He believed that the child could play out their subconscious feeling and desires and