Argues that dynamic systems approaches may provide an explanatory framework based on general scientific principles for developmental psychology, using principles of self-organization to explain how novel forms emerge without predetermination and become increasingly complex with development. Contends that self-organization provides a single…

Compares differential and developmental approaches to clinical and developmental problems such as suicide. Contends that abstract model variables (such as suicidal tendency), whose meaning depends on the model in which they function, need a translation between the variable and empirical data. Maintains that practitioners need a model allowing for…

When studied closely, it is evident that children who seem to be developing through their own interactions with the environment are really benefiting from adult interactions in the process. The developing child must form a dyadic relationship with a caretaking adult. The complex workings of that dyadic unit now preoccupy researchers as they study…

Analyzes suicide in terms of a dynamic model of changes in suicidal tendencies over time. Suggests that minor fluctuations may incite rapid development toward suicide or inhabit suicidality. Notes that this method of analysis and developmental modeling is applicable to other phenomena involving development in complex human behaviors in an open…

Discusses Mishara's use of phrase space analysis to chart the developmental dynamics of suicide. Contends that developmentalists should concern themselves with mental ontology, especially epistemic questions, in order to advance understanding of the development of the human mind. Considers the affinity of interactivism with a dynamic systems…

The basic character of literacy is the creation of objects to regulate interactions with the physical and social worlds. "Remediation" means a shift in the way that mediating devices regulate coordination with the environment. If research on reading is to make a difference, it will have to start with an understanding of how contemporary…

After reviewing recent contributions to the field of motor development, suggests a pattern formation or dynamics approach to child development as an alternative to the conventional approaches emphasizing maturation (nativist), specific learning experiences (empiricist), cognitive stages (Piagetian), and strategies of encoding and retrieval…

The School Development Program includes a School Planning and Management Team, a Mental Health Team, and Parents Program. The mental health component involves collaboration of child development and mental health experts and the community in dealing with individual student and global school issues in mental health. (SK)

Introduces the concept of "developmental niche" as a framework for examining the cultural structuring of child development. Focuses on (1) anthropological perspectives on human development, (2) psychology and the environment, (3) subsystems and other aspects of the developmental niche, and (4) changes which occur in niches as individuals…

Four tenets of dynamic systems theory related to motor development in infants are identified: coupling of perception and action; development of adaptable and functional movement synergies; phase shifts in which new movement patterns are explored and selected; and identification of the constraining and facilitating forces of motor development. Four…

Maintains that reform in children's services is linked to changes in conceptions of the nature of childhood and children's needs. Highlights demonstration project of "wraparound" services for early adolescents to suggest that these emerging programs may embed notions of children as complex systems, ideas that differ significantly from accounts of…

The features of positive youth development settings, identified in recent research, are applied to camp program planning, staff selection, and comprehensive program evaluation. A web-like model of positive features of the program's organizational and social environment provides a systemic viewpoint. (TD)

This paper recommends that rural education researchers adopt an ecological approach that acknowledges both family and community influences on child development and school outcomes. Although rural researchers have generated useful information about children, few studies have provided a full portrayal of rural children's lives. A fundamental…

Based on the view that individual variability is best understood as the result of influences from multiple domains operating over time, this book describes how different domains of influence operate, describes the operating processes in common to the different influences, and shows how these processes meet the criteria for a full-fledged system.…