Transforming Life Stages and Special Needs Students

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, as articulated by Erik Erikson, in collaboration with Joan Erikson,[1] is a comprehensive psychoanalytic theory that identifies a series of eight stages, in which a healthy developing individual should pass through from infancy to late adulthood. All stages are present at birth but only begin to unfold according to both a natural scheme and one's ecological and cultural upbringing. In each stage, the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges. Each stage builds upon the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.

Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.

Erikson’s (1968, 1980, 1982) psychosocial stages of development provide a framework for the different stages of development throughout the human lifespan. These stages of development begin at birth and continue until death, and separate the lifespan into eight stages based on chronological age. Within these eight different aging stages are corresponding psychosocial stages. Each of these psychosocial stages represent a conflict between two characteristics of development for that particular time period in a person’s life.

The second level of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral development is the Conventional Level. The Conventional level consists of stages 3 and 4. Stage 3 is based on interpersonal expectations. Those who are at this stage try to be a “good” boy or a “good” girl and live up to others’--such as close friends and family’s-- expectations. Stage 4 is based on Law-and-Order. They are not only focused on what their family and friends say; they are now focused on society. These stages are usually reached by early teens. They don’t blindly follow rules;

Just like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed in the significance of early childhood. However, he believed that an individual’s personality development occurs over the individual’s entire course of life. In the early 1960s, Erik Erikson proposed a theory that provided a description of eight different stages of human development (Scheck, 2014). According to him, in each phase, individuals face new challenges and the outcome of the stage depends on how individuals handle the encountered challenges (Scheck, 2014). The stages are named based on the possible outcomes.

Psychologist Erik Erikson developed his eight stages of development to clarify the developmental challenges faced at various times in people’s lives. Stage-based theories of development were extremely popular during Erikson’s era. However, Erikson’s theory differs from other popular theories in that a person does not have to successfully complete one stage of development to move on to the next stage of development. Erikson’s stages of development are widely taught in psychology courses in the United States.

Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation. Kohlberg's stage 1 is similar to Piaget's first stage of moral thought. The child assumes that powerful authorities hand down a fixed set of rules which he or she must unquestioningly obey. To the Heinz dilemma, the child typically says that Heinz was wrong to steal the drug because "It's against the law," or "It's bad to steal," as if this were all there were to it. When asked to elaborate, the child usually responds in terms of the consequences involved, explaining that stealing is bad "because you'll get punished" (Kohlberg, 1958b).

The second level is Conventional reasoning where a person adopts their standards from others suchs a family, or the government. Stage three of Kohlberg’s morals people seek approval from others and want to maintain good relations. A scenario when this will occur might be when a teenager joins the football team in high school because his dad is a huge football fan, even though the boy may not like that sport. The teenger is seeking aproval of his dad and is conforming to his interests. People in stage four tend to stick to laws to find peace, order, and to work efficiently. For example a person in a community may believe that justice is important to keeping everyone safe and

The moral implications of the scene are great, as this execution style killing in broad daylight was not expected from a man who had just finished a speech about “honesty, integrity, and hard work”. According to Kohlberg, however, this seemingly immoral act falls in line with Frank’s position on the stages of moral development. Kohlberg’s theory dictates six stages of moral development belonging to 3 broader stages, Pre Conventional, Conventional, and Post Conventional. The Pre Conventional is commonly found in children, and is composed of individuals who base their morality on outside threats, such as schoolchildren obeying teachers under threat of punishment. This includes 2 stages, individuals who only see the consequences of their moral actions as well as those who view morality as what is best for them. Next, the conventional stage is where most adolescents and adults remain for their whole lives. It includes two sub stages, morality determined by conforming to social consensus and morality determined by realizing the importance obedience plays in maintaining social order. Finally, the post conventional stage is one that most people do not progress to. It contains stages based on differing moral opinions based on contractual orientation, as well as morality based on abstract, categorical

Lawrence Kohlberg named six stages of moral development. These stages occurred in three separate levels: level one is preconventional morality, level two is conventional morality, and level three is postconventional morality. Each level consisted of two of the stages. The first level, preconventional morality, consisted of the obedience and punishment stage and the individual interest stage. The obedience and punishment stage stated that behavior was driven by avoiding punishment and the individual interest age stated that behavior was driven by self-interest and rewards. These stages usually occurred with preschool and elementary School level children. The second level, conventional morality, consisted of the interpersonal stage and the authority

Kohlberg calls stage 1 thinking "pre-conventional" because children do not yet speak as members of society. Instead, they see morality as something external to themselves, as that which the big people say they must do.

Over time psychologist have found more ways to further the study if humans’ behavior and metal processes. Erikson, a psychologist of the twentieth century came up with a theory of how humans’ developmental stages throughout a life span. His theory consisted of eight stages. The first stage is trust vs. mistrust and this occurs from birth to 1 year of age. The next stage is autonomy vs. shame and doubt and occurs from the age 1 to 3. Then there is initiative vs. guilt this will last from age 3 to 6. The fourth stage is industry vs. inferiority and this occurs from age 6 to puberty. Next is the stage of identity vs. role confusion this

Erik Erikson theory is not sole based on age criteria, but also contains behavioral and social environment. Erickson’s stages symbolize a sequence of eight phases. In the eight stages he includes the development of critical moments that must be successfully resolved in order to transition on to the next stage. At each stage there are particular conflicts which allow an individual to mature successfully. With each conflict, it can be determined by choosing the correct means or incorrect one. Erickson believes that the critical moment left unresolved will continue to reoccur throughout life; this will have the person feeling insecure in related situations during the next

Preconventional Morality is the first level that Kohlberg introduced. It is relatable to children from the age of one to the age of ten. This level of morality is focused on one’s self and the perspective of self-interest. In level 1, there are two stages that contribute to the understanding of this level. Stage 1 is punishment and obedience orientation; it is the fear of punishment or the promise of rewards. An example is when a child fear consequences for his action therefore the child does what is required. The child doesn’t do it because it’s the right thing to do, but because they want to avoid the punishment, therefore it’s in their best interest to do what is asked. It shows that the child isn’t focus on

Initially, the Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) was authorized. This body of laws focuses on providing all students with disabilities a free and appropriate public education ( FAPE) that place importance on special education and services that is developed to meet the students individual needs and prepare them for adulthood (IDEA, 2004). In order to comply with the demands of IDEA, it is fundamental to grasp the significance of the transition planning in the lives of both students and their families (Test, Aspel, & Everson, 2006). Etscheidt (2006) defined the transition services as group of activities that are established to provide positive outcomes that support student’s transition from school to post school. During the transition process a myriad of services that focus on higher education, employment, vocational training, community