Hulick 1 Erik Erikson Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 15, 1902.

Erik Erikson did not know who his biological father was growing up and caused him to focus on developing his strong sense of identity like he discusses in his theory. Erik Erikson started off by being a traveling artist. He traveled all over Europe after graduating High School. At the age of 25 he earned a certificate in Montessori education and one from Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Erik Erikson later got married to a Joan Serson and had three children. One of their children actually went on to be a sociologist. Soon after this Erik Erikson and his family moved to Boston where he practiced child psychoanalysis privately and worked at Harvard Medical School. He also later taught at Yale, the University of California, and at Berkeley. During this same period of time he conducted his studies of modern life among the Lakota and the Yurok. During the year of 1950, he wrote Childhood and Society. This was the same year that he left Berkley because the professors at the university were asked to sign "loyalty oaths." After he quit he spent the next ten years working and teaching at a clinic in Massachusetts, and the ten years after that back at Harvard reaching. Erik Erikson dies in 1994. Erik Erikson was a Freudian, an ego-psychologist. An ego-psychologist accepts Freud's ideas as basically correct, including the more debatable ideas such as the Oedipal complex, and accepts as well the ideas about the ego. Unlike most other Freudians, Erik Erikson focused more on society, he also often pushed the instincts and the unconscious practically out of the picture which was vastly different than most other Freudians. Erikson believed that development functions by the epigenetic principle. Thos mean that

Hulick 2 people develop through a predetermined unfolding of personality in eight stages. Each persons progress through each stage is determined by individual success, or lack of success, in every previous stage. Erikson believes that each stage has certain development psychosocial tasks. Each time has a certain optimal time for the individual to overcome the task they need to, to move onto the next stage. The first stage is during infancy and spans the first year or year and a half of a child's life. The task in this stage is for the child to develop trust without completely eliminating the capacity for mistrust. The parents must provide the proper balance between trust and mistrust for the infant so that the infant can develop hope. This gives the child the ability to look at a situation that is not going well and believe that everything will work out in the end. The second stage is during early childhood and spans from about eighteen months to three or four years old. The task during this stage is for the child to develop a sense of autonomy while minimizing shame and doubt. If the child develops the right balance of autonomy and shame and doubt they will develop willpower and determination. This can be frustrating but also very rewarding because the child will believe they can do things rather than believing they cannot do things. Stage three is also during early childhood, and spans ages four to five or six. The critical task during this stage for the child is to learn to have initiative without too much guilt. If the learns a good balance of the two it can lead to psychosocial strength of purpose. This can also be considered a sense of courage and is where the child realizes what they can and cannot do and what the mistakes they made in the past mean and how to not make the same mistakes again.

Hulick 3 Stage four is during a child's school-age stage, and spans the ages from about six to twelve. The task during this stage is for the child to develop a capacity for industry while avoiding an excess sense of inferiority. This means that the child must learn to reign in their imagination and begin focusing on education. If the child develops a perfect balance of the two which can develop a sense of competency in the child. this will help to keep the child humble, and focused on education while not squashing their imagination completely. Stage five is during adolescence, and begins in puberty and ends around the age of eighteen. The task during this stage is developing ego identity and to avoid role confusion. If the child gets through this stage and does not experience role confusion and does develop ego identity then Erik Erikson says the child will develop the virtue fidelity. This means the child will have developed the ability to live by societies standards despite their imperfections and incompleteness and inconsistencies. This will also allow the child to find a place in the community that will allow them to contribute to society. Stage six is during young adulthood, and typically spans the ages from about eighteen to about thirty. During this stage the task for the young adult is to develop intimacy and to not remain in isolation. If the young adult is successful in this stage and is able to develop a sense of intimacy with other people Erik Erikson says they will be able to love others in their community. Stage seven is during middle adulthood, this stage does not have specific ages but spans the time when the adult would be typically raising children. The task in this stage is for the adult to develop a healthy balance of generatively and stagnation. This is often the stage when adults go through a "mid-life crisis" and re-evaluate what they are doing in

Hulick 4 their lives. If the adult is successful in getting through this crisis they will develop a capacity of caring that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The eights stage is during late adulthood and begins around the time the adult retires. The task during this stage is for the adult to develop ego integrity with a very small amount of despair. The danger of this stage is that the adult may not accept the fact that they are indeed getting old and preparing for the end of their life. This may cause the person to contempt their life and any one else's lives. If the adult approaches their death without fear Erik Erikson says they have developed wisdom which is the final virtue an adult can achieve in Erikson's stages of development. Erik Erikson's stages give an in-depth look at how humans develop, and while every aspect of all his stages may not apply to every human being, they can be understood and adapted for every human being. This is why I chose to write about him, I like that he came up with a reasonable outline of how people develop throughout their lives. Erik Erikson's eight stages of development are very different than Abraham Maslow's Self Actualization Theory. Abraham Maslow believed that a person has the potential to fulfill their 6 basic needs and then end at the final stage which is selfactualization. Abraham Maslow believed that every person has basic need that must be fulfilled, his hierarchy of needs is most often seen in a pyramid format with the most prepotent needs being at the bottom of the pyramid and the least potent needs at the top. On Maslow's hierarchy of needs level one "is physiological needs which include, physical safety, food, shelter, sleep, sex, comfort, well being, energy, and physical contentment (Tribe, 45)." Level two is "safety needs which includes, freedom from anxiety, peace of mind, security, lack of danger and threat (Tribe, 45)." Level three is

Hulick 5 "love and belongingness which includes, feelings of belonging, of being one of a group, acceptance, homeness, and comfortability (Tribe, 45)." Level four is "esteem which includes self reliance, self respect, self esteem, confidence, competence, and success (Tribe, 45)." The final level is "self-actualization which includes, self-fulfillment, reaching one's potential, and more completeness (Tribe, 45)." Maslow believes that not everyone makes it to his final stage which is different from Erikson who believes that every person goes trough each and every one of his stages. Piaget was another theorist who wrote about the development of a child, who in ways is similar to Erikson, but Piaget's stages do not span through a person's entire life, rather they focus on childhood. Piaget's first stage is the "sensorimotor stage, birth to about two years. The characteristics of this stage are: children use their innate sensorimotor systems of sucking, grasping, and gross-body activities to build schemes. In addition, children 'solve' problems by playing with toys and using everyday 'tools' such as a spoon to learn to feed themselves (Morrison, 131)" The second stage is "the preoperational stage, about two to seven years of age. The characteristics of this stage are: Children depend on concrete representations and 'think' with concrete materials. Children in this stage enjoy accelerated language development. They are very egocentric in thought and action and therefore tend to internalize events. Children are perceptually bound and therefore make judgments based primarily on how things look (Morrison, 131)." Piaget's final stage is "the concrete operational stage, about age seven to age seventeen. The characteristics of this stage are: Children are able to reverse their thought process and conserve and understand numbers. They begin to structure time and space and to think logically. In this stage, children can apply logic to concrete situations

Hulick 6 (Morrison, 131)." Piaget's theories have more to do with motor development than they do psychological development which is different than Erikson who focuses on psychological development. Erik Erikson's seven stages of development can be applied in today's child care, well his first four stages can be applied to childcare today. His stages are not so specific that they cannot be generalized to every child in child care. Each child will go through the first four stages with the proper encouragement, care and direction from their teachers, and family. However, applying Erikson's stages of development to children in special needs programs may not work because they do not develop typically. Some children in special needs programs will never make it through Erikson's first four stages because they may not develop physically and cognitively at the same rate, one may be ahead of the other, or they may both be delayed. This would be one major challenge to applying Erik Erikson's theory to today's child care. Another challenge that teachers and caregivers may find with applying Erikson's theory is that not all children grow up in what is considered a "typical" family. Many children grow up in a one parent household; this changes the kind of care the child receives at home and it may hamper that child's ability to move through Erikson's stages in the time frame he lays out. Also, many children are not raised by their parents, but rather are raised by other members of the family, this can also affect the way the child develops. Children may also grow up in a foster house, in an adopted family's house, or even in a household with gay parents; all these situations are considered not "typical" households and can affect the child's development both cognitively and physically.

Hulick 7 During Erikson's first stage, basic trust versus mistrust, children learn to trust or mistrust their environment. In order for the caregiver or teacher to help a child achieve the right balance of trust and mistrust they have to begin by meeting the child's needs with consistency and continuity. They can promote attachment and begin to develop trust by holding a baby while feeding the child. The caregiver or teacher must be attentive by responding to the baby's cues and comfort the infants when they seen to be in distress. Also the caregiver or teacher must socialize with the baby; they can do this by smiling at the baby, talking to the baby, and singing to the baby. If the child does not receive this level of care they may not learn to rely on and trust other human beings and therefore will not learn to rely on another person for their needs and for love and support. This can be a problem sometimes with special needs children because the parents or caregivers may not know how to appropriately take care of the child, not because a lack of care for the child, just a lack of knowledge of what to do and what not to do. If a child lives in a foster care house, they may not receive adequate attention from the foster parents, again not because of a lack of care for the child, they may just have to many other children to take care of to pay that particular child the right amount of attention. A child who is in either of these situations may enter a childcare or daycare program with out the appropriate amount of trust in adults and therefore it will be more difficult for the staff at the center to care for the child. During Erikson's second stage, autonomy versus shame and doubt, children want to do things for themselves. If the child is given enough opportunities that child may learn independence and competence. The teacher or caregiver's role during this stage begins by encouraging the child to do what they are capable of doing. The teacher or

Hulick 8 caregiver should not make the child feel any shame for any of their behaviors. the teacher or caregiver should not use any harsh punishments or disciplines. Also, the teacher or caregiver should provide the child with a safe place to explore both inside the classroom and outside. If the child is not allowed to discover their own capabilities and independence during this stage they may never develop self confidence and may always doubt themselves. This can sometimes be hard to do in classrooms because every child has different needs, and some behaviors are worse than other. A child may learn bad behavior from home because of a older sibling who demonstrates a bad behavior, or by a difficult home life such as, parents going through a divorce, or just fighting at home. The child may not be aware that their behavior is wrong and may simply be imitating what they see at home. This may create a difficult situation for the caregiver or teacher because every child does not act the same way and sometimes when many children are acting out it is hard not to react with sever disciplines and punishments. This can be especially difficult with a child who has special needs, they may be acting out in a classroom in a way that is considered bad or wrong by "typical" children but may not be something the child can control because of their disability. This can make it especially hard for the teacher because she has to discipline one child for a behavior that another child is allowed to do. This may cause the "typical" child to doubt themselves and their actions rather than developing independence. During stage three, initiative versus guilt, children need opportunities to respond with initiative to activities and tasks, which give them a sense of purposefulness. The teacher or caregiver's role during this stage begins by observing the children in their

Hulick 9 classrooms to find out what their interests are. The teacher or caregiver must encourage the children to engage in many activities. They must also provide an environment where children are free to explore. Teachers and caregivers must promote language development and create an environment that will allow each child to succeed. If a child does not successfully navigate this stage they may not ever fully develop the initiative they need to navigate adult life. This can be sometimes challenging for teachers and caregivers who have many children in their classroom. Children have a lot of different interests, and may not have developed the confidence in themselves to identify exactly what their interests are. Or they may not have the self-confidence to go exploring alone which will make it harder for the teacher or caregiver to find out what the child is interested in, in order to tailor the lessons to the child's interests. Also, with special needs children, the child may not have developed language at this stage and may be socially unable to successfully interact with their peers. If the child has not developed language at this stage they may not develop it fully until they are into much later stages because of a variety of reasons. This can make it very difficult for the teacher to adequately communicate with the child about what the child needs and or wants from the classroom. This challenge and communication barrier may keep the child from fully developing a sense of initiative. During the fourth stage, industry versus inferiority, children display an industrious attitude and want to be productive. Teachers and caregivers recognition of the child's productivity will help the child develop a sense of self worth. In order to help a child achieve this teachers and caregivers need to help children win recognition by making a variety of things in the classroom. They need to help ensure that the child is

Hulick 10 successful in literacy skills and learning to read. Teachers and caregivers need to provide support for students who seem confused or discouraged. Teachers and caregivers must also scaffold their classroom jobs and classroom tasks that the children are required to carry out. If the child is successful in navigating their way through this stage they will develop a need within themselves to be productive that will stay with them through adulthood. This can be especially beneficial in a classroom with children who have special needs. Children who do not have severe disabilities that prevent them from doing simple tasks can be given a "special" job to help the teacher out in the classroom. This helps the child to feel like they are important and they want to do whatever the teacher is asking them to do because they want to feel needed and special. This is also another great chance for the teacher to help those children who are having trouble understanding a certain task or job grasp a better understand of the directions. However, this may be difficult to do if the children in the classroom are not cooperative and do not want to follow directions and are obstinate and oppositional to any direction or help given by the teacher. This may cause the child to never develop that inner sense of productivity. I ultimately want to work in a special needs preschool classroom. I really like the preschool age and believe that at that age children are eager foe knowledge and that it makes for a good learning environment because the children want to be in the classroom learning even if they are not always aware that they are being taught. In this type of classroom I would be working with children who are in Erik Erikson's second, third and fourth stages. The children will be at all different stages of development depending on their cognitive development.

Hulick 11 For those children who are in Erikson's second stage, autonomy versus shame and doubt, I can make sure that in my classroom no child is ashamed of anything they do and make each moment a teachable moment. I could begin the day by having a time of what the children think is free play where they are allowed to go anywhere in the classroom and do what every they would like with the materials in the classroom. During this time I could be playing with the children and praising what they are doing, wither it be building with blocks, sharing nicely with a friend in the classroom, playing dress up, coloring a picture, drawing a picture, or simply getting along with their classmates. No matter what it is I could make sure to praise each and every child to make them feel proud of what they are doing. If a child did do something wrong I could turn it into a teachable moment by showing them the proper way to handle the situation and then letting them try my new solution which will teach them what to do next time without making them feel bad about their behavior at the moment. For those children in Erikson's third stage, initiative versus guilt, I can make sure that in my classroom I have a variety of different activities for the children to do so that each child is able to find something that interests them. This will allow the children to initiate play with their friends in the classroom in an activity they are comfortable doing. This will prevent the child from feeling inferior and unable because they will be in their comfort zone. Also, having a great variety of activities the children can participate in and play with will give the children an opportunity to explore new games and activities to figure out what they do and do not like. This will also give me an opportunity to observe the children in an preferred activity so I can try and integrate each of their preferred

Hulick 12 activities into a classroom lesson. By doing this I will hopefully foster the child's desire to learn and get them to be more attentive during the lesson for the day. For the children who may be in Erikson's fourth stage, industry versus inferiority, I can be sure to provide a multitude of different crafts for the children to do so that they can learn to feel accomplished and productive. This may be difficult to do in a special needs classroom because of some of the children's limitations, but it is not impossible. It is also a possibility that the children in the preschool class may not be at this stage because of a cognitive delay. However, if a child is at this stage of psychological development then I can be sure to provide may different crafts for them to create each day in class. These crafts could range from painting a pumpkin during the fall season, to creating flowers out of construction paper in the spring time. I can also try and tailor different crafts to the children's different interests and try to tie the crafts into the lesson so that they have something concrete to take home with them to try and remember the lesson that was learned in class that day.

Works Cited Boeree, C. G., Dr. "Erik Erikson." Erik Erikson. Dr. C. George Boeree, 1997. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html>.

Hulick 13 Morrison, George S. Early Childhood Education Today. 12th ed. Columbus, OH: Merrill, 1976. Print. Tribe, Carol. Profile of Three Theories: Erikson, Maslow, Piaget. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1982. Print.