It caught my attention that after she was seriously mistreated and went outdoors to meet other people and tried to learn vocabulary, she became almost traumatised by her hurtful childhood. The article then explained that Genie Wiley’s condition worsened and professionals were concerned that Genie may never learn social skills. (Youtube, 2003) Linking the Genie Wiley study to Erikson’s theory, Genie never had the opportunity to go through any of life’s challenges according to Erikson. Therefore, this evidence I have gathered shows the importance of Erikson’s theory within practice and at home. Meaning, if children do not receive the best social and emotional care and the opportunity to go through these challenges with support, it is likely that they may never be able to learn social and emotional skills. By studying the Genie Wiley case, it has come to my conclusion that a positive aspect of Erikson’s theory is that it informs practitioners how to provide children with the best start in their social and emotional development, from birth and all through their life. Another advantage of Erikson’s psychosocial stages is that he did optimise the eight stages of social development. …show more content…
Although when we are babies and preschoolers, we may go through some of the big challenges in life such as, toilet training. But Erikson believed that there was more than that as we get older, and right up until we reach maturity. I agree with his beliefs in saying that we are all learning and building our personalities all through our life. The thing Erikson does not mention that I believe is that, we can always go back a step when we are ready, if we fail to succeed in one challenge at that age. Going against my beliefs, Erikson and Freud both believed that a child needs to succeed in that challenge at the right age to move onto the next chapter. Psychologist, Abraham Maslow also agrees with Freud and Erikson’s theories in which children need to succeed in the chapter to move onto the next. Overall, I think that as long as children get the appropriate amount and the right support from the adults working with them, their personalities will develop, they will feel comfortable and will become strong and independent. I have come to this conclusion because all children and adults will learn and develop at different times, when I have been in placement working with children up to preschool and school age, some of the children I work have not yet found trust in an adult. Just because they have missed their age