ABSTRACT
In this chapter we provide an overview of historical and contemporary theories of child development as it applies to the practice of school psychology. We show how conceptualizations of child development have moved from understanding development as an individualized process wherein a child develops through discrete stages towards understanding development as an interactive process between the child and their ecological context. The Integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minoritized youth (García Coll et al., 1996 Child Development, 67, 1891–1914), for example, describes an interactive process between individual- and systemic-factors that shape a child’s development. This means that aspects of a child’s identity (e.g., their race, ethnicity, or gender) is shaped by cultural norms and expectations. For this reason, we emphasize that school psychologists must also consider cultural and systemic factors (e.g., cultural norms related to gender and race) to understand the child’s development in context. We build on contemporary theoretical and empirical research about child development to suggest that conceptualizing child development within an ecological context allows school psychologists to increase the validity of psychoeducational assessments and efficacy of interventions.
