ABSTRACT
The theoretical ideas of Donald Winnicott and John Bowlby, considered so far give a good basis for understanding early emotional development. Margaret Mahler working in America with a team of researchers, used a specially designed nursery with observation mirrors to observe young children up to the age of five with their primary carers, throughout their early years of emotional development in a natural environment. Perhaps most importantly for the consideration is that they were also able to identify the behavioural characteristics that can be seen, and therefore measured, at each of the stages in the children's emotional development. Mahler and her colleagues were also able to identify the role of the parent, or attachment figure, in facilitating the child's emotional development. The possible psychological and emotional impact upon the parents of having a child with learning disabilities as well as the increased likelihood of separations between the parent and child due to hospital stays.
