The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development [Paperback]

The innovative neo-Vygotskian approach to child development is introduced to English-speaking readers.For the first time, the innovative approach to child development by Vygotsky's Russian colleagues and students is introduced to English-speaking readers. The book discusses the elaboration by the neo-Vygotskian of Vygotsky's theoretical assumptions and their analysis on this basis of child development from birth to adolescence. The discussion is supported by a review of the neo-Vygotskians' empirical findings, much of which has never been available before to English-speaking readers, as well as by a review of recent empirical findings of Western researchers.For the first time, the innovative approach to child development by Vygotsky's Russian colleagues and students is introduced to English-speaking readers. The book discusses the elaboration by the neo-Vygotskian of Vygotsky's theoretical assumptions and their analysis on this basis of child development from birth to adolescence. The discussion is supported by a review of the neo-Vygotskians' empirical findings, much of which has never been available before to English-speaking readers, as well as by a review of recent empirical findings of Western researchers.Russian followers of Vygotsky have expanded his ideas into a theory that integrates cognitive, motivational, and social aspects of child development--emphasizing the role of children's activity as mediated by adults in their development. This theory has become the basis for an innovative analysis of periods in child development and of the mechanism of children's transitions from one period to the next. The neo-Vygotskian approach to child development is thus introduced to English-speaking readers in this volume.Introduction: the problem of determinants and mechanisms of child development; 1. Vygotsky's approach to child development; 2. The neo-Vygotskian elaboration of Vygotsky's approach to child development; 3. First year of life: emotional interactions withlc°