Continuous versus stepwise change: Do children grow by imperceptibly small increments or do they periodically move up from one identifiable stage to another? Does children’s development proceed through a series of small, continuous increments without any dramatic changes of identifiable qualitative plateaus? Or do children develop from one recognizable stage to another? If yes: How does the theorist define stage or step or period? How many stages are identified in the system, and what are the names and distinguishing characteristics of each stage? On what aspects of life of growth do the stages focus? Do the aspects or dimensions have the same importance at all times during childhood? How are the levels or stages related to chronological age? Are the stages universal---that is, true for all children in all cultures? Can a child skip a stage? If so, why does deviation occur? Does everyone go through the stages at the same pace? If not, why not? Can a child display typical characteristics of more than one stage at the same time? If so, why does this occur? Can a child progress through the stages become arrested or fixated at a particular stage? If so, what causes the fixation? What can be done to release it and stimulate progress to the next stage? Can a child return to an earlier stage of entering a more advanced one? If so, what causes this regression or retrogression? What can be done to help the child recover and move ahead once more? If a child experiences growth problems at one stage, how may these problems influence success at subsequent levels? And how can we best deal with such problems?