Why is Atypical Development Increasing, and How Can We Understand these Mechanism to Interpret Child Development and its Disorders?

In this literature review, I tackle the question of: Why is atypical development increasing, and how can we understand these mechanisms to interpret child development and its disorders? It is critical to remember that development should be seen as a complex dynamic process, which needs to be fully understood before delving into developmental disorders. Even though child development follows a predictable pathway with a level of understanding, not every child develops the same way and may vary to some extent. However, a child’s development trajectory is distinctive from typical development when showing a larger dysfunction in one or more of the developmental milestones. Therefore, we begin by focusing on distinguishing typical from atypical development, with the exploration of the two main independent frameworks: Neuroconstructivism, and Epigenetics, that are linked to the explanation of developmental disorders such as Williams Syndrome, ADHD, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and Autism, etc. The importance of this study is that it deepens our theoretical understanding of atypical development and its manifestation in developmental disorders, by fully supporting that the mentioned fundamental frameworks should interact in a multidirectional manner when exploring different disorders, rather than in a single model, as well as the idea of comparing syndromes between each other rather than a set of typical controls. The key takeaway is that these complex conducts can be viewed as behaviours which follow various pathways with different trajectories on a continuum of developmental possibilities.