A Study of Michael Fordham's Model of Development: An Integration of Observation, Research and Clinical Work

This portfolio of published work represents a discourse on Michael Fordham's model of
development that extended Jung's theory to infancy and childhood. The papers were
published over two decades and indicate how infant research, ideas from related fields
and the author's own clinical and observational work have contributed to her
understanding of development. The framework for her thinking has throughout been
Fordham's model. In this essay the author contends that what she has learned from
research and her own experience adds new contributions to the model, based on data for
the most part not available to Fordham.
The portfolio of papers is introduced by an essay comprising Part I. It begins with an
account of the author's professional life and clinical experience pertinent to the study.
Next there is a substantial section on Fordham ' s theoretical model and links he
established with Kleinian and post-Kleinian thought. This exposition is followed by a
section on the main sources for the author's work. Following this she proposes five
areas that she considers to be her original contributions to the model: identifying and
defining the features of massive surges of deintegration in the first year; identifying a
period of primary self functioning; new considerations concerning the active
participation of the infant in development; identifying precursors to projective and
introjective identification, and symbol formation.
Part II contains nine papers, virtually all of which are theoretical and include clinical
work and infant research and observation. They are divided into three sections:
'Theory ', which are predominantly theoretical and ain1ed at making a theoretical point;
'Exp lications ', which aim to elucidate concepts and dynamics comprising the model;
and 'Extensions', which are those papers explicitly or implicitly containing the author's
new links and ideas that add form and content to the model.