Social and cultural development- SPT

"At the same time it is not a simple accumulation of experience as was stated above. It contains a series of inner changes which fully correspond to the process of development in the proper sense of that word." 

From this statement above, it seems right and reasonable to understand that not every experience becomes meaningful in contributing to children's development. Only when any experience children have gets connected to their mental state and dynamics, does it actually make a difference in terms of developmental stage. That is, experience per se is necessary but we need to think more actively on how we can make it 'meaningful' and 'proper' in interaction with the world that children are surrounded by. What does it mean to make experiences meaningful to children? Even if we try hard enough to provide an intellectually stimulating or culturally responsive experience, it is up to a child who actually can make the experience linked and intertwined to their own development, which means the eventual educational goal is not dependent upon us, our efforts (educators), but more on children, their social and cultural assets and drive (learners). Obviously, we wouldn't be able to always be correct and accurate to judge each and every child's development status and needs we oftentimes don't spend enough time with them with limited energy, care, lack or motivation, immature interaction, or unskill. Maybe what is to be preceded for educators is to  understand children more in broader aspects, including their cultural, academic, family-related, personality-related assets or weaknesses, along with other background information rather than focusing on intellectual or achievement-related identification. As we accumulate shared experiences with children, we will be able to picture children's social and cultural development better, as a whole. 

"Children’s primitiveness, i.e. their delay in cultural development, is primarily due to the fact that for some external or internal cause they have not mastered the cultural means of behaviour, especially language.

The idea that children can be delayed in cultural development makes me think of two things; 1) Would it be able to account for lack of (or low) social perspective taking ability in comparison their peers? 2) How can we integrate the idea of delayed cultural development along with mentally retarded children?

1) I remember reading that even when someone's intentions for behaviors are prosocial, it is very likely that the eventual direction/results end up harming or offending others when their cognitive development is not mature enough. It is possible that one's SPT is even self-centered, which is called 'self-focused perspective taking'. What makes a child's cultural development delayed? Lack of proper cognitive conflicts or disequilibrium? Lack of social interactions? The biased or narrow range of social groups/networks? Too permissive parenting? 

2) Would it be possible or ever successful to educate mentally retarded children to be socially proper/appropriate? If so, how? I do not know much about what has led one to be intellectually disabled, but for me, though this is a different case from the above, essentially 1) and 2) have some commonalities. I think cognitive development is something that serves a function as mediating or even moderating the relation between one's prosocial intention and successful SPT behavior. Therefore, when a child does not lack cultural experiences, it is natural that s/he should be able to enact SPT which is a result of her/his cognitive operations. However, if a child lacks proper accumulated cultural experiences, which leads to improper understanding or interpretation of social/cultural clues, successful SPT would be difficult. Also, when a child's cognitive function is self-focused or limited/retarded, regardless they are diagnosed as mentally retarded or not, their SPT will not be successful.