Resources
Every scientific idea behind Shturko comes from somewhere — but not every idea carries equal weight. Below are the sources we build on, grouped by pillar, each marked with an evidence grade. Some are large, validated instruments used in clinical practice; others are single studies or field conventions, included because they are useful, not because they are undisputed. This page exists so you can judge for yourself which is which — not to impress, but to be honest.
Evidence-grade legend
- ???? Strong / validated Established, widely-cited, or a validated clinical/research instrument. The strongest tier this project cites.
- ???? Moderate A real, specific study or a professional-consensus document, but narrower in scope, not cross-validated by multiple independent sources, or only partially portable (e.g. an English-language developmental order that doesn't map 1:1 onto Bulgarian).
- ???? Weak / contextual Included as supporting context or a reasonable design convention, not a standalone strong claim — most often because the researched area doesn't have one authoritative model yet.
- ???? Disputed The underlying causal claim is actively disputed in the field. Included transparently, not hidden, precisely so it isn't oversold.
Developmental science by pillar
????️ Speaking (Speech & Language)
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| Stein, N.L., & Glenn, C.G. (1979). An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children. | Macrostructure/microstructure split behind Domain 1d (Storytelling) — standard SLP narrative-language-intervention framework, ASHA-documented practice area. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Brown, R. (1973). A First Language. | Graded grammatical-morpheme acquisition order behind Domain 1c — the general principle (a graded sequence exists) transfers; the exact English item-order doesn’t map directly onto Bulgarian’s different case/gender/aspect system. | ???? Moderate |
| Anderson, R.C., & Freebody, P. (1981). Vocabulary knowledge. In Comprehension and Teaching. | Breadth-vs-depth vocabulary distinction behind Domain 1b — maps onto Tier 1 Naming (breadth) vs. Tier 3 Description (depth). | ???? Moderate |
| Bloom, L., & Lahey, M. — Content-Form-Use model (classic developmental psycholinguistics framework). | Checked 2026-07-31 against Speaking’s 4-domain structure — confirmed as compatible context (Content≈1b, Form≈1a+1c), kept as supporting framing, not used to restructure the already-shipped domain names. | ???? Weak / contextual |
| ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) Practice Portal. | Articulation-therapy conventions behind word-selection-guidelines.md Rule 4 (sound-development order table, tactile voicing/airflow/orality cues). | ???? Strong / validated |
???? Thinking (Thinking)
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| Posner, M.I., & Petersen, S.E. (1990). The attention system of the human brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 13, 25-42. | Alerting/orienting/executive-attention split behind Domain 2a. Foundational, heavily-cited model. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1964). The Early Growth of Logic in the Child. | Perceptual-before-conceptual categorization shift behind Domain 2c. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Bullock, M., Gelman, R., & Baillargeon, R. (1982). | Early causal-reasoning research behind Domain 2d’s causal-thinking half. | ???? Moderate |
| Diamond, A. (2013). Executive Functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168. | The 3-core-EF model (working memory / inhibitory control / cognitive flexibility) behind Domain 2e — the single most-cited framework in the EF literature. Moderate correlational evidence overall (r≈0.365–0.37); cognitive flexibility specifically not reliable before ~4-5y. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Harvard Center on the Developing Child — “air traffic control” EF framing. | Independent, parent-facing convergence with Diamond’s 3-part model — two sources landing on the same structure. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory. | Checked 2026-07-31 and explicitly rejected as a single-source spine for Thinking — it’s an adult/school-age IQ-testing model with no clean “attention” factor, and current research treats executive function as related-but-distinct from it. Listed here for transparency: a real candidate was tested and found not to fit, not ignored. | ???? Disputed (as a fit for this use — not disputed as a psychometric model in its own right) |
✨ Creating (Creativity & Imagination)
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| Piaget, J. — pre-operational stage, symbolic/pretend play (~2-7y, peak ~4-5y). | Domain 3a (Symbolic play) age-staging. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Russ, S.W. (1993). Affect and Creativity; Russ & Wallace (2013), American Journal of Play. | Checked 2026-07-31 as a possible single-model spine for the whole pillar — no clean replacement found, kept as supporting context. Real, honest overlap surfaced: Russ’s own list names associative thinking and problem-solving as creativity-linked, both of which already live under Thinking 2d/2f in this project. | ???? Weak / contextual |
| Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking — 4 components (Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, Elaboration). | Domain 3b (Divergent thinking) structure. | ???? Disputed |
| Lillard, A., et al. (2013). Psychological Bulletin. | Direct critique: causal role of pretend play in development called “unlikely,” though contested by other researchers. Explicitly the weakest-evidence domain of the six in this project — included for engagement/creativity value, never marketed with the same confidence as the others. | ???? Disputed |
| Lowenfeld, V. (1947). Creative and Mental Growth. | Drawing developmental stages (scribbling → preschematic → schematic) behind Domain 3d. A long-standing art-education convention, not as rigorously validated as the cognitive-science citations elsewhere. | ???? Weak / contextual |
???? Connecting (Social Communication)
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| ASHA Practice Portal — “Components of Social Communication.” | The whole 4-domain restructure (4a-4d) — the working professional definition of the field, not one academic study’s proposal. The strongest single-source domain-partition basis in this entire project. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(5), 675-691. | Cooperation/shared-intentionality development behind Domain 4a. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs. Cognition, 13(1), 103-128. | Classic false-belief Theory-of-Mind task behind Domain 4b — reliable ~4y. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Flavell, J.H. (1977). | Level 1/Level 2 visual perspective-taking behind Domain 4b. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Glucksberg, S., & Krauss, R.M. (1967). Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. | Referential-communication research behind Domain 4c — directly grounds the “describe without naming” mission type used across several decks. | ???? Strong / validated |
❤️ Feeling (Emotional Understanding)
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| Pons, F., & Harris, P.L. (2004); Pons, F., Harris, P.L., & de Rosnay, M. (2004). Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. | Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) — 9 components across 3 developmental phases, translated into 21 languages. The strongest single-instrument basis for any domain-level age-staging in this project. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Hoffman, M.L. (1987). Empathy and Development. | Cognitive-vs-affective empathy distinction, flagged for future use if this domain is developed further — not yet built into a live domain. | ???? Moderate |
???? Moving (Movement)
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| Gallahue, D., Ozmun, J., & Goodway, J. — fundamental motor skills model (stability/locomotion/manipulation). | Domain 6a structure and its ~2-7y peak-sensitivity age window. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1956). The Child’s Conception of Space. | Topological → projective/Euclidean spatial-development sequence behind Domain 6d. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI). | 24-item developmental shape-copying sequence behind Domain 6f. | ???? Strong / validated |
| Ayres, A.J. — sensory integration model. | Domain 6e structure. No specific age-citation attached yet — an honest, named gap. | ???? Moderate |
Cross-cutting / pacing
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| Sénéchal, M. (1997). | Children show significantly greater word learning after 3-4 repeated exposures to the same material vs. a single exposure — grounds the repeated-exposure pacing logic in game-progression-system.md. | ???? Moderate |
| MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). | Age-normed vocabulary categories used as one of the accepted validation sources in word-selection-guidelines.md Rule 1. | ???? Strong / validated |
Design & product decisions
| Source | What it's used for | Grade |
|---|
| Categorical color perception research (Berlin & Kay-type basic-color-term studies; ≥30° hue-separation guidance). | Grounds the domain-color palette redesign in physical-games-progression-system.md §6 — why colors needed to be perceptually distinguishable, not just semantically distinct. | ???? Strong / validated (as color-perception research — a design input, not a child-development claim) |
| Sweller, J. — Cognitive Load Theory. | Grounds the word-card/mission-card information split (extraneous info on a card measurably hurts usability). | ???? Strong / validated |
| Stuart-Fox, D., & Moussalli, A. (2008). PLoS Biology, 6(1), e25. | Chameleon social-color-signaling biology behind Menko’s color-shifting mechanism. Supports “state → color change” as a real biological behavior; the specific human-style mood mapping is this project’s own extension, not what the paper measured. | ???? Moderate |
| Walton, B.M., & Bennett, A.F. (1993). Physiological Zoology, 66(2). | Chameleon thermoregulatory color change — a separate, distinct mechanism from the social-signaling one above; kept distinct rather than bundled together, per the correction already made in character-color-design-rationale.md. | ???? Moderate |
This page will grow with the product. If you notice a source that is missing, or want to check something specific — write to us.
