REACTIVE ATTACHMENT DISORDER

[rebajayne]

My 7 year old son has had behavioural problems for most of his life and it has now become that bad the school and us (me his mum and my partner) are totally confused with what to do now. The school have said they think he has attachment problems and I have researched this and have to admit a lot of the signs are pointing him to having a reactive attachment disorder. Many children with this disorder have been adopted and/or suffered abuse my son is biologically mine and has never suffered any kind of abuse but I have had many difficulties adapting to motherhood and didn’t bond with my son that well for the first couple of years of his life.

I don’t really know what help there is out there for this disorder and would love some help and advice if anyone has had similar problems. I do have an appointment with CAHMS so hopefully they will be able to help too.

Thanks a lot

[STIDW]

Childhood attachments are complicated. Emotional skills develop in the brain quicker between the ages of 6-18 months and in the late teens. The right side develops the intuitive and emotional skills which are needed for relationships, and for the empathic understanding of another person’s feelings. The way children are raised is not as influential as once thought and some children are just born more susceptible to insecure attachments than others. With susceptible children serious risk factors include having a parent who was raised in care, having parents who are chronically neglectful, have a drug or alcohol problem, are abusive, violent or criminal. Other childhood risk-factors that are not as serious include parental depression, young unsupported parenthood, and family breakdown. There is a cocktail effect so 3 or more low risk factors combined become high risk.

Traditional 'talk' or 'play' therapies do not work with children with reactive attachment disorder because such therapies depend upon the child's ability to develop a trusting relationship with the therapist that the child is unable to form. Therefore parenting must be very structured and therapy, which always includes parents, might be re-parenting, role-playing, Gestalt Therapy, family therapy and general psychotherapy.

However, I would be cautious because school staff do not have the skills or diagnostic tools to determine your son's condition and there might be other explanations for his behaviour

[sophie_1003]

Interestingly, I have had a lecture today about the process involved in this sort of situation. Firstly, if this is the first time the school have picked up on it your sons teacher, you and the schools SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) sould be liasing to discuss and put into practice strategies that may help your son. If these strategies don't work (or this has already happened) the next step is 'School Action' this is where your sons needs will be clearly identified and he will have an Individual Behavioural Plan (IBP), again strategies will be decided on with the same people as before and sometimes another professional, such as a health worker, will be involved. The IBP should be a working document that your son is aware of and he should be given daily opportunities to meet the targets identified on it, it would then be reviewed every term or so. After this (if the above don't 'work') is School Action Plus, this is a similar process to school action but there would be a consultation of professionals including an educational psychologist. Hope this helps.