Attachment Concepts In The School Setting

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Attachment Concepts In The School Setting
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What do we call them?The troubled children

• Conduct Disordered
• Oppositional Defiant
• Aspergers
• Naughty
• Crazy
• Psycho
• Having bad parents

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Attachment Theory

• Attachment is the deep and enduring connection
  established between a child and caregiver in the
  first years of life
• Profoundly influences every component of the
  human condition
• Ongoing reciprocal relationship between child
  caregiver
• Infants instinctively seek a secure base to
  protect nurture them

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Attachment theory

• Attachment process is a mutual regulatory
  system- infant caregiver influencing one
  another over time
• Helps develop our Internal Working Models
• Begins before birth _at_ neurological emotional
  level
• Infants needs are met gt Trust Cycle, Circle of
  Security

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Secure Attachment

• Around 80 of pop.
• Learn adults can be relied upon, develop trust
  reciprocity
• Create foundation for identity
• Develop resourcefulness resilience
• Learn how to communicate
• Handle frustration distress better
• Have better self esteem empathy
• Better understanding of negative emotions

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Secure Attachment

• Self-esteem
• Independence autonomy
• Resilience
• Manage impulses feelings
• Long-term friendships
• Prosocial skills

• Trust, intimacy affection
• Empathy, compassion conscience
• Behaviourial performance academic success
• Promote secure attachment in their chn

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Attachment Disorder

• Failure to develop a secure attachment
• Chn who begin life with disrupted and compromised
  attachment are at risk of developing serious
  problems
• Vary in severity, but show lack of ability to be
  genuinely affectionate with other
• Typically fail to develop a conscience learn
  not to trust

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Traits Symptoms

• Behaviour defiant, oppositional, impulsive, lie
  (crazy), steal, cruel to animals, fire setting,
  aggressive, self-destructive
• Emotions intense ange temper, sad, depressed,
  moody, fearful anxious inappropriate emotional
  reactions
• Thoughts negative internal working models, lack
  of cause effect thinking, attention learning
  problems

• Relationships lack of trust, controlling,
  manipulative, blame other for mistakes,
  vitimises, indiscriminately affectionate with
  strangers, trouble giving receiving love
  affection
• Physical poor hygiene, accident prone, high pain
  tolerance, enuresis encopresis, tactilely
  defensive
• Moral lack of remorse, compassion other
  prosocial values identification with evil dark
  side of life

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Causes of Attachment Disorders

• Caregivers
• abuse / neglect
• Ineffective care
• Depression bipolor
• Substance abuse
• Prolonged absences
• Intergenerational
• Teenage parenting
• Psychological disturbance

• 2. Child
• Difficult temperament
• Premature birth
• Medical conditions
• Hospitalistions
• Failure to thrive
• Congenital/biological problems
• Genetic factors family histories

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Causes of Attachment Disorders

• 3. Environmental
• Poverty
• Violence victim or witness
• Lack of support to caregiver
• Multiple out of home placements
• High stress marital conflicts, family choas,
  violent community
• Lack of stimulation

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So at school what do we do?

• Be aware of the behaviours symptoms and discuss
  with school counsellor, LST
• Students with attachment disorders are very
  controlling, manipulative self-centred
• They will attempt to control everyone around them

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Tips for Teachers

• Establish eye contact. When angry they will have
  excellent eye contact
• Establish who is the boss Thats right I am the
  boss, but fair good
• Win control battles Always give them a choice

• Recognise attempts to controlThey will do
  little things to put themselves in control of
  every situation
• Allow the child to accept responsibility to
  experience natural consequences
• Be consistent confront each misbehaviour-support
  good behaviour

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Tips for Teachers

• Remain clam they are in control when the teacher
  looses it
• Model and verbalise desired behaviour
• Document interactions observations helps in
  planning communication to parents protects the
  teacher
• Request help supportive staff esp. management

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Attachment Theory

• Provides a model to help understand behaviour
• It is a behaviour style of relating to your
  child, not about love.
• Traditional therapies arent very affective
• Three clients involved parent-the
  relationship-child

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The School

• Can be a secure base
• Can promote an understanding reduce the blame
  of self others
• Can help reduce negative patterns conflicts,
  model language behaviour
• Can increase positive interactions
• Can help reframe the parents concept of the
  child to one of the child being
  distressed/reacting and needing to learn control

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Fear leads to AngerAnger leads to
HateHate Leads to Suffering