Educational Strategies

A child with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) or strongly suspected of having an Attachment Disorder is enrolled in your classroom or on your caseload. Among your multitude of duties, you are now being asked to address this child’s specialized learning needs with little or no information about this disorder.

This child may be excessively polite or superficially charming leading you to wonder, “This child has a behavior disorder? No way! You should meet the rest of my students!” Conversely this child may be aggressive, manipulative, or highly controlling and you may be thinking, “What an awful child! It must be those parents!” Attachment is defined as a reciprocal process by which an emotional connection develops between a baby and the primary caretaker. This connection influences the child’s physical, neurological, cognitive, and psychological development. It becomes the foundation for the development of basic trust or mistrust, and shapes how the child will relate to the world, learn and form relationships throughout life (ATTACh, 2004).

This affectionate tie begins prenatally and continues primarily during the first 36-months of life. As we know, infants are helpless and defenseless and rely entirely upon the willingness and/or ability of their caretakers to meet their basic needs. The language of babies is their behavior. Their cries signal the caretaker that a need must be met. When caretakers meet their needs time and time again, a bond is established between the infant and the caretaker and the basis of trust has been established. In addition, this cycle promotes the development of cause and effect thinking which is the basis of all problem solving.

In order for children with Reactive Attachment Disorder to learn in school and grow into responsible adults with consciences, it is vital that all those who interact with them work as a collaborative Team. Children who do not feel safe in school will take it out on their parents though aggressive acts of violence or passive acts of resistance. In other cases, children will run away from home, abuse drugs, and/or adoptions will disrupt. Educators play an important role in the healing of children with Reactive Attachment Disorder.

CLASSROOM/THERAPEUTIC ACCOMODATIONS FOR CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH REACTIVE ATTACHMENT DISORDER

It takes a team to educate and heal a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder. All children with special needs require a coordinated and collaborative Team effort. Because children with Reactive Attachment Disorder have experienced severe trauma in the first 36-months of life, they believe that they must control all aspects of their life or that they will literally die. A Team effort is therefore vital so that the child with Reactive Attachment Disorder feels safe enough to learn. Many of the strategies that work with children with Reactive Attachment Disorder are counterintuitive and in direct contradiction to behavioral interventions practiced by many educators.

• Avoid the use of punishment. Punishment produces resentment, retaliation, or retreat
  into sneakiness (Nelson, 2000). The child with Reactive Attachment Disorder has
  suffered so much that a week of missed recess is meaningless. State consequences in a
  positive way. Rather than using a loud voice to say, “You did not complete your reading
  work again! You have to miss computers to complete it”, state, “How sad for you that
  you did not do your reading work. You are so lucky that you have an awesome teacher
  who will give you the chance to practice reading during computer time!”
• Provide a tightly structured and loving environment where rules never change but
  the consequences often do (Hornyak, undated). Slowly decrease the structure when the
  child demonstrates the ability to be respectful and responsible.
• Use conditional positives or reverse positives.
  -Conditional positive: “I noticed/I see that you passed in your homework today.”
  -Reverse positive: “I see that you did both homework assignments! Did you get aliens to
  help you?” (Thomas, 2004)
  Avoid
  -Unconditional negative: “You never study!”
  -Unconditional positive: “You are so smart!!!”
  -Conditional negative: “You did not study for the test!”
• Allow children with Reactive Attachment Disorder to experience the natural
  consequences or logical consequences of their poor choices. An example of a natural
  consequence is that if they refuse to wear a jacket out to recess in the cold weather, they
  will be cold. An example of a logical consequence is that if they do not study for a test,
  they may get an “F”. Consequences for inappropriate behaviors must be given
  WITHOUT anger. Avoid lectures, sarcasm, and comments such as “I hope you learned
  your lesson”. Provide them with genuine empathy for their poor choices. “Oh you must
  have been cold today at recess” or “How sad. You got an F on your test but don’t worry.
  We will have another spelling test this Friday. Good luck!”
• Provide consequences the first time. Do not give the child a second chance. Second
  chances and warnings are perceived as threats by children with Reactive Attachment
  Disorder and can result in a fight or flight response and/or an escalation of negative
  behavior. Avoid warnings and reminders also avoid behavior modification strategies that
  implement reward programs because they tend to be less effective with these children.
  (Thomas, 2004).
• Recognize the child’s subtle attempts to control by:
  Interrupting
  Asking the teacher to repeat something that was said. (“Huh”?)
  Asking to use the bathroom an excessive number of times.
  Asking to get an excessive number of drinks.
  Getting out of his/her seat.
  Tipping the chair.
  Walking ahead of the teacher/other students in the hallway.
  Mumbling or using unclear speech when the child’s speech is clear in other situations
  (e.g., swearing).
  Ignoring the teacher’s questions or directives.
  Hitting others/the teacher.
  Not turning in work. (Great! One less paper to correct!)
  Refusing to put forth effort (pretending his/her academic level is lower than it really is).
  Stealing from the teacher/other students
  Telling lies.
• Maintain communication with the family. Family members are an excellent source of
  information about the child’s strength and areas of need. Utilize this resource. In
  addition, the child with Reactive Attachment Disorder will often attempt to maintain
  control by creating chaos through triangulating all individuals who have contact with the
  child (e.g., “My mom said that I did not have to do my homework” or my “Mom would
  not let me study for the test. I had to wash the floors and clean the bathrooms”). Check
  with the child’s parents, other educators, coaches, etc. before believing what the child
  says.
• Establish eye contact with the child and ensure that the child always looks up at the
  adult. The child with Reactive Attachment Disorder dislikes eye contact and will try to
  avoid it except when he/she is lying or trying to manipulate others. Avoid bending down
  to establish eye gaze with the student (Thomas, 2004).

References

Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children (2004). ATTACh
Accepted definitions. [On-line], Available: www.attach.org

Hornyak, C. (undated). Fact sheet for Educators. [On-line]. Available:
www.attachmentcenterwest.com/%Educators.pdf

Nelson, J. (2000, September). Positive discipline: Developing respect and responsibility.
Springfield, MA

Thomas, N. (2004, March). Strategies for attachment and bonding. Worcester, MA