A PhD student, working with Professor Helen Minnis, is looking for publicly available ‘Strange situation’ examples that members may feel are useful, whilst the student awaits NHS permissions. It would be good to hear suggestions from members - email us at admin@saia.org.uk
Research Matters
We are delighted to share with you some of the innovative work led on by our Patron, Professor Helen Minnis, and from other associates of SAIA. We would welcome links to any published research or current projects that you are aware of or participated in, particularly related to attachment and developmental trauma.
Connections are Key: Unlocking the heart of relationship based practice
In 2019 Corra Foundation’s Partnership Drugs Initiative (PDI) gathered information on third sector support services, to identify elements of practice that support, strengthen and maintain positive relationships for children, young people and families affected by drugs and alcohol.
The purpose of this research was to influence knowledge, policy and practice of relationship-based support so that children and families can develop and sustain loving and nurturing relationships.
This built on Corra’s previous action research project Everyone Has a Story, that found listening and trusting relationships were critical to providing high quality support.
The research launched on 25 March, you can listen to the webinar recording and Q&A here.
The purpose of this research was to influence knowledge, policy and practice of relationship-based support so that children and families can develop and sustain loving and nurturing relationships.
This built on Corra’s previous action research project Everyone Has a Story, that found listening and trusting relationships were critical to providing high quality support.
The research launched on 25 March, you can listen to the webinar recording and Q&A here.
Attachment Matters: UK Survey of Routinely Used Interventions for Improving Attachment in Infants and Children
A team of researchers at UCL and the University of York and are conducting an important survey of current practice in the UK for 0-13 year old children with or at risk of attachment problems and / or their caregivers.
The aim is to build a picture of the availability of different kinds of support for those children and families as this information is currently not known. The results will be essential for setting priorities for clinical practice and establishing the availability of attachment interventions in different areas for this group of children. We hope to find out about face-to-face working, and not online provision. This work will also play an important role in strengthening the evidence base underpinning those interventions. Survey responses will be anonymous, no individuals will be identified in any published materials arising from this project.
To read the information sheet and to take part, click the link below, to take you to a secure online survey: https://tinyurl.com/AttachmentMattersSurvey
Learn more via their accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @Attachment2020
The aim is to build a picture of the availability of different kinds of support for those children and families as this information is currently not known. The results will be essential for setting priorities for clinical practice and establishing the availability of attachment interventions in different areas for this group of children. We hope to find out about face-to-face working, and not online provision. This work will also play an important role in strengthening the evidence base underpinning those interventions. Survey responses will be anonymous, no individuals will be identified in any published materials arising from this project.
To read the information sheet and to take part, click the link below, to take you to a secure online survey: https://tinyurl.com/AttachmentMattersSurvey
Learn more via their accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @Attachment2020
Evaluating children’s
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Social Relationships
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📋 Attachment theory: developments, debates and recent applications in social work, social care and education 2019 Elizabeth Harlow PhD, BA, CQSW, FHEA
Attachment theory may be considered controversial given that some of its foundational principles are contested. Not only this, it is currently being developed by insights from neuroscience, another perspective that academics have subjected to critique. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the twenty-first century in England and the United Kingdom in general, there has been a renewed interest in its explanation of child development, as well as its application in schools, social care settings and the practice of professionals such as social workers and teachers. This paper outlines the core principles of attachment theory, acknowledges some of the criticisms, then traces the ways in which the theory has been developed over time. The theory is then illustrated with a description of the ways in which it is being applied in the training of foster carers, the provision of support to adoptive parents and in the school environment. December 2019
Elizabeth Harlow is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Chester. She worked as a practitioner before beginning her academic career in 1988. Focussing primarily on the organisation, management and delivery of services to children and their families, she has led research projects and evaluations and published her work over the last three decades.
Attachment theory may be considered controversial given that some of its foundational principles are contested. Not only this, it is currently being developed by insights from neuroscience, another perspective that academics have subjected to critique. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the twenty-first century in England and the United Kingdom in general, there has been a renewed interest in its explanation of child development, as well as its application in schools, social care settings and the practice of professionals such as social workers and teachers. This paper outlines the core principles of attachment theory, acknowledges some of the criticisms, then traces the ways in which the theory has been developed over time. The theory is then illustrated with a description of the ways in which it is being applied in the training of foster carers, the provision of support to adoptive parents and in the school environment. December 2019
Elizabeth Harlow is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Chester. She worked as a practitioner before beginning her academic career in 1988. Focussing primarily on the organisation, management and delivery of services to children and their families, she has led research projects and evaluations and published her work over the last three decades.
📋 A relational approach helps change teachers’ attitudes towards the inclusion of young people who are looked after 2018 David Woodier
Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care 2018 – Vol.17, No.2
“He needs the relationships he has here. I am not excluding him.”
There is a strong case for including young people who are looked after, but teachers often feel caught up in a “force field of competing priorities”. What do they do when all of their attention seems to be taken up by the needs of one child in their class? In 2015, David Woodier investigated how using a relational approach might help teachers in three schools resolve this sense of dilemma. Not only did teachers report improvements in the behaviour of young people who were previously being excluded, there was evidence that the skills they learned to support children who had suffered maltreatment also had a wider benefit.
Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care 2018 – Vol.17, No.2
“He needs the relationships he has here. I am not excluding him.”
There is a strong case for including young people who are looked after, but teachers often feel caught up in a “force field of competing priorities”. What do they do when all of their attention seems to be taken up by the needs of one child in their class? In 2015, David Woodier investigated how using a relational approach might help teachers in three schools resolve this sense of dilemma. Not only did teachers report improvements in the behaviour of young people who were previously being excluded, there was evidence that the skills they learned to support children who had suffered maltreatment also had a wider benefit.
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🎥 Maltreatment-associated neurodevelopmental disorders 2017
Professor Helen Minnis and Lisa Dinkler The Association for Child and Adolscent Mental Health (ACAMH) Is childhood maltreatment a risk factor for increased symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders? Watch Helen Minnis and Lisa Dinkler discuss their paper "Maltreatment-associated neurodevelopmental disorders: a co-twin control analysis" published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. |
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📋 Learning Together about Making Choices Project 2016 Dr Lio Moscardini, Heather Baldry, Dr Hazel Whitters
This was a three-year action research project carried out by the University of Strathclyde and funded by The Robertson Trust, the KMPG Foundation, NHS Scotland and Glasgow City Council. The project ran from 2011-2014 in two Glasgow primary schools. The aim of the project was to develop and sustain a secure base for learning for children as they moved through mainstream education. The initial focus was on children who had experienced highly adverse socioeconomic circumstances in their early lives. The mid-to-long term aim was to recognise and develop this support as appropriate for all children. Initially the project team worked with teaching staff in two primary schools which had received a small group of children moving into Primary One from the Jeely Piece Nursery, Castlemilk.
This was a three-year action research project carried out by the University of Strathclyde and funded by The Robertson Trust, the KMPG Foundation, NHS Scotland and Glasgow City Council. The project ran from 2011-2014 in two Glasgow primary schools. The aim of the project was to develop and sustain a secure base for learning for children as they moved through mainstream education. The initial focus was on children who had experienced highly adverse socioeconomic circumstances in their early lives. The mid-to-long term aim was to recognise and develop this support as appropriate for all children. Initially the project team worked with teaching staff in two primary schools which had received a small group of children moving into Primary One from the Jeely Piece Nursery, Castlemilk.
📋 Feeding forward to a 'miracle day' – a pilot study of video feedforward in reactive attachment disorder 2014 Charlotta Gorski, Professor Helen Minnis
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2014, Vol. 19(3) 384–391
Video feedforward is a solution-focused intervention used to improve desired behaviour. We present two case studies of using video feedforward in reactive attachment disorder. Children with reactive attachment disorder, their caregivers and their clinician completed storyboards of behaviours desired during a ‘miracle day’ and filmed the individual scenes. These scenes were edited to a prolonged sequence of successful behaviour which was fed back to the child and their caregiver using principles of video interaction guidance. Families reported major improvements in the targeted behaviours, usually within a week of filming the ‘miracle day’.
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2014, Vol. 19(3) 384–391
Video feedforward is a solution-focused intervention used to improve desired behaviour. We present two case studies of using video feedforward in reactive attachment disorder. Children with reactive attachment disorder, their caregivers and their clinician completed storyboards of behaviours desired during a ‘miracle day’ and filmed the individual scenes. These scenes were edited to a prolonged sequence of successful behaviour which was fed back to the child and their caregiver using principles of video interaction guidance. Families reported major improvements in the targeted behaviours, usually within a week of filming the ‘miracle day’.
📋 Cortisol secretion in children with symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder 2013
Eva Kocovska , Philip Wilson, David Young, Alan Michael Wallace, Charlotta Gorski, Michael Follan, Maureen Smillie, Christine Puckering, James Barnes, Christopher Gillberg, Professor Helen Minnis
Psychiatry Research (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2012.12.011i
Maltreated children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) have severe problems with social relationships and affect regulation. An association between early maltreatment and changes in the daily rhythm of cortisol secretion has already been reported formal treated toddlers. We sought to find out whether such changes were apparent in school-age children with symptoms of RAD, who had experienced early maltreatment but were currently adopted in well-functioning families.
Eva Kocovska , Philip Wilson, David Young, Alan Michael Wallace, Charlotta Gorski, Michael Follan, Maureen Smillie, Christine Puckering, James Barnes, Christopher Gillberg, Professor Helen Minnis
Psychiatry Research (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2012.12.011i
Maltreated children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) have severe problems with social relationships and affect regulation. An association between early maltreatment and changes in the daily rhythm of cortisol secretion has already been reported formal treated toddlers. We sought to find out whether such changes were apparent in school-age children with symptoms of RAD, who had experienced early maltreatment but were currently adopted in well-functioning families.
📋 Neurodevelopmental problems in maltreated children referred with indiscriminate friendliness 2012 Eva Kocovska, Christine Puckering, Michael Follan, Maureen Smillie, Charlotta Gorski, James Barnes, Philip Wilson, David Young, Emma Lidstone, Rachel Pritchett, Hariett Hockaday, Professor Helen Minnis
Research in Developmental Disabilities 33 (2012) 1560–1565
We aimed to explore the extent of neurodevelopmental difficulties in severely maltreated adopted children. We recruited 34 adopted children, referred with symptoms of indiscriminate friendliness and a history of severe maltreatment in their early childhood and 32 typically developing comparison children without such a history, living in biological families. All 66 children, aged 5–12 years, underwent a detailed neuropsychiatric assessment. The overwhelming majority of the adopted/indiscriminately friendly group had a range of psychiatric diagnoses, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and one third exhibited the disorganised pattern of attachment. The mean IQ was 15 points lower than the comparison group and the majority of the adopted group had suspected language disorder and/or delay. Our findings show that school-aged adopted children with a history of severe maltreatment can have very complex and sometimes disabling neuropsychiatric problems.
Research in Developmental Disabilities 33 (2012) 1560–1565
We aimed to explore the extent of neurodevelopmental difficulties in severely maltreated adopted children. We recruited 34 adopted children, referred with symptoms of indiscriminate friendliness and a history of severe maltreatment in their early childhood and 32 typically developing comparison children without such a history, living in biological families. All 66 children, aged 5–12 years, underwent a detailed neuropsychiatric assessment. The overwhelming majority of the adopted/indiscriminately friendly group had a range of psychiatric diagnoses, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and one third exhibited the disorganised pattern of attachment. The mean IQ was 15 points lower than the comparison group and the majority of the adopted group had suspected language disorder and/or delay. Our findings show that school-aged adopted children with a history of severe maltreatment can have very complex and sometimes disabling neuropsychiatric problems.
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📋 CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
1998 - ongoing A groundbreaking public health study that discovered that childhood trauma leads to the adult onset of chronic diseases, depression and other mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. The ACE Study has published about 70 research papers since 1998. Hundreds of additional research papers based on the ACE Study have also been published. |
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