Reactive Attachment Disorder

Implications for Planning and Awareness

• Meet with the parents early in the school year to discuss how the school staff can support this student’s needs related to reactive attachment disorder. This could include:
  • understanding specific behaviours related to the disorder
  • sharing successful strategies used at home that could be used at school
  • developing a communication plan between home and school.
• If needed, collaborate with parents and mental health care professionals to develop a behaviour support plan to guide all school staff supporting this student.
• Collaborate with the parents to consider what specific information about their child they would like shared with other school staff.
• Learn as much as you can about how reactive attachment disorder may affect learning and social and emotional well-being. Reading, asking questions and talking to qualified mental health care professionals will build your understanding and help you make informed decisions to support the student’s success in the classroom.

Implications for Instruction

• Teach and model simple problem-solving strategies. Use visual supports to help students remember the steps.
• Be sure the parents and school staff agree on and communicate about behaviour expectations; this may reduce miscommunication between home and school and all adults involved with this student.
  
• Make some rewards absolute and not contingent on anything. This effectively counteracts a student’s perception that “nothing ever works for me.” For example, students participate, barring any safety concerns, in a fun end-of-the-week activity regardless of their behaviour.
• Use natural opportunities to clearly point out the choices the student is making and use this discussion to help the student begin to recognize the consequences of their choices.
• Approach students with a matter-of-fact, firm, no nonsense, friendly tone of voice. Phrase directions as directions (e.g., “Do …”) versus questions (e.g., “Will you …?”).
• Provide clear, specific expectations for behaviour that the student can follow. Use visuals and charts to monitor progress during the day.

Implications for Social and Emotional Well-being

• Keep praise very concrete and specific and do not connect it to rewards.
• Use light-hearted humour to deflect students’ attempts to be deliberately provocative or defiant.
• Children with reactive attachment disorder develop habits of dealing with the world in a way they believe will keep them safe. Help students use reframing to change their perception of situations that may typically cause anxiety.
• Be mindful of the tendency of these students to be “needy,” and establish healthy adult–child boundaries by communicating expectations and providing encouragement.
• Students with reactive attachment disorder tend to live in the moment; therefore, they need adults to remind them of past successes to help them maintain more positive perspectives on the present.

As you consider the implications for this mental health condition, think about the following questions:

1.	Do I need further conversations with the parents to better understand this student's strengths and needs?		Yes		No
2.	Do I need targeted professional learning? If yes, what specific topics and strategies would I explore?		Yes		No
3.	Is consultation with jurisdictional staff required? If yes, what issues and questions would we explore?		Yes		No
4.	Is consultation with external service providers required (e.g., Regional Educational Consulting Services, Student Health Partnership, Alberta Children's Hospital, Glenrose Hospital)? If yes, what issues and questions would we explore?		Yes		No
5.	Are further assessments required to assist with planning for this student? If yes, what questions do I need answered?		Yes		No
6.	Is service to the student from an external provider required? If yes, what outcomes would be anticipated?		Yes		No
7.	Is a wraparound referral required? If yes, what issues and questions would we explore?		Yes		No