Attachment and Trust Creating a Healing Environment for At-Risk Youth Taken from Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross put into a Teaching Family Model Perspective Special Populations Training for At-Risk Youth

Define At-Risk Children and Families?  Children with histories of neglect, abuse and/or trauma and those who are at increased risk for behavioral, academic, and social-emotional problems.  These behaviors can be generally grouped into internalizing and externalizing problems.

Internalizing Problems. Internalizing behaviors, such as  Anxiety  Depression  Shyness  those which act in on the child and are directed inward.

Vital Connections with At-Risk Youth  PSYCHOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS  SOCIAL CONNECTIONS  KNOWLEDGE CONNECTIONS  NEUROLOGICAL CONNECTIONS

Five Cardinal Interaction Principles  1. Attention to physical needs  2. Attentiveness to emotional needs  3. Responsiveness of caregiver  4. Interactiveness of caregiver  5. “Sensory bath” of human interaction

1. Attention to physical needs through Initial Praise and Empathy  No significant gains can be made by a child who is afraid.  Our first goal is to provide a sense of “felt safety” and a sense of “welcome” in all that we do in treatment.

Structure  Achieving the balance of nurture and structure is essential.  If we give nurture when the child needs structure, we diminish his growth.  If we give structure when the child needs nurture, we weaken his sense of safety and trust.  Achieving this sensitive balance is the context of playful interaction.

2.Attentiveness to emotional needs through Observing & Describing Behavior (Teaching) and Empathy  In order to address fearfulness in treatment youth, it is essential for treatment providers to be extremely vigilant in monitoring behavioral and physiological signs in the children.  The primary vehicle through which we provide welcome, reduce fear, and gain trust, is through effective praise and preventive teaching in playful interactions.

3. Responsiveness of caregiver & 4. Interactiveness of caregiver through Quality Components  Children make significant gains in attachment behavior in the presence of appropriate levels of sensory input.  What Quality Components can enhance this need as Practitioners?

Quality Components  The style of expressing affection will vary with each Family Teacher.  Good eye contact  Physical proximity or contact  Smile  A voice tone and inflection conveying enthusiasm versus a monotone.

5.“Sensory bath” of human interaction through Observing & Describing Behavior  Attentiveness to the needs of the child.  Attending to the child’s body language, pupilary dilation, rate of respiration, and heart rate will provide significant clues to their needs.  Abnormal behaviors often occlude the true needs of the child.  Learning to observe behavior as an indication of submerged fear and pain can provide powerful insights to hearing and understanding the child’s heart.  Learning to observe behavior as an indication of submerged fear and pain can provide powerful insights to hearing and understanding the child’s heart.

It is in learning to observe the children which has provided our most dynamic insights. They themselves have taught us what they need. Two questions emerge with every behavior: “What is the child saying?” and “What does he really need?” Two questions emerge with every behavior: “What is the child saying?” and “What does he really need?”

In Conclusion Behaviors of at-risk children can be baffling and confusing to parents and professionals alike. However, with persistent, firm intervention, most inappropriate behaviors will give way to new, healthy behaviors. Thinking of old behaviors as maladaptive survival skills will help direct the parent- course for teaching new life-skills.