Children who are currently, or were previously, 'looked after' by the state, are educationally disadvantaged, with exclusion rates historically higher than in other groups in the UK. A conventional way of thinking about these children is that they have been affected by trauma and attachment issues in their early years, and that they import their…

This analysis examined key protective factors among preschool children in low-income, rural areas. Teacher-reported Devereux Early Childhood Assessments for Preschoolers were completed for 182 Head Start children (54% female, 46% male) from seven rural, midwestern communities. The majority of children were in the typical range for each protective…

Aim: This paper aims to discuss the link between childhood trauma and young people's disruptive behaviour in the classroom, and argues that teachers should receive training on 'attachment aware' approaches to help them respond effectively. Rationale: Two inter-connected problems affecting the UK education system are the number of young people who…

In this article, the authors discuss the light and dark side of attachments and attachment style in physical and digital worlds. They argue that many games offer opportunities for the generation of new and meaningful attachments to both physical and digital others. They discuss two "fundamental attachment errors" and show how these can…

Counselling services are an integral part of a school's pastoral response to children and adolescents experiencing mental health or behavioural challenges. Professional practice documents published within Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America uniformly articulate the capacity of the counsellor to intervene when presented…

Adolescents with intellectual disability are at significant risk for developing concomitant mental health and behavior problems. Youth who experience "dual diagnosis" face great challenges, and require interventions that will promote their autonomy, self-determination, and adaptive functioning. In this article, we devote attention to…

A systematic review is presented, based on prospective longitudinal studies, on protective factors that interrupt the continuity from bullying perpetration at school to externalizing problem behaviors later in life; and from bullying victimization to later internalizing problems. Some common factors were established, which seem to interrupt the…

The idea that parenting matters for early child development is now firmly recognised by policymakers. It is well established that parents' investments influence young children's development, and their chances in life. Parenting is one of the most important drivers of social inequalities in cognitive development before school. We also know that…

The purpose of this article is to explore the application of filial therapy as a means of strengthening relationships between foster parents and adolescent foster children. Adolescents in foster care experience a number of placement disruptions and while a number of therapeutic interventions are implemented to assist adolescents in foster care,…

Adolescents' attachment hierarchies were assessed in a sample of 212 high school and 198 college students. The Important People Interview (IPI) differentiated attachment bonds from other supportive or affiliative relationships and indicated that adolescents show a hierarchical ordering of preferences for multiple attachment figures. Differences in…

Research of childhood psychological maltreatment has documented a range of severe and long-lasting difficulties for children who experience this type of abuse. Consequences can include but are not limited to emotional and behavioural problems, low self-esteem, and relationship difficulties. Accordingly, the development of therapy programs to…

Recent studies have highlighted the progressively increasing number of children prescribed psychotropic medication, while findings have illustrated significantly greater usage among child welfare-involved children. These findings have raised serious concerns among mental health and child welfare professionals as well as the general public. To…

Elementary and special education teachers and school counsellors currently provide support to children presenting learning disabilities and behavioural problems symptomatic of the more hidden diagnosis of complex trauma resulting from abuse or severe attachment disruption. Specific disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD)…

The current study was designed to investigate children's memory and suggestibility for events differing in valence (positive or negative) and veracity (true or false). A total of 82 3- and 5-year-olds were asked repeated questions about true and false events, either in a grouped order (i.e., all questions about a certain event asked consecutively)…

We examined the differences in conflict interaction between depressed mothers and their toddler and non-depressed dyads and whether these differences mediated the association of maternal depression with compromised child socioemotional development. Mother/child interaction was videotaped during a teaching task and during a free play task as part…