Deeper understanding of disruptive behavior in children

Imagine a classroom where children are unable to wait their turn or stay focused on their work. They are easily distracted, cannot remember basic instructions or hold enough information in their head to solve problems – skills teachers rely on in order to teach successfully.

These behavioural issues are all examples of problems that can arise from attachment issues – based on the relationship between children and their main caregiver i.e. Parent.

Attachment theory is now one of the world’s most well-researched theories about human development. It was first proposed by the 20th-century British psychiatrist John Bowlby, who considered that children needed to develop a secure attachment with their main caregiver via sufficiently consistent, responsive, sensitive, appropriate and predictable care and support.

Research has shown that secure attachments create mental processes that enable a child to regulate emotions and attune to others. Securely attached children also have self-understanding and insight, empathy for others and appropriate moral reasoning.

In turn, these processes support the foundation of “executive functioning skills”. These entail a range of key skills that enable children to focus, hold and manipulate information, solve problems, make decisions, persist at tasks, inhibit impulsive behaviour, set goals and monitor their progress. These are all the skills needed for academic learning in the classroom.

Trauma