Connections Between Attachment And Cognitive Development

Facilitating Developmental Attachment – The road to emotional recovery and behavioural change in foster and adopted children

Baby Jack displays a healthy attachment to mom, while Alice shows clear indicators of a strong and healthy bond with Jack. As indicated in the above chart, Jack is displaying all the behaviour expected for this stage of development (from 6-12 months), and accordingly, as related to attachment, he was friendly with me as long as mom was close, and vigilant in ensuring he was always aware of her location. The fact that Alice is able to soothe Jack quickly and consistently and that he is able to adjust to a new stranger so well points to development of the confidence that Vera Fahlberg (2012) maintains in her text, A Child’s Journey through Placement, as intrinsically tied to secure attachment to a “primary attachment object”

The program that I work for holds a provider breakfast once a year to acknowledge us, provides us with certificates of service and a special guest speaker joins us. This particular speaker was inspirational, insightful and was a pure delight to listens to. It was on June 7, 2014 and the guest speaker name was Sherry-Lynne Kirschner. The topic of her agenda was “What id Mindfulness”. She started off with a little metaphor about how nature is in away just like our mind, body and soul in the way they need nurturing and care. I cannot remember exactly how it goes and wish I had the privileged to hear it again. I have used this in relation to how nature and children’s needs are similar in the way of life. “To some people an acorn is an acorn, nothing more than just a nut. To others it represents potential. This tiny seed has the ability and the necessary elements to become the giant, majestic oak that has come to signify strength. When the proper conditions are provided, the little nut will thrive and grow into an impressive adult tree providing oxygen and shade as nature intended. The most important factor to the budding tree is the environment”. Like all living things, the acorn needs care and an ideal place to call home to be able to develop and blossom properly. This is also true for humans. By providing a secure, healthy, caring and positive environment for an infant to grow,

The importance of a healthy attachment in early childhood development can lead to a better adult development and skills for daily life. A secure and healthy attachment to the caregiver in infancy to adolescence showcases the importance of building strong relationships and coping skills during periods of stress and anxiety. The research that has been found, goes into detail about the different types of attachments that infants and children can develop as well as what negative and positive aspects come along with the attachments.

Psychoanalyst, John Bowlby in the mid 19th hundreds, investigated attachment theory. Over the years, we have enhanced our understanding on how children attach to their primary caregiver earlier in life. Supported by attachment theory, infants have a window for the development of attachment to the primary caregiver, which, usually happens during the first months of life (Hardy, 2007). Given that Alexander’s parents’ left when he was only 3 months and was raised by his grandparents, it is no surprise that when he reunited with his parents, they felt like complete strangers to him, because they were not the ones meeting his needs early in life.

Bowlby said that early attachment was crucial to a child’s healthy mental development & this is a key part for how they build relationships later on in life. He said that children are influenced the most by the relationship with their primary carer (mainly mother). For the 1st 6 months of a babies life they have a need to attach to one main person. This is called the monotropic attachment. He also said that a child should be cared for by the same person for the first 2 years of their life as any kind of disruption would lead to lasting effects of their development. E.g. depression & antisocial behaviour. He then changes what he said and stated that children were capable of forming multiple attachments and it was important for them to build

Parenting and attachment styles influence the temperament during infancy and toddler years. Parenting styles are strategies and techniques that parents use during child rearing. Attachment refers to a secure emotional connection, such as a union among a mother and child. Temperament is the nature of an individual in which affects behavior. Parenting and attachment work hand in hand with influencing the temperament of the child. Three types of children are form upon identifying the characteristics of their behavior; the easy child, the difficult child and the slow-to-warm-up child (Berk, 2010). The easy child embrace new experiences and form consistent schedules. The difficult child is challenged by new experiences and often display negative reactions. The slow-to-warm-up child shy away from routine and gradually envelope new experiences. These characteristics of the child ultimately express their social-emotional development, which is influenced by their initial interaction with parents and caregivers. In example, the easy child’s parents provides high levels of trust, encouraging the infant with feeling secure. In return, the child feels as though the world is trustworthy, making is easier to face new experiences. This dictates the behavior they express toward others. Parenting and forms of attachment play an essential role in both the temperament and social-emotional development of the child. Furthermore, an analysis of the affects that authoritative and permissive

Mind (2013) states that the term ‘well-being’ is how one feels from ‘day to day’ (Mind, 2013), how one is able to live, work and take part within their community by having the confidence and friendship’s. One is also resilient to any changes and adversity in their lives (Mind, 2013). This assignment is going to draw on the E219 module materials from Attachment within the Early Years and Adolescence and Emotion within the Early Years, Middle Childhood and Adolescence. The type of attachment a child has with their caregiver will determine the level of their well-being they have. These, attachments change as the child grows up into an adolescent. Their emotions develop over time form the basic understanding of happiness to more complex emotions that come with puberty. Doward (2014) produced an article based upon the report of Layard et al (2014) the main points will be analysed including; how he claims that one’s income level does not play a big part in ones happiness and that David Cameron has said the same. Yet in comparison Hamburgh’s (2016) newspaper report and Luscombe’s (2010) study stat that money can make people happy. Karreman & Vingerhoets (2012) identifies that the level of one’s well-being is linked to their attachment type. Another significant aspect to a child 's well-being is the emotions they have and develop over time and how attachments and emotions are interlinked. The emotional knowledge and the community of where a child lives is linked to Sameroff’s (1987)

Although secure attachment during infancy is the foundation for continued healthy positive development during the lifespan, it is important to understand that other factors can have a significant effect on development later in life (i.e. illness, loss, and trauma). However, research has shown the importance of consistent care giving that is responsive and nurturing and the caregivers’ ability to effectively accommodate more difficult temperament characteristics ,as well as other factors, influence the development of healthy attachment{{64 Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian 2003}}. Research has also shown that infancy and early childhood is the period of development where scaffolding begins and continues (Vygotsky, 1978; Zhao & Orey,1999).

The third attachment is avoidant; which occurs when someone has a hard time to connecting with others. People with this kind of attachment fear being left by their partner, thus, resulting in pushing their partner or the caregiver away from the infant. This attachment creates a separation between the caregiver and infant. According to the book Human Sexuality, this particular act in infants and adults signifies them in an attempt to defend themselves from rejection. A perfect example of this is my very close family friend Alicia (given name). After separating from her longest relationship, she was having a hard time accepting the fact that he had left her. This influenced her to not trusting anyone and become anti-social for a longest period

The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the

By responding with care and comfort, this enables for an “attachment bond” to form between the infant and caregiver, most commonly the mother (White et al., 2013). Following on from Bowlby’s theory, Mary Ainsworth investigated the theory of attachment through observing the reactions of infants when their mothers left them alone with strangers. The investigation was named as the “Ainsworth’s strange situation assessment” (White et al., 2013). It was discovered through this investigation that infants who had secure attachments with their mothers were upset when separated and were easily soothed when the mother returns. This investigation implies that infants with secure attachment to their mothers show signs of normal social development.

In the first few months of life, the sole purpose of any child’s behaviour is to survive. This, more often than not, results in actions that reduce the risk of harm and increase the chances of longevity. Of these behaviours, some argue that the most influential is attachment behaviour. “Attachment behaviour is any form of behaviour that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is conceived as better able to cope with the world”(Bowlby, 1982). Therefore, children will make an effort to stay close to and under the protection of their primary caregiver. According to Webster, “through interactions with their primary caregiver, the child develops expectations and understandings about the workings of relationships. These mental representations of relationships become internalized to the degree that they influence feelings, thought and behaviour automatically and unconsciously” (1999, p.6). Moreover, the response of the identified individual plays a huge role in the child’s perception of the outside world. If the caregiver responds to the child’s needs in a caring and protective manner, the child will feel safe and comfortable in his or her surroundings. If, on the other hand, the caregiver is often emotionally and/or physically unavailable, the child is likely to

Attachment theory is the idea that a child needs to form a close relationship with at least one primary caregiver. The theory proved that attachment is necessary to ensure successful social and emotional development in an infant. It is critical for this to occur in the child’s early infant years. However, failed to prove that this nurturing can only be given by a mother (Birns, 1999, p. 13). Many aspects of this theory grew out of psychoanalyst, John Bowlby’s research. There are several other factors that needed to be taken into account before the social worker reached a conclusion; such as issues surrounding poverty, social class and temperament. These factors, as well as an explanation of insecure attachment will be further explored in

Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children by Daniel A Hughes