Importance of Attachment and Its Effects on Brain - Essay Example

?Emotional Development- Case Study Introduction Play work is very efficient way of addressing the emotional and physical needs of children, as they learn new ideas and skills. The development of children can be “stimulated both by providing opportunity for children to learn on their own in play and by interacting in which the adults deliberately teaches something” (Dhingra, Manhas, & Raina 2005: 21). This paper explains the importance of attachment between children and caregivers, and the effect of healthy attachment on brain. Attachment theories have been discussed. The latter half of the paper is dedicated to a case study of a 5 year old girl named Rose. A multi-agency team, consisting of a play worker, a nursery nurse, and a teaching assistant, worked with Rose to help her come out of her emotional trauma. Fun tools available to the kids and the types of play activities were observed, along with special consideration given to the team’s supervision and other adults’ direct or indirect contribution in play activities. The team saw positive outcomes. 2. Importance of Attachment and Its Effects on Brain The importance of attachment of infants and toddlers with the parents or caregivers cannot be denied in terms of healthy mental development. “The impact of attachment disruptions on children’s lives can be devastating and far-reaching”, state Kaduson and Schaefer (2006: 148). When the child enjoys vigorous attachment with the caregiver, he will learn how to offer and maintain a devoted and compassionate relationship that benefits the child in both the short and long run. He will learn to rely on others. The long term outcome will be a contented, independent, and confident personality. On the other hand, when the child does not have an attachment bonding with the caregiver, he will learn to fear, to feel guilty, and to feel the world as a place which is not safe and where his needs are not going to be met. The long term outcome is a timid personality suffering from inferiority complex. Hence, we see that the attachment between the infant/toddler and the caregiver has significant importance in terms of personality developmental outcomes. 3. Components of Healthy Attachment According to Kaduson and Schaefer (2006: 267), “a healthy attachment allows for a balance between the toddler’s developmentally appropriate exploratory drive and need for emotional reassurance and support.” A healthy attachment between an infant and the caregiver has two components. the infant’s needs that he wants the caregiver to fulfill the timely response of the caregiver The attachment occurs when the infant has a sure feeling that the parent or the caregiver will always be there to fulfill his needs of hunger, thirst, clothing, cleaning, and the like. When the caregiver gives a timely response to the infant, this gives rise to trust. The infant forms trust on the caregivers when his needs are fulfilled and forms an attachment with them. When the infant feels otherwise, he learns to mistrust others. Attachment also includes such efforts by the infant with which he tries to remain in physical contact with the caregiver, for example, holding a finger tight, clinging to the bosom, sticking to the lap, and etcetera. 4. Parenting Styles and Attachment Parents and caregivers can play very important role in developing and maintaining healthy bonds of attachment with the children (Maccoby 1992). When the caregivers give the children the chance to share their problems and express their needs to them, they are actually ensuring them that they can always depend upon them for a solution. Parents use many approaches while parenting, most common of which are authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved styles. Attachment occurs when the child feels secure with his parent’s parenting style (Strage & Brandt 1999). Authoritarian parents leave no room for reasoning and communication. Authoritative parents leave room for objections. They listen to their child’s ideas and reason with them due to which the child also learns how to reason and present logic. This sharing of ideas leads to good attachment between the parents and the child (Jennifer & Donna 2001). Permissive and uninvolved parents are lenient styles, where children have semi or full autonomy. So, we see that authoritative parents enjoy healthy attachment with their children. 5. Attachment Theories 5.1. John Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment The attachment theory of John Bowlby best aligns with views of attachment. According to Bowlby (as cited in Holmes 1993), the attachment between the infants and the caregivers has a long-lasting effect on the mental development of the former. Bowlby is of the view that the survival chances are increased when the child remains close to the mother. When the mother is readily available to meet the infant’s needs, he becomes sure that he is safe and secure, and that the world is a protected place to live in. The response time from the mother’s side matters. When something frightens the child, he will turn to the primary caregiver in search of comfort. He will also try to be physically close to the caregiver in order to ensure his safety. When he is taken apart from the caregiver, he will feel irritated and annoyed to the point of crying hysterically. All of these are the characteristics of healthy attachment, and Bowlby’s theory of attachment very comprehensively describes these. 5.2. Mary Ainsworth's "Strange Situation" Psychologist Mary Ainsworth presented her study called “strange Situation” in 1970, which was based on John Bowlby’s theory of attachment (Fonagy 2010). The study was conducted through an observation of 12-18 month old infants, during which they were made to spend a brief period of time away from their mothers. Ainsworth illustrates three styles of attachment: 5.2.1. Secure attachment Children who are securely attached with their caregivers feel irritated and upset when they do not find the caregiver around. They feel insecure, but are sure that the caregiver will return to protect them. 5.2.2. Ambivalent-insecure attachment Children who are ambivalently attached to the caregivers, although feel very upset when the caregiver leaves, but do not show contentment when he arrives. This is a result of deprived availability of the caregiver to the child. 5.2.3. Avoidant-insecure attachment Children who are avoidantly attached to the caregivers show no attachment to them. They are not upset when the caregiver leaves, and show no attraction toward them when he arrives. This is a result of neglectful care giving. 5.3. Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development consists of eight stages that describe human and child development. According to Evans and Erikson (1981: 12), in the first stage of cognitive development in infants, trust versus mistrust, infants get close to and develop trust on their parents and the family members from whom they find reassurance. How the family interacts with an infant or a young child defines how he is going to make a schema of the world inside his mind. If the family is going to offer him warmth and dependable fondness, the child is going to develop a trustworthy relationship, not only with the family but with whomever he will meet in his life; whereas, if the family provides him with insecurities, he will develop a sense of mistrust with the whole world. Thus, the active participation of family and how they meet the basic needs (that include food, clothing, comfort, affection) of the infant define if the child is going to trust others and feel them reliable, or is going to mistrust others and feel them unreliable and undependable. 6. Case Study 6.1. Description The case study involved a 5 year old girl named Rose, whose 9 year old brother had died of asthma. She had been suffering from stress and depression since the death of her elder brother. This was hindering with her psycho-social development. Her curricular and extra-curricular had started getting affected. She had also been avoiding meeting people, including her parents and peers. She is reported to have been very social before the death of her brother. A brief explanation of her condition would be that she was suffering from emotional trauma because of loss of a dear one. To deal with her emotional state, and to make her feel and act better by introducing play to her daily routine, the school called in a multi-agency team, which included a play worker, a teaching assistant, and a nursery nurse. The class teacher also played a little role in making team understand the whole scenario and work with Rose. The professionals involved had prior experience of working with mentally ill children, and thus, they made great efforts in bringing Rose out of her trauma. They were highly trained in providing the children with a play space, where they could play independently and confidently. According to the multi-agency team and the play worker the school hired, it was necessary to enable the child to enhance their play experience by providing them with a rich play environment. Thus, their objective was not to play with Rose, but in motivating her to play by initiating joy in her and the activity she engaged in. 7. How the team worked The team conducted the play work according to the description provided by Bonel and Lindon (2000: 15) in their book. According to them, there is difference between play and play work in that play is exclusively a child’s activity in which he plays freely without any supervision; however, play work is about providing him such an environment where he is safe to play “ in the supervised play setting” (15). His play is not disturbed; rather, the play worker intervenes when required to enhance the play experience. Likewise, the multi-agency team and the play worker first made sure that the environment was free of risk for Rose to play. The play setting was inside the school at the reception class, where many kinds of interactive physical resources and open-ended materials were made available for Rose to use, for example, interactive keyboards, flashcards, ropes, charts, colors, and toys. The play area was decorated with cartoon figures and colorful paintings. Hand work was decorated, which included puppets, birds, butterflies, and many other colorful themes. One corner was dedicated to balloons to make the play area all the more attractive. The environment was child-centric, as there were many sorts of play activities available for Rose, such as playing with dough, coloring, trading, jigsaw puzzles, toy slides and swings. The play worker started with an associative play of pretend kitchen, in which Rose was to play with other kids. She was very excited about the toy stove, cooking utensils and toy food. She walked around the table and chair sets. The play worker showed her the maps, colorful carpets, tiny sofas, bright pictures, funny toys like baby dolls, and a baby calendar hanging on the kitchen wall. Rose set tables and chairs, served her friends lunch using toy food, and playing chef, which showed that she was a social child. Yet, it was observed that she most often played quietly by herself. Her sense of creativity was astonishing. When she finished serving the food, she picked up the toy broom, and started cleaning the kitchen floor to clear up the mess. This showed that she was getting hold of decision-making. An interesting thing was that she got bored easily, and kept switching from one activity to another. She was not consistent, tried to be social, but easily got frustrated; yet, she liked to explore things and occupied herself with activities that interested her. The play worker and the team let her enjoy to the fullest, without interfering much but intervening whenever Rose needed help or got bored. The team made her feel special for the whole span of play work, which enlightened a spark within Rose’s personality. They made her feel as if she was important, and that people loved her the way she was. The team also focused on implementing strategies for responding to Rose’s emotional needs under Every Child Matters Act. ECM requires that the providers should provide a safe environment to children where they can indulge in healthy activities (Learning and Skills Improvement Service 2012). There should be a sense of enjoying and achieving in the play area, contributing to the development of self-confidence in children. The team ensured that all these factors were implemented. 8. Theory that supports this case-study 8.1. Upward Spiral of Grief The multi-agency team made Rose come out of the bereavement of her brother’s death using upward spiral of grief, which states that in order to come out of the melancholy of death of a dear one, one does not have to go through stages of bereavement, that require the individual to go from denial to acceptance (Adults Zone 2013). This means that the feelings of sadness and grief may return at times even after much time has passed, but the individual will be able to cope with them. That does not mean that he has jumped back into the black hole of grief again. Kubler-Ross and Kessler (2005) have proposed stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. These stages may be applicable for many individuals; however, for a child of Rose’s age, it was better to make her undergo the upward spiral of grief. Rose was made to believe that death is omnipotent, and that she was still so special for the people around her. The team did not argue with her, nor made her argue with them; instead, they focused on her emotional needs, and addressed to them accordingly. 9. Outcome The outcome of the play work was that Rose was better able to cope with her emotional distress. She felt comfortable with the team and the play worker, because of which she started expressing her feelings more openly. However, she was more comfortable communicating with the teaching assistant and the play worker rather than with her parents, who were informed about this and were told to enhance communication with their daughter so as to bring her out of her emotional stress. The team found that Rose was basically a social child, who liked listening to stories and answering questions when the teaching assistance asked her what the story was about. Rose also made new friends while the play. This helped her enjoy to her fullest. Finally, it was seen that she was coming out of her emotional trauma, with some recurrence of grief every now and then; however, she was able to cope with the recurring feelings of grief through playing and communicating with the team. 10. Conclusion Healthy attachment between a child and his caregiver is very important in his proper mental and psycho-social development. It leads to trust and fulfillment in the long run. Without healthy attachment, the child may feel insecure and mistrust. The paper discussed the importance of attachment, followed by the case study of Rose. The multi-agency team helped Rose come out of her emotional trauma, through the introduction of risk free play in the play setting. Rose was encouraged to express her feelings and communicate with the team and her peers. Eventually, she started showing fulfillment, and was able to cope with the recurring feelings of grief. The team worked under the concept of upward spiral of grief, while implementing strategies that related to Every Child Matters Act. References Adults Zone, 2013. Upward Spiral of Grief. [Online] Available at [Accessed 6 April 2013] Bonel, P., & Lindon, J., 2000. The nature of play and playwork. Playwork: A Guide to Good Practice, Nelson Thornes, 2000. Dhingra, R., Manhas, S., & Raina, A., 2005. Play Pattern in Preschool Setting, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 21-25. [Online] Available at [Accessed 8 April 2013] Evans, R.I., & Erikson, E.H., Dialogue with Erik Erikson, Praeger, USA. Fonagy, P., 2010. The strange situation. Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis, Other Press, LLC, USA. Holmes, J., 1993. John Bowlby and Attachment Theory, Routledge, USA. Jennifer, N., & Donna, F., 2001. The effects of parenting styles and childhood attachment patterns on intimate relationships. Journal of Instructional Psychology, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 178-183. Kaduson, H.G., & Schaefer, C. (2006). Short-term Play Therapy for Children, Guilford Press, USA. Kubler-Ross, E., & Kessler, D., 2005. On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss, Simon and Schuster, USA. Learning and Skills Improvement Service, 2012. Every Child Matters (ECM). [Online] Available at < http://archive.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=167914> [Accessed 8 April 2013] Maccoby, E.E., 1992. The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 1006-1017. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.28.6.1006 Strage, A., & Brandt, T.S., 1999. Authoritative parenting and college students' academic adjustment and success. Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 91, no. 1, pp. 146-156. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.91.1.146 Read More