Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children [Hardcover]

Daniel A. Hughes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765700387 | ISBN-13: 978-0765700384 | Publication Date: June 1, 1997

This book shows how to work successfully with emotional and behavioral problems rooted in deficient early attachments. In particular, it addresses the emotional difficulties of many of the foster and adopted children living in our country who are unable to form secure attachments. Traditional interventions, which do not teach parents how to successfully engage the child, frequently do not provide the means by which the seriously damaged child can form the secure attachment that underlies behavioral change. Dr. Daniel Hughes maps out a treatment plan designed to help the child begin to experience and accept, from both the therapist and the parents, affective attunement that he or she should have received in the first few years of life. Hughes' approach includes: --Using foster and adopted parents as co-therapists --Teaching differentiation between old and new parents --Overcoming the perception of discipline as abusive --Framing misbehavior, discipline, conflicts, and parental authority as important aspects of a child's learning to trust. All children, at the core of their beings, need to be attached to someone who considers them to be very special and who is committed to providing for their ongoing care. Children who lose their birth parents desperately need such a relationship if they are to heal and grow. This book shows therapists how to facilitate this crucial bond. A Jason Aronson Book

Editorial Reviews

Review

For those treating attachment disordered children with traditional child psychotherapy, this book will compel a reexamination of that approach and lead the way to a decidedly more effective treatment. Therapists struggling to help these children will findcountless new insights and concrete examples of how to be successful instead of frustrated in their work. An experienced, gifted, and innovative therapist and teacher, Dan Hughes takes the reader through a primer in attachment theory and reactive attachment disorders in maltreated children, through the theoretical principles and actual techniques employed in therapy, four illustrative case vignettes, and a discussion of how to educate, assist, and support the parents of poorly attached children... (Paul D. Goodman )

Dr. Hughes's deeply insightful book provides professionals as well as parents with a comprehensive understanding of the issues and of the types of interventions that succeed in resolving them. The scope of this brilliant work extends beyond the disturbances of foster and adoptive children. If all children were treated in the way Dr. Hughes describes, with his compassion, humanity, humor, and depth of understanding, there would be better outcomes. Even for therapists who do not practice in this manner, their grasp of a child's development and their approach to their young patients will be greatly enhanced by Dr. Hughes' theoretical framework of attunement and engagement... (Martha G. Welch )

About the Author

Daniel Hughes, Ph.D., received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Ohio University. For over a decade he was the coordinator of children's services at Kennebec Valley Mental Health Center and also worked at Colby College Counseling Services. He is in private practice in Waterville, Maine, where he has contracts with foster care agencies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765700387
• ISBN-13: 978-0765700384
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,447,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel A. Hughes, is a noted practitioner, consultant, and educator of attachment-focused family therapy, and founder of the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Institute. He lives in Annville, PA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and helpful, April 14, 1998

By 

Colleen M. McDonald - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children (Hardcover)

I would highly recommend this book to other foster parents. It thoroughly describes therapeutic techniques, both for use in the therapist's office and in the home, and explains why and how they work. It emphasizes the hard work of treating and parenting the child with attachment problems and offers hope.

I also want to offer a couple of criticisms: 1) There is too much jargon in the introductory chapters explaining theory; it may discourage some readers, but the book does get easier to understand. 2) The author deals only with success stories. I'm sure his methods have not succeeded with all his clients, and even a short description of "failures" would have provided balance. It would have been helpful if he'd listed his criteria for accepting clients-- what are the behavioral, personality, and/or family characteristics that suggest someone is likely to benefit, and on what basis does he refer clients elsewhere? 3) I wish he'd included something about the politics of getting therapeutic help for foster and adoptive kids. Sounds like many of his clients are longterm, and treatment can't be cheap; I'm wondering how families afford his services. A plug for the importance of adoption subsidies and true treatment foster care would have been a bonus.

Colleen M. McDonald

81 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Facilitating Developmental Attachment, April 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children (Paperback)

I have 3 adopted children with attachment problems. I've read many, many books on this subject. Hughes' book, though written primarily for therapists, has been the most helpful to me as a parent. Hughes does a great job of describing unattached children and the treatment therapists and parents need to provide to help children bond. Parents considering adopting older children need to read this book. I wish I'd had this book 10 years ago. The mistakes we could have avoided might have given our children a much better chance at a normal life. I also wish Hughes would include information about strategies for dealing with unattached young children who have become unattached teens.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, must read., June 14, 2004

By 

FireSign "TheHeights" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children (Paperback)

Even though this book is written for therapists, it is extremely helpful for parents as well. I am the mother of a child with RAD who is being treated according to Hughes' therapy methods, and the child is responding positively after only a few months. She was with a traditional therapist for over a year and her pathology only got worse. Hughes emphasis in therapy is parental attunement with the child. This is key to attachment.

I would bet that the reviewers who have called his techniques "unethical," and "pseudoscience" do not have children with RAD. Holding therapy is not torture, it is therapeutic. Torture is living a life with no attachments to other human beings. Note: By "holding therapy" I am talking about holding the child in your lap, or holding him/her down in a responsible manner (no squashing) if they are out of control and will physically hurt themselves or others. I am NOT talking about re-enacting a birthing experience, sitting on the child, etc. That certainly is abuse, and they've been through enough already without that.

Read this book for understanding, and be sure to find an attachment therapist to work with, hopefully one recommended by other parents with RAD children. You will need professional guidance - it's not a DIY project. Also, if your child has RAD, you should probably also check to see if they also have PTSD. My experience is that this may very well be the case, and you need to treat both together. For this, we used a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and have gotten very positive results, i.e. child is off almost all of her meds. There is hope, but just know that you need to be resourceful in finding help, and you may have to try some non-traditional methods. Just use some common sense, that is the first rule.