I definitely agree with the position paper referenced on Nancy's blog that RAD is wayyyyy over diagnosed. I don't think that nearly as many children who are diagnosed with RAD actually meet the formal criterion for RAD. I don't think nearly as many who receive so-called "attachment therapy" require that level of intensity for treatment. I believe that often conflictual relationships between parents and their children are just that, conflicts between parent and child...sometimes driven by the child's behavior and temperament, sometimes driven by the parent's, often times driven... more

Nancy Spoolstra, who writes the Reactive Attachment Disorder Blog, is running an excellent series right now about a position statement that was recently issued on RAD by a national child welfare group. Please go to her site to read more.

I don't think I have ever weighed in with my opinion about Reactive Attachment Disorder. I imagine that I always come off sounding like a centrist in much of what I write, as if I don't have strong opinions about anything one way or the other. That's not true,... more

Bill over at the Foster Care Blog posted on the topic of therapy yesterday. He shared his perspective on the question that many adopted children and their parents may ask, "Therapy: What is it and why do I need it?"

After reading his post and leaving a comment, I agreed to follow up with the discussion. Zheez. What was I thinking? This is a complicated topic and would take weeks to discuss. I'll do my best to address central issues over the next couple of posts.

Let's start with the first part of the question,... more

Much of the discussion about the mental health needs of adopted children revolves aroud serious emotional and behavioral disorders such as Reactive Attachment Disorder, Learning Disabilities, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and others. The way these kinds of issues are discussed on blogs, forums, and other venues may make it seem like a problem with your adopted child will be so obvious that it would be impossible to miss. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case.

It is true that sometimes, a child's behavior can be so unusual or disturbed that there is no question that... more

Wow. I just read Debi's post on R.A.D.ically Overdiagnosed and I have to admit it scared the begeezus out of me! Imagine that. I, a licensed clinical psychologist ("trained and educated to perform psychological research, testing and therapy") with gezads of clinical experience in all kinds of settings, was rattled by the post. Why? (Here I go again. Being the centrist wimp in a controversy.) Because there are folks out there who engage in all kinds of untested, unproven, dangerous and, as the links reveal, sometimes fatal pseudotherapeutic practices for kids with and without formally diagnosed Reactive Attachment Disorder, many of whom are adopted or foster children.

It... more

This morning, I read the Foster Care Blog and saw that Bill wrote about Child Abuse Awareness Month that is coming up next month. Child abuse is such a heart wrenching topic, isn't it? Aren't our hearts just ripped right out of our chests when we read about, hear about, work with, treat, care for the children of abuse? Child abuse takes an incredible toll on our society at every level. It often feels like not enough can ever be done to make a significant impact on the problem.

There is a lot of discussion... more

My new blogger friend Shar (and I swear to you I did not pay her to say those lovely things about me on her blog!) has been posting on her blog about the unique needs of children who have been sexually abused. I left a comment on one of her posts mentioning my concern that foster parents, adoptive parents, and others responsible for the care of sexually abused children tend to have a knee-jerk "don't touch" reaction in caring for them. This response is understandable.

There is a fear that a child with a history of sexual... more