Attachment disorder, basic trust and educational psychology

The label Attachment Disorder (AD) is used as either a description of a child's presentation, or as a diagnostic category. It is unclear whether this label is intended to be identical with the DSM-IV Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) diagnostic category, or if it is a separate diagnosis based on Randolph's Questionnaire and the premises underlying this instrument. The third option is that any allusion to "attachment" relates to a position which has evolved from Bowlby. All three variants of this diagnostic label allude to early parent-child interactions, and thus imply the need for remedial interventions at the parent-child level. There are limited options for such interventions at school. A more fruitful interpretation is that the inference of inadequate early childhood interactions designates an incomplete early psycho-social task (the development of Basic Trust) and this perspective leads towards credibly promising school-based interventions.C