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Wow, the Becon House video. Love the way they explained every step to support and heal trauma. This video makes it clear that every person providing support needs to be working together and doing it together. I think of some of the families I work with and how complex this process is.

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I was interested to learn about the differentiation between attunement and attachment, and that while they are inextricably linked, attunement is the ability to intimately learn a baby's cues and be able to facilitate their needs through this  astute awareness. It takes trial and error and can play out like an unspoken language. Attachment is an outcome of the attunement formed.

I was also interested to learn about the different models of play therapy. Theraplay (a new term to me) excited me from the angle that you can go back to a child's age of disrupted or damaged attachment from their early years, and do restorative work with a parent or caregiver to heal some of what may have been lost at pivotal developmental stages. My son has ADHD and can be very difficult to manage. He is 6 years old and sometimes I feel as though time is running away from me, and I worry about lost moments or insufficient traction.

We applied early intervention frameworks years ago, but some days I feel like I may be missing something fundamental with him - it inspired me beyond words to learn that every passing moment, no matter the age, is another moment to do some corrective work with him. Just because massage or physical therapy have not worked before, doesn't mean they won't now.

I like the link between this and Erikson's theory.

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When completing my undergraduate degree in early childhood and primary school education, there was no mention of attachment theory. While working in the classroom (especially when in low socio-economic areas), I learnt the importance of building secure relationships with my students. Completing the coursework on attachment theory has helped me to better understand many of the behaviours of students in my class. I have even been able to reflect on this in conjunction with my knowledge of their home lives to hypothesise their attachment styles. It (unfortunately) has been easy to identify some students as having insecure attachment styles. However, having the knowledge of attachment styles allows me to better support them, offering a secure base within the classroom and with me.

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Having touched on much of this before, I really enjoyed revisiting and going into more depth. Feeding the brain bottom up was familiar but I loved learning more about NMT, really connected to that video - spoken by children hit my heart though!
Theraplay made me think about all the different child/parent groups eg music, kindergym, and how they would benefit the relationship building greatly even not as trained therapist run.
Also reflecting as a teacher.. my normally consistent, dependent 'secure base' relationships have been so impacted by the pandemic and I feel sad. I am home for two weeks at the moment in iso for the third time, away from my 3yr old students. Can't be helped and there are many more in the same boat but still, perhaps we need to address this in our teaching, considering this context!

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I think that the four key aspects of attachment theory that inform Play Therapy are essential and make so much sense when working with a child in a therapeutic setting.

Attunement:
I feel that I am constantly attuning to the children and families that I work with in a hospital setting. Attuning to their affect, behaviours they are exhibiting, they way they look at/don't look at you, what they say or don't say can all help me to respond to their needs and work with them appropriately. I liked the idea of Winnicott and 'the holding environment'. That parents and we as therapists not only hold the child physically but emotionally. CLT's often talk about 'holding the space' - attuning to everyone in the space and ensuring that the environment is supportive for the child to achieve success.

Secure Base
I love the Circle of Security model. It really helped me to visualise this process. I like how it link to Play Therapy in that the therapist replicates the caregiver to give the child a sense of safety to explore. Simple things like keeping the appointment at the same time and day each week, having the same play space and materials available, making sure you, as the PT, is available. All of these aspects help to create a secure base for the child explore and arrive at a therapeutic change them selves (Axline).

Internal Working Model
To being, I was confused about what this was and now I feel that I have a clearer understanding. It's the way a child sees himself in a world, based on repeated patterns and experiences. And then uses this internal working model to predict their world. In PT, it important to understand this concept as it will reveal itself through play and help us to understand their past experiences so as to help them form a more successful internal working model.

Attachment behaviours
Being able to recognise these behaviours will help us as PT's to work towards engaging the child and their family in therapy to help build more positive attachments.

That quote from Aristotle stood out for me re: touch. Too often as teachers we are told 'hand up' when a child comes in for a hug. In my role as a CLT, I use touch as a therapeutic tool during distressing procedures. I also use touch during these procedures as 'kinaesthetic' storytelling which was spoken about in the FirstPlay Video. I take the child on a type of guided meditation using touch to simulate waves washing over them or rain dropping on their arm etc. It helps to distract them from the challenges, pain and distress of the procedure.

I really enjoyed learning about the different types of therapy that we can engage a child and their family in.

Filial Therapy really resonates with me as in my work as a CLT one of our main goals is to teach the parent, as well as the child, how to advocate for themselves and how to support the child during distressing procedures when CLT cannot be present. CLT can't be present always, and so this strategy helps to empower the parent and the child.

Loving all the content.

Thanks

Carlie

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I love the idea that 'parentese' is a real thing, and that the silly cadence we take on is beneficial! It's probably something I have noticed but not connected fully. I am definitely against baby talk - it's a horse, not a horsey. I've also gained some insight into what learning through play should look like in the nursery at my work, especially with the secure base models and internal working model.
What was new for me were the types of play therapy. FirstPlay and using it with parents is a great idea! I am also keen to learn more about NMT, as it made me think of a child in my service straight away.
Every time I hear Theraplay, I keep thinking of Theraputty which I used a lot when I was teaching in Early Intervention (I learned a lot about my own sensory needs there!)
I think this is a module I will come back to, as there are a lot of readings and excellent information to process.

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Those information are attractive for a further study, especially the neuro sequential model, that makes me understand more of the children who are lack of security and seek attachment.

it is a bit sad for the lack of rescourses to have study on Theraplay, that may also be a powerful tool for enhancing children development.

the reminder of physical touch with the child is important as i am a male for treating children, it is easy to have misunderstanding by others

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A lot of really interesting information. I also got a lot out of the NMT video and the effects of trauma on development. I like the explanation of how early trauma effects and injures the brain.

The visual showing the deficits in the areas of the brain as a result of childhood trauma is also a really helpful resource to understand what happens to a child's brain when it is not stimulated and nurtured.

The explanation of the state that a child with a trauma background is sitting in most of the time - fight, flight or freeze helps to understand why they are unable to take in much other information at school, and often struggle to regulate their emotions and feel safe when there is no threat present at the time.

It is really heartening also that given the right type of therapy and support at the right time, from school, home and therapy, children and young people can heal from trauma.

I was also interested to read about the healing powers of touch used in therapy as this is something I would be unsure about the ethical side of, but can definitely see the benefits of.

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Personally, this module was a balanced between revisiting some prior knowledge (such as the Circle of Security), extending on some content in more depth (I had been introduced to Bruce Perry and trauma informed practices in my Bachelor of EC), and being exposed to completely new material! As most people on this Padlet. board I felt conflicted when reviewing the content on touch, as it has been encoded in us educators to minimise and censor touch between adults and children. Whilst reviewing material on Bowlby's theory of attachment I came across this infographic about disorganised attachment. It alerted me to the several pathways (not just abuse) and complexities that may lead to disorganised attachment including socio economic risks.

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Covered some familiar ground (Circle of Security) and Wings to Fly but helped to solidify my learning from those PDs.

It’s also given me some insight and helped me to understand more about the relationship I have with my own parents. Their attachments styles with me and how that’s shaped my attachment with them.

I have been thinking about E.T. For days, and now I need to rewatch the entire movie.

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Like many others on this padlet board, there was a lot of information that I connected with and found valuable/interesting!

I was very familiar with the circle of security, but I found it interesting to learn about the secure base model!

I also found the video's/readings on touch really interesting! As many others have highlighted, I feel like in so many settings touch when working with children is a taboo topic and is discouraged, so it was refreshing to be exposed to the information in this module!

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Wow that was a lot of new information! And I can see myself needing to go back over it a few times and each time taking in more and more.
I liked learning about the different types of play therapy and I found myself saying, yes, this makes sense, this is something that I'd like to learn more about, until I reached the next style and then I had the exact same reaction! I didn't quite realise there were so many different styles of play therapy that I would have to sort through. Do most play therapists just excel in one area or do they tend to swap depending on the needs of the child?

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WOW WOW WOW!! That was a lot of information to learn and understand in this module. I feel like I will be needing to come back to this information to understand this in more detail.

Throughout this model I really liked having the opportunity to refer back to the circle of security, as this is something I am familiar with - however something new I learnt was the secure base model.

I really enjoyed learning about some of the additional play therapy attachment models and seeing little snippets of how these models were founded, what they entail and how they are implemented in practice. It provided such a practical component which excites me to learn more about.

Something that really stood out to me this week was learning about developmental trauma and the impacts this has on children. The video was such a heart warming resource to view, hearing this from the perspective of the child and how we can support children to repair their brain and support them in that process of healing.

I am so excited to learn more!

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Wow, information overload but in a really positive way! I especially enjoyed watching the final video about The repair of early trauma (NMT). I can relate to the part where the children are talking about changing their attachment style (disorganised, ambivalent, avoidant) to survive in the moment they are in. A prime example of my son who has started school this year- fantastic, well mannered, kind, listens well, focussed and learning whilst at school. To coming home and cannot regulate his emotions and acting out physically.
In regards to touch, I believe touch has profound positive benefits. As Aristotle stated in the reading, Touch and Child Counselling & Play Therapy " ethical virtue is about doing the right thing, at the right time, towards the right person, with the right intention and in the right manner".
- Kaitlin

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I enjoyed the journey. Being a therapeutic educator at times (teaching our own model of care to residential workers). I did enjoy the and appreciate the attachment theory, I think the more you look over it the more you get from it. It is good to keep the theory centrally in mind, I think it can change a perspective (it has been my experience at least), especially around child presentation within a home setting. I find it curious how many of our children on arrival have diagnoses of ADHD, ODD, autism, addictions and even RAD. Interesting enough many of these exhibited symptoms seem to reduce and or become extinct on exiting after developing positive, prosocial relationships with a carer within the home.   Of cause I have read greatly on Perry, Hughes, Bloom and Van Der Kolt who have supplied so much information around this field of work, and I think it fair to say, have built heavily on top of the attachment theory frame work.
Kind regards
Tony

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What are your thoughts of how Play Therapy is underpinned by attachment theory?
- I found the link quite fascinating because we are taught the opposite in our undergraduate degrees in teaching. Not to touch a child, ect...

Have you discovered anything new that has really connected with you?
- I quite enjoyed learning about NMT, it resonated because of the toxic environment patterns, I find this intergenerational linking and research fascinating, about how abuse can carry on in behaviours, through generations, even though it's impacted the individual previously.

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I found it interesting reading and viewing the content on nurturing touch and the use of this in establishing secure attachments. This lead me to think about how touch is often avoided and discouraged in some settings, such as schools. Sadly, in these environments, children are void of the the nurturing touch and closeness that they desperately need.