© Giuseppe Porzani litigio tra bambini
© Giuseppe Porzani
Attachment disorder occurs in a child’s life before the age of three. Children with attachment disorder were victim of some kind of abuse and neglect resulting in the inability to form a bond with a parent or caregiver. Incomprehensible pain is embedded deep inside of them, because of the abandonment they felt as infants. They are unable to feel love or love others. Some children seem to lack a conscience. They are unable to trust anyone. Children with attachment disorder are filled with anger and resentment. They have mild to severe behaviour problems. They may lie, steal, abuse animals refuse to listen to caregivers, make false accusations and hurt themselves or others. On the surface they may seem the complete opposite, for these reasons attachment disorder homeschooling can be extremely challenging. The caregiver of a child with this disorder should use the constructivist teaching method when at all possible. The primary goal of constructivist teaching is to teach the child how to take responsibility for their own learning experiences. This method is ideal for students with attachment disorder because these children will not seek the approval of teachers and caregivers; in fact they will purposefully get the assignment wrong to be defiant. The only way they will learn is if they want to learn to benefit themselves. The teacher’s responsibility is to guide the child to learn through real life experiences that have meaning and purpose to the learner. For instance go on field trips, build a volcano together, cook together, experiment and discuss. Hands on learning is the key to constructive teaching. Attachment disorder home schooling using the constructivist method can be very beneficial creating more time for learning and bonding between the parent and child. Homeschooling a child with attachment disorder is a challenge but not impossible. Until trust is established and healing has started homeschooling will be a daily challenge. Bonding is crucial for you and the attachment disorder child. When the child makes you angry, just remember, you may be their last chance at ever having a normal, happy life.