Inside I’m Hurting: Practical Strategies for Supporting Children with Attachment Difficulties in Schools

Pupils who survive multiple traumatic experiences of loss, trauma, abuse and neglect can easily be misunderstood in our schools, despite our good intentions. Such children often underachieve, at worst becoming excluded from the very place that could offer them an opportunity for second chance learning and for reaching their potential. These children do not respond well or consistently to behavioural modification techniques, nor are they able to thrive in a system largely created for those from a good-enough background. Louise Bomber’s innovative and easy to use strategies provide teachers and teaching assistants with new perspectives, practical tools and the confidence for supporting these children. Her work is based on the latest research from child development and Attachment theory (Bowlby), as well as many years of solid practical experience as a teacher-therapist working within education and social services with children, families and schools. Contents include: providing an additional attachment figure in schools, transitions during the school day, permanency and constancy, regulating arousal levels, wondering aloud, lowering the effects of shame, creating home/school partnerships, working with the transition from primary to secondary phase, and more.