The Attachment Yardstick
by: Melissa Sadin Typically, our children’s lives are measured by events such as birthdays, grades in school, graduation, etc. Recently, however, it occurred to me that there are other events by which I measure my son’s growth. Oh sure, I’m proud of him when he does well in sports, gets a good grade in school, […]
Tuesday Toolbox: Calm Down Box
by: Allison Cooke Douglas We’ve used a “Calm Down Box” with our child for years. It’s full of tools they can use when they are beginning to escalate. This is a specific child’s box, so it’s tailored to his specific sensory needs; yours would not look exactly the same. We offer it to him as […]
Why I Always Renew My ATN Membership
by: Julie Beem Ok – this is a strange topic for the Executive Director to blog about. Yes, I’m biased. But here’s the deal…I pay my annual Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) membership dues each year because I know what an impact my dues make. In the beginning, my membership was all about me. I […]
On Safari . . . at Home
by: Gari Lister Earlier this month I was lucky enough to be able to go on safari in South Africa. The most important component of our visit was two “game drives” each day – essentially several hours riding around the preserve looking for animals in a specially equipped land rover. And if you are a […]
Don’t Give Up on Kids like Charlie and Moms Like Me
We are thrilled to welcome Allison Cooke Douglas to the ATN blog team. Allison is not only an adoptive and former foster mom, she is also a foster parent trainer and leader. She currently serves as a DCS Foster Parent Education Specialist for Centerstone in Tennessee. As her opening post, we are sharing her remarks as […]
A Niche for Every Child
by: Craig Peterson All children need a special activity in their lives – something to call their own. And especially those who’ve experienced trauma. Many of these opportunities happen through school. For some it’s team sports. For others it might be music or theater. In the case of my son Andrew, he found his niche […]
Catching More Flies with Honey – IEP Meeting Strategy
by: Julie Beem “You’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” my grandmother was fond of saying. I have to admit that I didn’t start out using this principle for IEP meetings. I was way too intimidated. At first I believed what I was told in IEP meetings, that everyone there had the singular purpose […]
What Now? My Child is Struggling at School
by: Craig Peterson Looking back to my elementary school years, I was lucky. Learning came easy. Fast forward 30 years. My children were struggling at school. When a flyer came home about a school workshop, I jumped at the chance to gain additional knowledge. Several weeks later I encountered a roomful of overwhelmed mothers. Within […]
Back to School with Traumatized Students: What Do We Tell New Teachers?
By: Jen Alexander, MA, NCC, RPT It’s back to school time for all of us. It can be overwhelming to think about what to tell this year’s teachers about our children. What’s too much? What’s too little? The answers, of course, are different for everyone, but here are some ideas to think about sharing. Educators […]
The Curse of the Missing Homework
by: Craig Peterson In elementary school my two attachment-challenged sons whipped through their assignments in class. They rarely had homework. Since both made excellent grades, I never gave the situation a second thought. All that quickly changed by middle school. As the missing work mounted, their grades plummeted. With seven teachers during the day, they […]