Attachment/Adoption Therapy

Some children who receive therapy at Functional Kids Clinic have co-occurring issues related to traumatic events. Whenever and however these came about we have learned that they can affect emotional and cognitive development, as well as affect sensory processing. All these factors can work together to block progress.

We have received in-services, training, and consultation from Holly Van Gulden and Claude Riedel. They are directors of the Adoptive Family Counseling Center. Holly has also co-authored the book Learning the Dance of Attachment. The information they have shared has helped us to understand the developmental level of our clients in these many areas, whether or not they were adopted. We have come to believe that severe sensory processing difficulties can also be a traumatic event and lead to delays in these areas.

The attachment work that Holly and Claude do is centered on the use of basic sensory information to establish: a) self / other identity, b) self permanence (I will still be here when I’m asleep), c) other permanence (mom is still here because I can feel her, even when I can’t feel her I can smell her perfume and know that she exists), d) constancy of self (I’m still me when I’m happy or sad or make mistakes), e) constancy of others (dad still loves me when he is upset at me).

Holly Van Gulden hollyvang@aol.com

Claude Riedel, MA, LP, LMFT riede006@umn.edu