Session 3

Understand children’s needs in relation to emotional well-being. Explain the process of: attachment developing secure relationships. Summaries the role of the key person in promoting emotional well-being in relation to current frameworks. Analyse the impact of secure relationships on a child’s well-being.

Review of Home Work Task

Attachment theorists John Bowlby recognised the importance of the child’s first relationships and developed the theory of attachment. He identified four characteristics of attachment: proximity maintenance, safe haven, secure base and separation distress. Mary Ainsworth developed Bowlby’s theories further. She focused on the distress of the child and developed the ‘strange situation’ procedure to identify a child’s reactions to a parent after being left with a stranger. Harry Harlow experimented with monkeys and stated that they must form their attachments during the first year of life. James Robertson studied the psychological effects on children who were separated from their mothers – for example, through hospital stays. Reminder

The Role of the Key Person The theories of Bandura, Vygotsky and Erikson all recognise the importance of a significant other. Bandura focuses on the adult as a role model, Vygotsky identifies the more knowledgeable other (MKO) and Erikson recognises that the adult is important in providing confidence for the child to move through the stages. The importance of the adult role has implications for the practitioner in that they have to ensure that they always provide a good role model. Daily Mirror article on Daniel Bartlam: ‘Video nastiness: Kids as young as four act out violence they see in computer games, teachers reveal’ – an example of Bandura’s social learning theory in action

So....What Makes a Good Role Model ??????? Time: 15 mins What makes a good role model? Discuss the role of the key person – list all the roles and responsibilities.

The impact of secure relationships There are a number of cases of ‘feral’ children. These are children who have not had the opportunity to form attachments or develop the accepted social skills. The impact of secure relationships on a child’s emotional well-being can be evaluated by studying cases where children have lacked those initial early attachments. First relationships usually last for life and form the basis for their later life. Early attachments provide security and stability, which provide the child with the confidence to develop and explore the world. Useful resources: Secret life of the wild child part 1 – the story of Genie (8 mins) Genie Wiley TLC Documentary (2003) – (12 mins) Genie (Secret of the Wild Child) (55 mins) Ten cases of feral children

Activity Scenario: You have been a student in your setting for 12 months and you know all the children and have started to establish relationships with the families and carers for some of the children in your care. However, you are about to move to a new placement in a setting in the same town. In your role as a key person, how do you prepare the children for your departure? One little girl from your old setting sees you in town, taking some of your new children to the local shops to buy ingredients for a cooking activity. She is upset to see you with other children. How do you console her and explain this to her?

Research the case of Genie, the ‘wild child’. Make notes on how this case relates to the process of bonding and attachment and the child’s well-being. What can be learnt from this case about the importance of developing secure relationships? Reference her development to Bandura’s, Vygotsky’s and Erikson’s theories. If she had had a key person, might it have made a difference? Research Activity Consideration should be given to How the lack of a secure relationship affected Genie’s well-being. How other ‘feral’ children who had little chance of developing secure relationships.

Useful resources: Secret life of the wild child part 1 – the story of Genie (8 mins) Genie Wiley TLC Documentary (2003) (12 mins) Genie (Secret of the Wild Child) (55 mins) Ten cases of feral children Vygotsky’s theory of social development Social Development Theory (Vygotsky) Lev Vygotsky Diagram of the social development theory by Vygotsky Diagram of the Zone of Proximal Development Bandura – Social Learning Theory Youtube video: ‘Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment’ (4 mins) Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment Erikson’s psychosocial stages summary chart The developmental stages of Erik Erikson

Lets take the test

In this lesson we: Have learnt about the importance of attachment and developing secure relationships. Have identified how the role of the key person is highlighted in different frameworks. Have learnt about the importance of being a good role model and described what this entails. Have researched the case of Genie and how the lack of a key person impacted on her development. Learning Outcomes Reflective ideas could include What are the dangers of the key person becoming more important to the child than their own parent/carer? 2.What could the practitioner do to avoid this?