Attachment Assessment
IRIS offers attachment assessments as a discrete piece of work. We also assess attachment at an early stage as an integral part of our CCAIP.
Modern attachment theory (Crittenden 2001) provides the potential for interventions with individuals and within family work and is an essential area of risk assessment and intervention work.
Assessments offered are dependent on the developmental stage of children and adults involved in our programmes and typically involves use of the following tools which are used in a transparent and collaborative way with family members.
- Interpretive analysis of parent /infant interaction (birth -15 months ) Filmed interaction can be used with parent /child dyads to develop parental awareness of sensitivity, control and responsiveness, for example.
- Infant Strange Situation (11-15 months) Ainsworth's classic assessment adapted by the DMM is more specific about the nature or risk than the original model and is therefore more able to suggest appropriate intervention to ensure a child's safety.
- Story Stem Assessment (school age children) A series of structured narrative stems that present children with a range of family scenarios as the beginnings of a story that the children are invited to complete. Narratives are then coded in terms of them indicating security, avoidance, disorganisation etc.
- Transition to adulthood attachment interview (16-18 years, Crittenden 2006) Adapted from the AAI, the questions are modified to suit individuals in the process of leaving their childhood home and establishing an adult relationship and future family.
- Adult Attachment Interview This semi-structured interview originally developed by Main and her colleagues (Main and Goldwyne 1984-94) provokes a discourse of attachment related memories. The DMM adaptation used by Iris assessors addresses clinical concerns more fully and is more able to suggest helpful intervention.