Neurodevelopmental disorders of children as the challenging context of caregiving and attachment development: an example of children with FAS/FASD

Abstract

The mutual mother – infant interaction activates simultaneously two systems: attachment system and caregiving system. It guarantees survival to a newborn and contributes to its optimal development – social, emotional and cognitive. According to the theory of John Bowlby (1969, 2007) a child has natural innate mechanisms such as crying, clinging, sucking, smiling, calling, and following. These mechanisms activates the caregiving system in the mother. In this theoretical paper, we aim to present how the neurodevelopmental disorder having its roots in brain damage can modify the original attachment behavior by causing difficulties in attuning to the caregiver and interfering with caregiving system activation. The authors’ clinical experience shows that FAS/FASD often correlates with attachment disorder. FAS can be both the cause of difficulties and reinforcement of the environmental factors which impair attachment. In a clinical picture FAS and attachment disorder influence each other, resulting in behavioural and emotional disorder.