Feb 27, 2009

Evidence-Based and Emprically Supported Treatment: DDP

A recent article, Becker-Weidman, A., & Hughes, D., (2008) “Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy: An evidence-based treatment for children with complex trauma and disorders of attachment,” Child & Adolescent Social Work, 13, pp.329-337, described the evidence-based and empirically supported treatment, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. This article presents the empirical support for this treatment and the strong empirical support for the various elements of DDP. Anyone interested can contact me to get a PDF reprint.

Feb 9, 2009

New Research on Developmental Functioning

We have completed a study that is due to be published soon that shows that children with Reactive Attachment Disorder and Complex Trauma function at a much younger age than their chronological age. The study used the Vineland Adaptive Scales -II and found that the children in the study had a developmental age notably lower than their chronological age. In addition, we found that their receptive communication score was significantly lower than their expressive communication score, suggesting that at times the child's not "listening" may be caused by the child not understanding what the child was asked, rather than being non-compliance or defiance. There are a number of other important findings for this study, which is the first of it's kind to explore the developmental functioning of this group of children.

The article describes several important implications for clinical practice, parenting, child welfare practice, education, and further research.

I will post additional information about this study in later posts and as soon as the article is published, I will provide a link to it.