Attachment representations among school-age children with intellectual disability.
School-age kids with ID show high disorganized attachment tied to their adaptive-skill level, so fold attachment screens and daily-living targets into behavior plans.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Turgeon et al. (2021) compared attachment styles in school-age kids with intellectual disability to two groups of typically developing peers. One peer group matched the kids in calendar age. The other matched them in mental age. All children completed story-stem interviews that reveal attachment patterns.
The team also checked whether daily living skills predicted attachment security inside the ID group.
What they found
Children with ID showed more disorganized and fewer secure attachments than both comparison groups. The gap stayed the same whether researchers used same-age or mental-age peers as the benchmark.
Within the ID group, weaker adaptive living skills forecast higher disorganization. Down syndrome status made no difference; risk was tied to ID level, not diagnosis.
How this fits with other research
Michael et al. (2018) saw the opposite link in preschoolers: maternal sensitivity, not child IQ, predicted attachment. The new study flips the spotlight to the child’s own skill level once kids reach school age. Together the papers suggest parent behavior matters most early on, while child competence gains weight later.
John et al. (2012) found that the child’s emotional availability, not just the mother’s, mediated attachment. Stéphanie’s team now shows that concrete adaptive skills are the part of child functioning that matters. The story lines up: the child’s contribution evolves from emotional give-and-take to daily-life independence.
Kangas et al. (2011) reported typical attachment security in infant siblings of children with ASD. Stéphanie’s school-age ID sample, by contrast, shows clear risk. The contrast underlines that ID, not broad neurodevelopmental risk, drives disorganization at older ages.
Why it matters
Screen attachment when kids with ID enter school, even if they seem settled. Use brief story-stem tasks; they work at low verbal levels. Target adaptive-skills goals—dressing, toileting, following routines—in behavior plans. Boosting these skills may chip away at disorganization and open space for academic and social gains.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Research data documenting a high risk of insecure and disorganized attachment among children with intellectual disability (ID) in infancy and early childhood raises the question of mutual influences between ID and attachment in later childhood. AIMS: The objectives of the present study were to examine attachment among school-age children with ID and whether attachment varies according to level of intellectual functioning, adaptative functioning, and presence of a genetic syndrome (i.e. Down syndrome). METHODS: Attachment among 54 children with ID aged 8-12 years (30 with Down Syndrome, 24 with non-specific ID) was assessed using the Attachment Story Completion Task, and compared with that of 108 typically developing children, 54 of the same chronological age and 54 of the same mental age. OUTCOMES: Results show (1) less security among children with ID than among same-age controls (2) more disorganization among children with ID compared to the two control groups, (3) a link between attachment disorganization and level of adaptive functioning among children with ID and (4) no difference in attachment between children with DS and children with non-specific ID. CONCLUSIONS: Children with ID remain vulnerable to disorganization during late childhood. More research is needed to understand the factors underlying disorganized attachment representations.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104064