In the mind of the CWAD

Remember - CWAD is short for child with attachment disorder. As a therapist I often get involved in some mental gymnastics with my CWAD clients. They are OFTEN very intelligent and yet are very rigid in their thinking. The point of challenging them mentally is to help them see the illogical, irrational thinking they engage in. I certainly don't expect results from this challenging, but I have seen some results. With these children, they often need frequent repetition to re-train their brain. My parent clients are always very frustrated at how these children do not get the message even though they may have heard something 1000 times or more while other children only need instruction a few times.
CWAD often enjoy manipulating people and triangulating and these issues often come up in therapy. One of the things I am best at is not being manipulated and this tends to make my child clients very angry. I tend to be pleased when children do not like me as a therapist, because that indicates that they know I know their tactics and the damage they are doing in the family. They also know they cannot come into my office and expect traditional therapy where they are listened to for their "sad" story, and getting off the hook for their bad behavior. That is not the case with a good RAD therapist. However, when my clients have moments of genuineness, the approach is very different.
Check out theattachmentgroup.org and parentingfamilysupport.com.