Detached Kids in School Today, more and more students are detached from school and a desire to learn.  It is wrong to assume that all of these students are merely apathetic, unmotivated or lazy.  Some may have attachment issues that can result from different levels of early childhood neglect, abuse and/or trauma.  Detached students present with varying degrees of past home disruption, placements in foster care, adoptive homes, residential placements, or emergency shelters.  Not all of these children will need psychotherapy or psychiatirc treatment, however, many will need supportive school interventions or therapeutic approaches from professionals.  Sadly, they are at risk of not receiving those necessary approaches, understanding and support. The school setting can be an important and vital place to assist in the stabilization of detached students and their families. The WJSD model approaches the student needs at school from the position of an attachment-aware and sensitive school professional.  There may be a variety of needs for a given student, however, inclusion of parent input and coordination among all staff working with the student is essential for success. The types of detached students discussed in Dr. Ottavi's book exhibit school adjustment difficulties stemming from problems with development of basic coping skills due to disruptions in caregiving and lack of a stable environment.  In the school setting, students with attachment issues present some common types of detachment as compared to typical students.   Five major detachments for students include: 1.  Detachment from themselves 2.  Detachment from role of a student 3.  Detachment from support systems in the school setting 4.  Detachment from a basic effort 5.  Detachment from a sense of success These are key components that affect students with loss, disrupted attachment or maltreatment in their past. These five areas provide common and challenging disconnections from school for students with attachment issues. Additionally, students with attachment issues often have variable emotional, learning, compliance, aggression, social and relationship functioning at school.  Students and families face a broad range of learning, attention, mood, medication, family, placement and permanency issues.  These students tend to have intermittent times of high level instability different from a student with typical Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Oppositional Defiant Disorder.  Detached students have problems that are more pervasive and intense due to past loss, disappointment, rejection, sadness or fear. There are many different professional views on diagnosing and treating attachment problems or Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD).  As some state committees on evidence-based practive believe, RAD was not well enough studied or defined.  They choose not to match specific practice interventions to RAD but rather the different disorders that are related to it (ODD, ADHD, PDD).  Given this limted and unclear definition, there has been less outcome research and less control-group research to establish the effectiveness of interventions. Children with attachment issues at school have been even less studied with intervention research.  The primary relationship of focus is the child and parent/caregiver.  Dr. Ottavi, in his book Why is Johnny So Detached?, looked to draw from The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC).  The APSAC recently published the Report of the Taskforce on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder, and Attachment Problems in the February 2006 edition of Child Maltreatment.  Dr. Ottavi offers ideas about professional approaches to intervention that incorporate some of the limited research available.  He also offers recommendations for assessment, treatment and interventions.