[akg1229]

Is there a possibility a child could only be mildly or moderatly RAD? What would that look like in a lil man late elementary early midle school age?
Again this would not be severe RAD just mild to moderate. This is not one of his dx or one they are currently looking into, but it's something I feel they may wanna dig around, or we may wanna dig around if we are chosen as this childs match.

[aspenhall]

My dd was this way. She thrived on affection from people who weren't close to her (teachers, aides) anybody she simply recognized. She simply never conceived of asking a grown up for help with anything important. If she asked for help, it was an attention ploy. If she was stung by a bee, she handled it herself and I heard about it hours or days later, or never at all!

She took matters into her own hands, she ignored authority figures instructions...very bad at following instructions. She had to do things her way every time. If you asked her to sit at the rug, she would be a horse and gallop over to the rug, then lay down. She would feign compliance, then wait till the adult wasn't watching and go back to doing whatever she was doing.

Everyone else was always to blame. She over-reacted. Boundaries didn't exist, anything was fair game...very impulsive. preferred to be alone rather than compromise and play someone elses game.

[Again!]

I can give you my defination of "mild" RAD...its RAD i can live with! My son was severe RAD...pet killing, fire setting, threatening sibs and self, in addition to the more common symptoms. My daughter, his sister, is mild, false reports of abuse, some sexual acting out, interest in porn, lying, stealing, no friends, no emotional bond at all, the usual sweet to strangers and so on. She is not violent. Its the violence that ultimately was impossible to live with. He has been in RTC for 2 1/2 years, with no end in sight. Very sad.

I think it is hard to diagnose RAD because it cycles and they all have good periods and honeymoons, and of course they show a different picture to strangers and therapists.

[Barksum]

Two of my kiddos had 'mild' attachment disorder. They were toddlers when they came to us, so I only know of the attachment stuff that they had at that age. Even as young toddlers it was all on their terms, which was kind of weird to see and difficult to explain to 'outsiders'.

The older one was two when he came to us and had been neglected and had multiple moves and caregivers. He avoided eye contact. He had to be in charge of what he was doing, so he was fairly defiant, had significant tantrums, and didn't want to snuggle or read books or spend much one-on-one time without having a hissy or making sure it was on his terms.

The littlest one came to us at a year old and had had several moves and multiple caregivers. She did things like not look at me when I gave her a bottle, refuse to do the things that she knew how to do, like ask for things using 'please'. She also didn't really tantrum, she just closed down, would go absolutely still and totally blank and refuse to comply. She also looked like a little doll. Blonde curly hair, blue eyes, porcelain skin - and no facial expression with the weird eyes.

It was like they were in their own bubble, that only butted up against other people's bubbles. They liked the surface tension that kept their bubble intact and from allowing anyone else to get in. It was pretty painful, both for them and for us as parents, to have to pop their bubbles (so to speak) and get in to the real little people they were inside.

[akg1229]

We are seeing a lot of over attachment towards my husband. He gets close to me and then its like he shuts me down again. I don't know how much to not say but I can say the mother figure usualy gets shut out for the father figure. But he only knew us for like 3 hours before hanging all over the husband. WHen he 'hugs' it's more like a pat on the back. I see a definite need for control also. He has no real honeymoon period according to everyone involved, and we did witness behaviors. But I don't know if it's RAD ( which it seems to kind of fit, but I don't like eye contact so that would be hard to call) or if it's behaviors due to IQ and prev Dx which I'm really not comfortable with sharing cause he isn't my child.

[Nevada Jen]

Low IQ would also cause a lot of the RAD symptoms. There is most definately a difference between the behaviors of a RAD kid and a low IQ kid but the written descriptions sound very similar. My low IQ kid could be described very similar to an attachment disordered kid. But she most definately does not have RAD (she is bio).