The Meaning of the Child in Sensory Attachment Intervention.

Sensory Attachment Intervention (SAI) is an integrative model exploring the impact of sensory processing difficulties, trauma, and attachment relationships on the co-regulation process. It is a systematic and relational intervention where children and parents learn the art of self-regulation and co-regulation. We describe how SAI conceptualises how parents and children perceive and react to sensory information, how co-regulation is influenced by this, and how reflection can develop. The Meaning of the Child Interview (MotC) is central to this, in its exploration of how the parent interprets their world and relationship, something commonly overlooked in Occupational Therapy (OT) practice, which looks primarily at the individual’s relationship with their environment. We describe how this information guides a four-stage process of intervention, and how the MotC informs each stage, indicating what the parent is truly ready for. This is illustrated through the case of Sophie and Jack, comparing two MotC’s, indicating considerable progress and greater regulation. The model challenges the OT world to attend to parental mentalisation and think more relationally, and the attachment world to return to the body and rely less on talking models of intervention with those who the attachment assessments themselves suggest cannot manage them.