Attachment disorder and SEN support
Helping families secure the right educational support for children with attachment difficulties and disorders.
The right support can help a child feel understood, supported and able to engage with education.
If your child has been identified with attachment disorder, understanding your legal rights and the support available is one of the most important steps you can take. At Boyes Turner, our specialist SEN solicitors have extensive experience working alongside families to secure the right provision for children with complex emotional and relational needs.
This page explains what attachment disorder is, how it can affect your child at school, and how we can help you pursue an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or challenge decisions made by your local authority.
- Trusted and nationally recognised special educational needs specialists with decades of experience.
- Clear, practical support at every stage, helping families navigate complex SEN processes.
- Extensive experience across all SEN appeals, including EHCPs, school placements, and SEND Tribunal proceedings.
- Transparent and flexible fee structures, including capped fee options where appropriate.
Why might a child with attachment disorder need an EHCP?
Attachment disorder can result in special educational needs. In our experience, SEN additional support may be adequate in milder cases; however, an EHCP will be necessary at the more severe end of the spectrum. Careful assessment of the impact of the disorder is required to establish the necessary level of support, and specialist SEN advice should always be sought.
An EHCP provides a legally binding framework for specialist provision, ensuring support is properly resourced, monitored and maintained. It can secure access to therapeutic support, a specialist school placement, a dedicated key adult and carefully planned transitions, all of which can make a significant difference to a child’s progress and wellbeing.
EHCP support and benefits for children with Angelman syndrome
A well-drafted EHCP can unlock a wide range of legally binding provision, including placement in a specialist school, access to evidence-based therapies, a dedicated keyworker, a structured and flexible timetable, access to a safe space within school, and supported transitions at key points in a child’s education.
Attachment disorder FAQs
What is attachment disorder?
Children develop relationships with their parents or caregivers first. This relationship teaches them to trust other people, how to express emotions, and how to develop healthy bonds with others. When this early bond is disrupted or fails to form, a child may develop attachment disorder.
Attachment disorder develops when very young children fail to bond with their parents or caregivers. It is not necessarily indicative of either neglect or abuse. However, if a child is neglected or abused, they are more likely to develop reactive attachment disorder, which sits at the most severe end of the spectrum.
As with many conditions, attachment disorder is a spectrum, meaning that some children are more severely affected than others. Attachment disorder can lead to depression, learning difficulties, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties and social difficulties. Treatment tends to involve counselling, therapies and occasionally medication.
There are two clinically recognised forms:
- Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD): The child rarely seeks comfort from caregivers and shows limited positive emotional response. They may appear withdrawn and have difficulty engaging with others.
- Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED): The child seeks attention and affection from unfamiliar adults indiscriminately and without appropriate wariness. They may appear overly familiar with strangers.
How does attachment disorder affect a child's behaviour?
Attachment disorder can have an extensive impact on a child’s ability to engage with education or even attend school. Because the difficulties are rooted in trust and relationships, they often manifest most acutely in the classroom.
Common signs in a school setting may include difficulty trusting adults, resistance to authority, emotional dysregulation, low self-esteem, difficulty forming peer relationships, poor concentration, avoidance of learning tasks and school refusal.
These behaviours are often misunderstood as deliberate. In reality, they are typically rooted in the child’s learned responses to an unsafe or unpredictable early environment.
What other needs can occur alongside attachment disorder?
Attachment disorder rarely presents in isolation. Many children will have one or more overlapping needs, which can include ADHD, autism (ASD), post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, sensory processing difficulties, learning disabilities and Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
When a child has multiple overlapping needs, a holistic assessment is essential to ensure any EHCP accurately captures all of those needs and provides for each of them adequately.
What are common local authority issues for children with attachment disorder?
Families often find that their local authority does not always respond appropriately. The most common concerns we see include misidentifying the child’s needs as purely behavioural; refusing to carry out an EHC needs assessment; issuing an EHCP that fails to specify the right level of provision; failing to name an appropriate specialist school; and failing to update the EHCP at annual review.
What happens if my child with attachment disorder doesn't have an EHCP?
Without an EHCP, a child with attachment disorder relies entirely on the school’s willingness and capacity to put support in place. This support is not legally binding and can be reduced or withdrawn at any time.
Without a plan, support may be inconsistent, school placement may break down, and there is no legal mechanism to hold the local authority or school to account. If your child is struggling and existing support is not working, pursuing an EHCP assessment is often the most important step a family can take.
How to apply for an EHCP for a child with attachment disorder
Any parent or carer can request that their local authority carries out an EHC needs assessment. You do not need the school’s agreement to do so.
You begin by submitting a written request to your local authority’s SEND department, setting out your child’s needs and the support already tried. The local authority must decide within six weeks whether to carry out the assessment. If it proceeds, they must then decide whether to issue an EHCP within a further ten weeks.
Gathering strong supporting evidence, including reports from CAMHS, educational psychologists and the school, significantly improves the prospects of a successful outcome.
What can I do if I'm unhappy with my child's EHCP or the LA's decision regarding the EHCP?
If your local authority refuses to assess, refuses to issue a plan, or the plan does not meet your child’s needs, you have the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), known as the SEND Tribunal.
Before lodging an appeal, you must request mediation information from the local authority, though mediation itself is optional. Appeals must be lodged within two months of the local authority’s decision, or one month from the date of the mediation certificate.
How can solicitors help families and children with attachment disorder?
Specialist SEN solicitors can provide legal support at every stage of the EHCP process. This includes advising on the strength of your case, drafting correspondence, securing independent expert evidence, reviewing and challenging EHCPs, assisting with school placement, and representing families at the SEND Tribunal.
Why use our special educational needs solicitors?
- Specialist experience in SEN law: Our solicitors have extensive experience advising families on the full range of special educational needs legal processes. Our expertise ensures you receive clear, accurate advice grounded in a detailed understanding of the law and how local authorities apply it in practice.
- Focused, practical solutions: We take the time to understand your child’s individual needs and circumstances. Our advice is tailored to help you secure the right support, whether that means strengthening an EHCP, challenging inadequate provision, or appealing a local authority decision.
- Supportive and collaborative approach: The SEN process can be overwhelming. We work closely with families, schools, professionals and other advisers to ensure all evidence and communication is aligned and coherent. This collaborative approach helps streamline the process and strengthens your case.
- A leading full-service law firm: Boyes Turner is recognised by Chambers UK and The Legal 500 as a leading law firm. As a full-service firm, our specialist teams can support you with related legal needs where required, including Court of Protection, community care, medical negligence and private wealth, ensuring a cohesive and coordinated approach to your care.
Contact us
If you would like advice about a related matter, please complete the form and one of our SEN specialists will be in touch as soon as possible.
Please note we do not offer legal aid. Read about our fees.
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