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Published on 12/15/1999 All articles from this issue

Los Altos RAD support group sheds light on destructive, manipulative disorder of RAD

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By Leslie K. Martin / Town Crier Staff Writer

Two years after they adopted him, John's parents made an anguished decision to place him in a special-needs foster home because they didn't have the knowledge to cope with his disorder. His parents think that if they had found the Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) support group in Los Altos sooner, John might still be living with them.

The support group, which meets at the Union Presbyterian Church of Los Altos, was started by parents of RAD children and two therapists who volunteer their time. One volunteer, psychotherapist Zvia Silberman, said that because RAD is a newly defined disorder many physicians don't yet know about it, and RAD children often go undiagnosed, or are misdiagnosed and wrongly treated with medication.

Silberman said, "They need a lot of support, education, resources. They share books, cases, seminars, videos."

A child afflicted by RAD suffers from a development impairment and is emotionally crippled by the inability to bond with, or attach to, others. According to the Web site of The Attachment Center at Evergreen in Colorado, RAD symptoms include a superficial charm with an underlying inability to develop a conscience or to trust others; the need to manipulate control of situations and people; and oftentimes destructive, cruel and argumentative behavior.

The RAD support group is sponsored by Help One Child. JoAnne and Mark Morris started Help One Child, a Los Altos ministry to find foster homes that match the specific needs of each child they place.

RAD symptoms are typically seen in young children between 2 and 4 years old. According to a brochure written by a support group member, babies are vulnerable to the disorder when they are neglected or sometimes in circumstances where the mother is suffering from postpartum depression or drug or alcohol abuse.

Because RAD children quickly learn to manipulate and charm others, the mother is often the only person who bears the full brunt of RAD behavior. A Los Altos foster mother who helped start the support group said, "I was feeling crazy. Other family members didn't see the same behavior my son showed me. My husband thought this was the greatest kid in the world. But my son would hit me and tell me to 'shut up.'" With help from the support group and a therapist, the mother has seen rapid behavioral changes in her son. She said, "If you catch (the symptoms of RAD) as fast as possible, the prognosis is very good."

For more information on RAD, or to join the RAD support group, call Help One Child at 917-1210.