The Preschool Assessment of Attachment (PAA)- online training – May to July 2026

Overview

This course is in the lifespan series of assessments of attachment developed by Patricia M. Crittenden, PhD. the PAA course teaches children’s self-protective strategies with specific caregivers. It uses the classic Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) upon which all assessments of attachment are based. By applying the SSP to 2-5 year old children with the Preschool Assessment of Attachment (PAA) reveals important advances in children’s self-protective behaviour. This is particularly relevant for endangered children or those with behavioural problems. The PAA marks the beginning of DMM theory and assessment as an expansion of Ainsworth’s work with infants.

Benefits to clinicians of taking the PAA course:

• Provide clarity regarding children’s adaptation and parents’ contribution
• Create compassion for both children and their parents
• Suggest effective therapist-parent strategies to use in treatment
• Jumpstart the treatment or restart a stalled treatment
• Enable therapists to find the parents’ ZPD regarding their child
• Enable therapists to guide parents to discover children’s perspectives and self-protective strategies
• Permit reliable coders to classify the protective strategies used by children

Note: coding reliability and earning a coding certificate usually requires more effort than this 12 day course.

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