Neglect

This topic of neglect is divided into the following chapters (click on a chapter for additional information):

Neglect is often misunderstood as simply the absence of care. In reality, it is a developmental injury in which the experiences children need to build healthy brains, relationships, skills, and identities are missing, inconsistent, or unreliable. Unlike many forms of abuse, the effects of neglect often emerge gradually, influencing nearly every area of development over time. Understanding neglect therefore requires looking beyond individual behaviors and considering how chronic deprivation shapes the whole child.

These lessons approach neglect through a developmental lens. Rather than focusing only on what has happened to a child, it explores how the absence of responsive caregiving influences the processes that allow children to think, learn, communicate, regulate emotions, build relationships, care for themselves, and maintain physical and mental health. By understanding how development is altered, caregivers can begin to recognize not only what children do, but why they do it.

The chapters in this section examine the broad developmental impact of neglect. Brain Development explores how early experiences shape the developing brain through neuroplasticity, sensitive periods, chronic stress, and bottom-up development. Thinking and Learning examines executive functioning, reasoning, learning, decision-making, and future-oriented thinking. Communication and Language focuses on receptive language, expressive language, and meaningful communication. Emotional and Social Development addresses attachment, emotional regulation, reflective functioning, sense of agency, self-concept, and the social skills that emerge through responsive relationships.

Play and Sensory Development explores the role of play in healthy development alongside the sensory systems that help children understand and regulate their experiences. Daily Living and Independence examines adaptive functioning and behavioral regulation, while Health and Well-Being considers the lasting effects of neglect on physical and mental health, including sleep, growth, stress physiology, emotional functioning, and psychological well-being.

Together, these chapters present neglect not as a collection of isolated symptoms but as a developmental disruption that influences nearly every aspect of a child's growth. More importantly, they demonstrate that healing begins by providing the developmental experiences that were once absent.

You may notice that this curriculum begins with Neglect, before moving into Attachment and Trauma. This order is intentional. While attachment and trauma are often the starting points for understanding children's emotional and behavioral challenges, neglect provides the developmental foundation for interpreting both. Without first understanding how chronic deprivation affects development, it is difficult to fully appreciate why attachment difficulties and trauma responses emerge in the ways they do.

A developmental understanding of neglect is also essential for attunement. Children who have experienced neglect often express their needs in indirect, inconsistent, or unexpected ways. Some appear unusually independent, while others seem controlling, emotionally distant, or chronically dysregulated. Behaviors that may appear oppositional, manipulative, or unmotivated are frequently adaptive responses to developmental experiences in which important needs went unmet. When viewed only as behavior problems, these responses can be misunderstood. When viewed through a developmental lens, they become meaningful expressions of unmet needs that invite curiosity, connection, and support.

For that reason, this curriculum begins with the developmental effects of neglect. The knowledge gained in these lessons provides a framework that you will carry into the Attachment and Trauma sections. As you continue through the training, you will be better equipped to recognize the developmental reasons behind your child's behavior, deepen your capacity for attunement, and respond in ways that promote safety, connection, resilience, and healthy development.

Each of the three areas—Neglect, Attachment, and Trauma—is designed to build upon the others. The Attachment and Trauma sections each contain ten brief lessons with companion videos. The Neglect section is organized into several chapters, with each chapter containing a different number of lessons based on the developmental areas being explored. Together, these sections provide a more complete understanding of how early caregiving experiences shape development and how caregivers can become powerful agents of healing.

References

The educational material in this section is informed by research on childhood neglect, psychosocial deprivation, child development, developmental psychopathology, brain development, attachment, and the effects of early caregiving experiences. The following sources provide research and scholarly support for the concepts presented throughout this section.

Fox, N. A., Nelson, C. A., III, & Zeanah, C. H. (2017). The effects of psychosocial deprivation on attachment: Lessons from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 45(4), 441–450. https://doi.org/10.1521/pdps.2017.45.4.441

McLaughlin, K. A., Sheridan, M. A., & Lambert, H. K. (2014). Childhood adversity and neural development: Deprivation and threat as distinct dimensions of early experience. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 47, 578–591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.012

Nelson, C. A., III, Fox, N. A., & Zeanah, C. H. (2014). Romania's abandoned children: Deprivation, brain development, and the struggle for recovery. Harvard University Press.

Sheridan, M. A., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2014). Dimensions of early experience and neural development: Deprivation and threat. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(11), 580–585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2014.09.001

Wade, M., Zeanah, C. H., Fox, N. A., & Nelson, C. A. (2022). The Bucharest Early Intervention Project: Adolescent mental health and adaptation following early deprivation. Child Development Perspectives, 16(3), 157–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12462

Zeanah, C. H., Fox, N. A., & Nelson, C. A. (2023). A comprehensive multi-level analysis of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project: Causal effects on recovery from early severe deprivation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 180(10), 749–758.

Additional Resources

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Serve and Return: Back-and-Forth Exchanges. Responsive relationships and repeated interactions with caregivers provide important developmental experiences for the developing brain.