Promoting Attachment With a Wiggle, Giggle, Hug and Tickle ― A Programme for Babies, Young Children and Carers

Practical and easy to use, this resource is for practitioners working in early years settings to help children aged 0-2 to develop secure and positive attachments with their parent or carer.Designed to be flexible for one-to-one or group work, the resource features fun and engaging activities involving singing, movement and sensory activities in a structured but playful environment. It explains the significance of positive attachments in a child's early years, and equips practitioners with skills and techniques to help encourage bonding. It will be of particular interest to those working with parents needing additional support such as vulnerable and adoptive or foster families. The resource is accompanied by online materials - songs to sing along with, and film clips of signing to help parents and carers improve communication. This programme will help parents to become more attuned to the needs of their child, and aid the child's emotional, social and cognitive development. With additional guidance on how to run the programme as a group, this resource will be easy to use for any health, education or childcare practitioner in specialist and mainstream settings.

Fiona Brownlee was Senior Peripatetic Paediatric Occupational Therapist in the Children and Families Department in Edinburgh, supporting children and staff in the city's early years centres. She is retired after 40 years' working as a therapist.Lindsay Norris currently works as a Specialist Occupational Therapy Adviser, providing support to a team of Paediatric Occupational Therapists and Community Care Assistants. Previously, she has worked as a paediatric occupational therapist, a community occupational therapist and a senior practitioner occupational therapist.