[header] How to diagnose reactive attachment disorder [title] Determine if the child was severely neglected. [step] Before making a diagnosis of rad, assess the child's history of neglect. Most children with rad have an extensive history of neglect, having mothers and fathers who abandoned them, did not care for them, or left them to fend for themselves at an impossibly young age. 
Find out if this child has faced these circumstances. [title] Determine if the child has had many changes in caregivers.