Joyce Robertson was a British psychiatric social worker, child behavioural researcher, childcare pioneer and pacifist, who was most notable for changing attitudes to the societally acceptable, institutionalised care and hospitalisation of young children, that was prevalent.
25 Facts About Joyce Robertson
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Joyce Robertson was later joined by her husband James Robertson.
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Later in her career, Joyce Robertson worked with her husband to produce a series of celebrated documentary films that highlighted the reaction of small children who were separated from their parents.
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Joyce Robertson came from a large working-class family in London.
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Joyce Robertson left Grammar school in 1933 when she was 14 and enrolled for evening classes at the Workers' Educational Association.
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In 1939, Joyce met her future husband James Robertson in Birmingham while he was studying the humanities at the Fircroft College of Adult Education and she was studying at the Hillcroft College for working women.
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In January 1941, while she was a student, Joyce Robertson went to work with Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham in Hampstead to look after infants.
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Over months, Joyce Robertson formed a strong attachment to the boy and would take him on walks.
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Joyce Robertson remembered kneeling on the floor with Freud while they reviewed the observation notes that would form the basis of a publication by Joyce Robertson and her husband entitled "Reactions of small children to short-term separation of the mother, in light of new observations".
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Joyce Robertson took time off for the birth of her first daughter in 1944.
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Joyce Robertson was devastated to discover she was not able to visit her child, although she knew that the baby needed her.
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Joyce Robertson understood that the parents would need help in understanding their infant's new development stage, once they moved out of the clinic.
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In 1948, her husband James Joyce Robertson joined the Tavistock Clinic to make observations of the behaviour of small children.
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Joyce Robertson had been in hospital for eight days, admitted for a hernia operation.
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When her husband and Bowlby showed her the film, it was Joyce Robertson who made the critical breakthrough in realising why Laura was not crying, being a desperate attempt by the tiny girl to control her feelings.
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Joyce Robertson kept a diary of the event, which resulted in a paper entitled A Mother's Observations on the Tonsillectomy of Her Four-Year-Old Daughter.
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Joyce Robertson began the diary six weeks before the visit to the hospital with daily entries that continued until three weeks after the operation, with addenda in the 11th and 20th weeks.
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In summarising the paper, Joyce Robertson concluded that her presence and responsiveness to questions enabled Jean to cope with the fear of hospitalisation.
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The kinds words and presence of her mother enabled Jean to retain trust in Joyce Robertson and enabled her to go home happy.
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James and Joyce Robertson decided to try to determine the influence of variables on the behaviour of healthy young children during a ten-day separation from the mother.
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Joyce Robertson found out everything she could about the children, what their diets were, what their daily routines were and what they liked and disliked.
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Jane became extraordinary attached to Joyce Robertson and remained in the state even when she went home where she had to share her mother with a new baby.
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Joyce Robertson believed that Jane's experience was largely positive, even learning new words.
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When talking about Lucy, Joyce Robertson stated that Lucy signalled that she visit the family, which she did several times.
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Joyce Robertson was so struck by the film that he ordered that all key people in his department watch the film.