Assessment Services
We offer initial assessment for social-emotional difficulties and ADHD, and will consult on school issues. Keep reading for more information about our assessment services, or click on the links for info about specific types of assessments.
Parent Consultation
Whether it is potty training, sleeping through the night, separation anxiety or transitional adjustments, we can help to clarify a suitable plan, provide support and guidance.
Our practice offers consultation whereby parents present their concerns regarding managing their child or teen. We track parent-child scenarios and examine what is triggering excessive frustration, noncompliance and defiance in your child. We work with you, in collaboration, until the challenge is resolved. Concerns may involve decision making about appropriate treatment interventions or school placements.
For parenting work, in conjunction with child therapy, our psychologists will offer regular parent meetings to offer feedback and suggestions for how to increase compliance and cooperation in your child or teen. We also look at the entire family system in order to collaborate with you on changes that might lead to less stress and a better sense of balance and connection.
Parent Consultation may occur individually, weekly, bimonthly or as needed. We also offer a Mothers Group titled “Parenting with Confidence” for a small group of moms who are coping with particularly challenging temperaments. In the group moms receive support as well as skill building in an ongoing group setting.
Advocacy
We can serve as an advocate for parents who need help prioritizing recommendations in psycho-educational testing reports. We provide clarification how to put recommendations into action. We can also be available to communicate with school counselors to clarify needs or to voice recommendations for individual education planning.
When it comes to children or teenagers who are acting out and unable to make safe decisions, we will help you determine appropriate placement, including therapeutic residential schools, either public or private.
Child Behavioral Assessment
We offer standardized behavioral assessments to assess attention deficits, mood disorders and social anxieties. This is a packet of varied self-report questionnaires completed by parent, teacher and child. These standardized forms are scored by computer and our psychologist will go over the outcome data with parents as well as teachers to determine intervention for improvement as well as needs for further assessment.
A Child Behavioral Assessment [CBA] package, for ages two and up, may include parent and teacher interviews, a classroom or in-office observation, parent/teacher standardized behavioral questionnaires, and written report with recommendations for intervention.
A CBA facilitates treatment planning and intervention, which in turn facilitates growth and maturation. Assessment materials may include:
- Developmental History
- Sensory Motor Inventory
- Behavioral Assessment Scale for Children (BASC)
- Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBC)
- Early Childhood Inventory (EDI)
- Childhood Depression Inventory (CDI)
Classroom or Home Assessment
Our psychologists conduct home or classroom observations in accordance to requests from parents or teachers. We offer a summary of observations along with suggestions for the child being observed.
A classroom or home observation may be part of an Initial Intake process for determining treatment planning, or it may be part of a Child Behavioral Assessment. We may also do an observation during the course of family therapy, to better understand family dynamics and environmental factors that may need to be adjusted.