Therapy for Children and Adolescents
- Both of our Psychologists, Dr Catherine de Vaus and Anne Penny, focus on working with children and adolescents up to the age of 25 years
- Our Provisional psychologists can take referrals for adults wanting therapy
- We provide a range of evidence based therapy approaches for all aspects of psychological health for children and adolescents.
- Children as young as 2-3 years can benefit from play therapy and we have a fully set up play therapy space.
- We provide support in building self-confidence, social skills and emotion regulation in Autistic children and teenagers
- We work with parents and families to assist children with behavioural difficulties.
- For children who prefer not to engage in ‘talk-based’ therapy, there are the options of, play therapy and art based therapy.
- The therapy for each child is different and is tailored to their own unique personality, needs, how they respond, and what approach they enjoy. We frequently review progress to ensure that gains are being made and therapy is effective for your child.
- We provide a range of small group therapy programs for children to develop their social skills and anxiety management.
Therapy for Adults
- Catherine and Anne see young adults up to the age of 25 years. Our Provisional Psychologists provide therapy to adults for a range of issues including anxiety (including OCD and phobias), depression, stress and burnout.
Our Psychologist's are experienced in assessing children and adolescents for a range of developmental and learning concerns including:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (with a special interest in assessing girls with suspected Autism)
- Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder
- Learning Difficulties including Dyslexia
- Cognitive assessments (often referred to as IQ tests)
- Giftedness
- Intellectual Disability
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be complex and difficult to diagnose. Parents are often the first people to notice that 'something isn't right' in their child's development. The main feature of Autism is significant difficulty with social/emotional relationships. Often children with ASD will show poor eye contact, won't use as many gestures in their communication, tend to prefer to be alone, are poor at 'social chat' and prefer to tell you about facts, can come across as controlling with others, and show unusual levels of preoccupation with their own topic of interest. Children with ASD will often have sensory sensitivities and may become distressed in response to certain noises or not be able to tolerate certain tastes or texture.
Autism assessments with us usually includes:
- 2 hour ADOS testing session with your child (your child only needs to be with us for approximately 60 minutes of this, the other time is spent scoring and revising the information)
gathering information regarding your child's behaviours and history.
- Gathering information from other professionals involved with your child and from their school when applicable. If needed, we may observe your child at school (unobtrusively) or in another setting where they interact with other children.
- A report will be completed and sent to parents and a feedback session will be arranged.
Autism in girls: Over the last few years there has been growing awareness that girls with Autism present differently to boys, although the reasons for this are not yet clear. Girls with autism usually have more socially acceptable special interests, such as art, music, fashion, reading or celebrities. This can be more subtle to diagnose compared to diagnosing boys who May have more ‘obviously different’ special interests such as washing machines or vacuum cleaners.
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Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder/ADHD
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has become a controversial topic over recent specialised tools can clarify if your child is experiencing 'genuine' ADHD, or if something else is causing their behaviour. Children with ADHD find sustaining concentration almost physically painful. They simply cannot do it and find it exhausting, much like we would find running a marathon extremely difficult and exhausting. They often 'switch off' simply to recover. The good news is that children with ADHD can learn well and go on to have happy, productive lives. However they do require understanding and structured support both at school and at home.
What do assessments involve?
- 1 hour initial session with parents
- approximately 3 hours assessment time with the child (in 1-2 hour sessions).
- There will also be questionnaires for parents and teachers to complete
- Once the assessment is complete a report will be sent out to parents and a feedback session arranged.
Learning Difficulties
Learning relies on a complex set of processes. If any of these are not working as they should, children can struggle to learn. The most common learning difficulties involve reading delays and problems with working memory.
We can complete assessments for range of learning difficulties and our reports provide comprehensive intervention and support plans for help children -regress in their learning.
What do assessments involve?
- Four hours of assessment with the child in two x two-hour sessions
- Questionnaires for parents and teachers to complete
- Within a few weeks of completing the assessment a comprehensive report is sent out and feedback session arranged.