We see children for help with fears and anxieties,
behavioural problems and learning difficulties.
It is delightful to work with children. They learn
and express themselves mostly through play, and so play
and activities are the medium through which we work.
Children who come to see us will draw, do puzzles,
play card and board games, and maybe even cook. In the process we will be getting to know them and
helping them to sort out their thoughts in a way that will
be therapeutically useful.
If we need to do an
assessment, we will only do it after having established
rapport (a comfortable feeling) between ourselves and our
young clients. We
usually call the tests "puzzles and quizzes", as we
don’t want the children to be put off by any
preconceived anxieties about testing. Most children enjoy our testing – especially the
one-to-one attention they get! They also like to know that people cannot
"pass" or "fail" our tests!
We aim to do a thorough assessment of your child. Often we ask the parents, other care-givers and
teachers to fill in a checklist which enables us to
understand how the child behaves in each major part of
his/her life. We
know that some children are “street angels and house
devils’ (or vice versa). By looking at how they change or
remain the same much valuable information can be gathered.
At the conclusion of our assessment you will be
informed of our findings and conclusions, and a written report
will be provided giving the results of the formal
assessment. We
are happy to liaise with your child’s school to
facilitate any changes or support that will maximise
his/her opportunities there.
At this time we will also
recommend ongoing support or counselling as appropriate,
and work with you to plan a strategy to help you help your
child.
Many parents ask us what to say about why they are
bringing their child to us. We recommend you say something like "I am a bit
worried that you are not as happy as I would you like you
to be. I have
decided to take you to see someone who especially likes to
work with children to help them be as happier, and to sort
out some of the things they are worrying about."
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