Services

Neuropsychological Evaluations

My mission is to help children reach their full potential through a) conducting a comprehensive evaluation, and b) communicating information about cognitive, academic, and emotional functioning to parents, educators and children in a way that is clear and empowering.  A comprehensive and understandable neuropsychological evaluation is often the first step in devising remediation strategies that will help a child capitalize on his or her strengths, compensate for weaknesses, and maintain a positive attitude towards learning.  I enjoy working with all ages, preschool through college. I particularly enjoy the opportunity to work with younger children because early detection and intervention of learning, developmental, and emotional disorders is often the key to preventing future problems, and helping children enjoy personal and academic success.

A Neuropsychological Evaluation involves a wide variety of tasks, some completed on computers, some with manipulatives, and others with paper/pencil. There are no invasive procedures and testing time varies, roughly 6-7 hours over the course of multiple days.

For each hour testing, another approximately 1.5 – 2 hours is required for scoring and interpreting the data and preparing a report. People of all ages complete neuropsychological evaluations and gain information on many areas of functioning such as:

~ Overall intelligence – Attention and memory – Problem solving skills – Planning and organization – Language processing – Academic skills – Perceptual/motor abilities – Executive functioning – Psychological well-being – Relationship functioning~

Approximately 2-4 weeks after testing is complete we will meet to discuss the results and recommendations and you will be given a comprehensive written report.

Please refer to this APA  Div 40 brochure for a thorough description of a neuropsychological evaluation and what to expect: http://www.div40.org/pdf/PedNeuropscyhBroch3.pdf. 

 

Mindfulness-Based Child Therapy

My individual mindfulness-based therapy or therapeutic coaching sessions help children deal with emotional and cognitive obstacles (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms, sleep and energy issues, attentional and executive functioning deficits) that prevent optimal school functioning and quality of life.  For older children/adolescents, mindfulness and yoga techniques are taught and tailored to the specific presenting challenges.  For younger children, I integrate therapeutic yoga and mindfulness techniques, creative play, and storytelling. One technique of my approach is to work with the children to create age appropriate stories for challenges they are experiencing, or for positive traits they would benefit from adopting. I then design a related series of yoga pose/sequences, along with relaxation, breath work and mindful meditations. The goal of this therapy is to help the children and adolescents accept their feelings/situation, learn positive coping strategies and emotional states, and master their response to ‘problems’ that arise in their daily life.  I also teach children specific yoga techniques to help increase their focus and impulse control, integrate their feelings, thoughts and actions, reduce tension, and balance their nervous system. My goal is to help the children I work with confidently internalize the techniques, so they can use them in their everyday life, ‘becoming their own therapist.’