• Emotional intensity, difficulty self-calming and being soothed
• Difficulties sustaining attention, hyperactivity and/or impulsive behaviors
• Excessive fears, worries, or challenges with new people and situations
• Behavioral or learning challenges at school or child care
• Overly aggressive behaviors
• Intense and/or persistent fears
• Sleep difficulties
• Trauma, loss and grief
• Low self-esteem
• Peer and sibling relationships, including bullying or being bullied
• Adjustment to prepubescent and pubescent physical and emotional changes
• Poor response to typical discipline strategies
• Stress associated with daily life, divorce, loss, or trauma
• Parent/ child relationship challenges

Family/life stress associated with:

• Single parenthood
• Divorce
• Loss and grief
• Meeting and balancing the demands of daily life
• Developing unified or collaborative parenting strategies
• Building secure parent-child relationships and strong families
• Finding an effective balance betweennurturing and limit-setting
• Fostering children’s strengths, independence, and success

• Meeting with parents to discuss their concerns
• Meeting with the child
• Meeting with the family
• Phone consultations with other care-giving professionals who are working with or who have worked with the child
• Use of questionnaires to collect data about the severity ofspecific challenges
• Classroom observations and consultations with teachers and child-care providers
• Parental feedback session and collaborative treatment planning

Therapy sessions with child; child and parents; or whole family Parental guidance sessions to teach parents skills they can use to support their child in overcoming difficulties and achieving success at home and school; Consultations with school staff and other professionals; targeted neuropsychological testing ; Social skills, drama and/or art therapy in small groups.

Targeted neuropsychological testing
Social skills, drama and/or art therapy in small groups

Early intervention harnesses the power of rapid brain development and growth in helping children and their families learn new patterns of behavior. By addressing difficulties early, family and peer relationships can be secured rather than stressed, self-esteem can be enhanced rather than lost, and children’s expectations for a bright future can be fostered and realized.

Research has found that 12% of young children suffer from significant developmental or emotional difficulties which place them at increased risk for longer-term challenges. Although some children will “grow out of it”, for others these difficulties are the beginning of vicious cycles, leading to more entrenched challenges as time goes on.