Individual Treatment

Our center administers a series of assessments that have been deemed the “gold standard” for diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder. Through these different assessments, our qualified doctoral level psychologists make an accurate diagnosis, while determining if a co-existing disorder is present. We frequently see depression or anxiety accompany an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, however, there are many other possible co-existing disorders. A comprehensive report of the findings will be written; included will be a diagnosis, if there is one, recommendations for treatment, and academic accommodations, if appropriate. This report includes the required assessments schools and colleges require for academic accommodations.

If a client already has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, they will complete the Initial Diagnostic Assessment. This assessment reviews previous testing, the client's developmental, medical, academic and psycho-social history. This assessment uses rating scales and a clinical interview to identify the clients current functioning, presenting concerns, any possible co-existing disorders, and then will determine the client's specific treatment needs. 

An individualized treatment plan is developed for each client based on the psychologist’s assessment and treatment recommendations to address the client's specific treatment needs.

 

To address the impacts of an autism spectrum disorder, specialized treatment services will be included in the treatment plan. These can include, cognitive behavioral therapy will be used to address self-esteem, manage their feelings of anxiety, anger, depression, and reduce their feelings of inadequacy arising from their difficulty communicating and interacting with others. Role play, life skills coaching, exposure therapy to triggering situations, social skills training, and group therapy will help the client develop and implement more effective social skills and become more confident in social situations.

Teaching parents research-based strategies in parent counseling, parent child interaction therapy, behavioral treatment plans and family therapy are effective in helping parents feel more effective and competent in the management and support of their child.

 

Therapists can also work with the child's teachers to help them implement more effective accommodations, and behavioral management plans in the classroom. Therapists can also provide teachers with more effective intervention strategies when the child becomes overwhelmed by anxiety or has explosive outbursts.

Parent support and counseling groups are valuable in helping parents meet, support, and learn from other parents coping with similar situations.

Vocational assessment identifies an individual’s interests, abilities and aptitudes and skills and matches them to a variety of career paths. Vocational assessments use standardized tests and interviews. Vocational assessment is part of the vocational guidance process and usually results in recommendations for careers and the academic and training requirements to qualify for those careers.

You will be given instructions to go to a website address and a code which will allow you to open and complete the Strong Interest Inventory Test online from your home computer. We will also schedule an appointment for you to meet with a counselor, after you have completed the test. The counselor will review the test results with you and assist you in exploring the career paths for those careers identified.

The Strong Interest Inventory is an assessment that helps people match their interests, aptitudes and personality with potential educational, career activities, using an individual’s preferences in a variety of areas to aid them in discovering what they’d most enjoy doing with their work. Each career option and college major category has a set of interest themes associated with them. Based on your answers you will score higher or lower on scales. Your scores on these scales will form patterns between your likes and dislikes, and what they mean when looked at altogether. The report developed by this assessment will give you insight into where your interests lie and which jobs and school majors match these interests.

Sleep problems arise from a combination of complex biological, cognitive and psychological influences and therefore require accurate assessment to develop appropriate treatment paths.

Sleep disorders include bedtime disturbances, insomnia, night waking, nightmares or sleep terrors. Enuresis (bedwetting), problems associated with breathing (sleep apnea) or limb movement problems (restless leg syndrome) can be more complex sleep disorders. Additionally, children with ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorders are more predisposed to developing sleep disorders.

Sleep deprivation can develop from insufficient sleep or restless sleep and significantly undermines an individual's cognitive, emotional and physical functioning. Equally, sleep deprivation can be caused by the following:  

Resolving sleep issues causing sleep deprivation is therefore a primary treatment goal in our clients' individualized, Integrated Treatment Plan.

An interview with self-reports, standardized rating scales to assess the quality of their sleep. A sleep protocol will be developed for all clients to improve their sleep hygiene and teach them skills to manage their sleep issues.

Fees

Interview with self-report rating scales plus Sleep Protocol....$150

30 minute follow-up Sessions to assist with treatment intervention....$65 or $58

An interview with self-reports, standardized rating scales will be used with a specialized smartwatch and software to measure and analyze a client’s quality of sleep. This will give an accurate baseline of the client's sleep habits and activity before and after the sleep program is put into place.

In addition, we offer advanced lab testing that can get baseline levels of neurotransmitters that may affect sleep patterns.  

A sleep protocol will be developed for all clients to improve their sleep hygiene and teach them skills to manage their sleep issues. A Sleep Intervention Questionnaire will be completed prior to this session to help identify the most user-friendly intervention to implement. 

Practical treatment interventions will be used to help clients make positive differences on their sleep.  

If enuresis (bedwetting) is one of the sleep issues identified, our Pediatric Psychologist will also be included in the treatment protocol. If symptoms identified in the sleep assessment are indicative of a possible sleep apnea disorder or restless leg syndrome, the client will be referred to their Primary Care Provider for further testing.  

After completing the sleep program, a re-assessment can be completed to measure the client's progress.  

To ensure the quality of our program we have created a basic package which includes the following:

A cognitive assessment is used to diagnose ADHD in children, adolescents and college students. The assessment includes:

A Health and History Questionnaire is completed prior to the assessment. It gathers information about difficulties the client's is having, and the client's developmental, medical, academic and psycho-social history.  

 

Standardized rating scales are used to screen the client's attention, executive functioning, psycho-social functioning and to determine whether the client is experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety or poor sel-esteem. Rating scales are completed by the client if they are old enough and by the client's parents or spouse and their teacher or in order to get corroborating information about client's symptoms.

Clinical Interview  

The psychologist reviews previous the client's academic records and reports, the information in the Health and History Questionnaire and the results of the rating scales. Using this information they conduct a mental status examination to more closely evaluate the client's mental status and identify the client's strengths and weaknesses 

The provider then administers a battery of cognitive tests to assess the client' s following cognitive skills in order to obtain a baseline of strengths client's cognitive strengths and weaknesses:

Based on the information gathered and client's behavioral responses during the clinical interview and testing and the client's performance on the cognitive tests the psychologist makes a diagnosis and develops a report containing the assessment results, conclusions, diagnosis and recommendations for treatment and accommodations to be implemented at school and home to support the client.

The psychologist or a clinician will review the report with the client and their parents then develop an integrated treatment plan which addresses all the client's specific treatment needs and focuses on the client's strengths and weaknesses.

Clients presenting with following symptoms would benefit from a ADHD Cognitive Assessment:

The Adult ADHD Assessment includes:

Client presenting with the following symptoms would benefit from completing the Adult ADHD assessment:

The above symptoms can be the result of several different mental health and medical disorders which include anxiety, depression, insomnia, hyperthyroidism, situational stress, other mood disorders or ADHD. To complicate things further, ADHD often has co-existing disorders previously mentioned.

An Initial Diagnostic Assessment is a report that can evaluate a client’s emotional health and well-being. A clinician will provide a clinical interview to determine a mental health diagnosis and eligibility for treatment. 

On the day of this appointment, the time spent in our office for an Initial Diagnostic Assessment will be approximately 2- 2 ½ hrs. The first hour will be with one of our staff who will help administer rating scales and on screen assessments. Additionally during this time, if clients have not already done so, the complete new client paperwork packet can be finished. 

The next 1-1 ½ hours will be spent with the clinician. He or she will meet with the parents/family members and actual client as appropriate. Previous history will be discussed as well as current symptoms.

Upon completion, clients will schedule a Treatment Planning Session with the Director or one of the Staff Therapists to go over the findings as well as review treatment recommendations. This appointment is included in the cost of the Assessment.  

A learning assessment is a comprehensive evaluation that evaluates how the child learns, how they process information, and helps determine their cognitive strengths and weaknesses. The evaluation will additionally evaluate for all recognized learning disabilities including: dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. The evaluation and subsequent report is a Full Individual Evaluation (FIE), and helps to establish your child’s educational needs as well as rights within the educational setting. If a disability is determined to be present, the child is protected under either the Individuals with Disability Education Act(IDEA), or under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. They are then eligible to receive systematic-targeted intervention services, i.e. dyslexia or reading intervention, as well as classroom accommodations. Classroom accommodations may include some of the following: no penalty for spelling and or handwriting, extended time on testing, quiet testing environment, oral testing, frequent reminders to stay on task, and the use of personal laptop. 

A learning disability is neurological in origin, and affects the individual’s ability to process information; and subsequently impacts the individual’s ability to comprehend and interpret the content. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses within their cognitive and academic abilities but a learning disability persists despite systematic-targeted instruction in the area of concern, often into adulthood. 

A Neuropsychological Evaluation is a comprehensive assessment of cognitive, behavioral and psychological functioning via interviews and a variety of standardized tests and procedures. A variety of abilities and cognitive functions are systematically tested, which may include but are not limited to:

A Neuropsychological Evaluation is not a fixed series of tests that anyone can give. Specialized training allows the neuropsychologist to formulate and interpret a customized, comprehensive set of particular tests and procedures that will yield the most help in understanding an individual’s strengths, any areas of weaknesses, and general learning style.

Most importantly, the evaluation provides a better understanding of an individual’s behavior and learning and provides extensive recommendations on how to maximize one’s strengths and compensate for any potential areas of weakness. Recommendations are also useful to help guide academic planning and possible accommodations, career planning, and treatment alternatives from a holistic and integrated perspective.

A Neuropsychological Evaluation involves a wide variety of different types of tasks, some with paper and pencil, some computerized, etc. There are no invasive procedures, such as needles or electrodes and ideally the testing will be interesting and even fun. A verbal discussion of the results of the assessment will occur at a separate appointment. At that appointment you will be provided with an extensive written report which will include a comprehensive analysis of relevant historical information, testing results, clinical interpretation, and recommendations. 

A Neuropsychological Evaluation is often recommended when a person presents with cognitive, behavioral and or psychological /personality changes after having suffered a stroke or brain disease such as meningitis or who have sustained possible traumatic brain injury resulting from an accident or concussion injury from contact sport. This evaluation is also recommended when a child is having severe learning or other cognitive impairments possibly related to traumatic brain injury caused by birth complications or prenatal alcohol or drug abuse by their mother.

When a client is having problems at work or school, or in personal relationships or just coping with everyday demands, a psychological assessment can help identify whether he or she may be having issues with emotional regulation or interpersonal skills, experiencing anxiety or depression or personality traits such as rigidity or introversion that be contributing to the problem. 

The underlying cause of a person's problems isn't always clear. For example, if a student is not getting along with other students do they have poor social skills, are they depressed or have social anxiety or do they have anger management problem? A psychological assessment will allow the psychologist to understand the nature of the problem, and develop an effective individualized treatment plan which addresses the clients specific treatment needs.

Screening using Standardized Rating Scales

Rating scales are efficient tools for screening the client's cognitive, academic/vocational, social and psychological functioning and identify primary or secondary issues and areas that need more in-depth assessment. 

The psychologist conducts a formal clinical interview with the client before the start of the psychological /personality testing. This interview can last anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, and includes questions about the individual’s personal and childhood history, recent life experiences, work and school history, and family background.

Our psychologist will use the results of the rating scales to question the client more closely about areas identified in the rating scale reports. They will also check on the clients relationships, sleep, diet, exercise routines and other areas which are often impact or are impacted by the client's psychological issues. Valuable information is gained through interviewing. When it’s for a child, interviews are conducted not only the child, but the parents, teachers and other individuals familiar with the child. Interviews are more open and less structured than formal testing and give those being interviewed an opportunity to convey information in their own words.

We use the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventories (MMPI) for adults and adolescents (MMPI) or the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventories for adults, pre-teens and adolescents. These are empirically –based standardized psychological/personality tests which are administered on and scored by a computer and are designed to accurately identify psychological problems and personality traits. In children or in the case of children and adolescents emerging personality traits. The psychological profiles obtained from these psychological, personality tests provide relevant information to aid in supporting or confirming hypothetical diagnoses made by the psychologist, identifying problems, the root causes of those problems , identifying deeper pervasive clinical issues and treatment planning. 

Children and adolescents with ADHD experience multiple difficulties in the school environment including conduct problems, learning difficulties, mood instability and social skill deficits. The graduation failure rates of students with ADHD who are not treated are between 10 to 33%. A college student without ADHD is four times more likely to graduate from college than a college student with ADHD. However, it is clear that the high rates of school failure can be positively impacted by school-based interventions, which include the coordinated efforts of the ADHD patient, parents, teachers, school mental health providers and the patient’s mental health provider. There can be little sustained improvement in the ADHD student without consistent collaboration between the student, the parent, the school district and the health care providers. Behavioral change occurs only when there is adequate instruction of the desired behavior along with systematic cueing and reinforcement of the desired behavior through an agreed upon monitoring system.

Educational supports or accommodations are important variables for the successful treatment of students with ADHD. This is why the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act exist. Students with ADHD have educational rights under these laws that include reasonable accommodations and access to other services that assist them in their learning efforts. Making sure that our clients get necessary school accommodations is part of our treatment for ADHD. Sometimes our assessment leads us to recommended atypical accommodations that need detailed explanations to the school district before they are implemented which is why we conduct meetings with school personnel to make sure that our recommended accommodations are in place.

A cognitive assessment is usually accepted for school accommodations however at the college and university level there may be different assessment requirements and these can be found on the college / university website under disability office or academic accommodations.

What we do: