Although some folks think that young children cannot experience psychological symptoms or benefit from psychological services, research would suggest that, in fact, this is not the case! Young children can experience psychological symptoms just like older children and adolescents do and can show psychological symptoms in ways that are unique to their young age. We also know that young children can remember and are aware of far more than we might give them credit. If you would like more information on how we might help if you or your young child is having difficulty, please contact us at 407-823-2218 or via the Psychology Clinic.
Also, see below for some brief descriptions of our services.
Young Children and Families Research Clinic Services
To address the symptoms that young children and their families might exhibit, there are a variety of assessment instruments and infant mental health- and trauma-informed intervention services that we provide. No matter what you or your young child might need, please keep in mind that we always use a family-oriented approach. We believe that parents and caregivers are so critical to us gaining a good understanding of what is happening with the young child! After all, Winnicott (1960) was one of the first to recognize that “There is no such thing as an infant…” (meaning that our little ones cannot get very far without their caregivers!).
Assessments
Some of the assessments with which we can help are:
*Assessments of emotional and behavioral functioning and differential diagnosis.
*Assessments of early learning difficulties.
*Assessments of advanced learning at an early age.
Interventions
Some of the intervention services that we provide are:
*Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions that help both parents and their young children learn new skills or enhance the skills that they already have. These interventions may address parenting and/or child behavior.
*Circle of Security-Parenting, an evidence-based, attachment-focused parenting program that helps parents to recognize and respond to the cues of their infants and young children, understand how their own parenting is related to how they were parented, and gain skills to become more connected to their infants and young children. See the following links for more information…
Circle of Security International
Attachment and Substance Misuse
*Child-Parent Psychotherapy, a dyadic approach to intervention that focuses on how trauma may have affected the parent-young child relationship and that provides a means of improving the parent-young child relationship by focusing on safety, affect regulation, and working through trauma using a variety of techniques.
What You Can Expect From Us
Generally, we serve families with young children who range in age from 0- to 6-years. If your child had difficult experiences when they were younger, we may also be able to serve you. We will do our best to schedule an intake for you in the shortest time possible.
As part of our intake process, you will meet with one of our graduate student clinicians so that developmental and emotional and behavioral information about your young child can be collected. We also will ask you to complete a thorough packet of questionnaires that will ask about your young child’s functioning, parenting, and your own characteristics. Finally, we complete a video-recorded parent-young child assessment so that we can best understand how your young child interacts with you. (This information helps us to best plan your intervention plan.) Based on the information that we collect, we will be able to provide you with the assessment and/or intervention services that are best for you and your family.
All services are supervised by a licensed psychologist and are completed in the spirit of the scientist-practitioner model.