Who We Are & What We Do: Psychology

The Psychology Program at Children’s Specialized Hospital provides comprehensive evaluation and therapy services for patients with or without complex medical needs, including patients with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

Our services can assist a child in the following areas:

• Behavioral difficulties
• Panic disorders
• Social skill deficits
• Peer and sibling problems
• Trauma
• Abuse
• Adjustment problems
• Anxiety and other mood disorders
• Depression

Comprehensive assessments, including psycho-diagnostic evaluations, educational evaluations, and clinical assessments are done to clarify a child’s diagnosis. They are also done to assess cognitive, behavioral, social, emotional, academic, attention and executive functioning areas, determine strengths and weaknesses, and recommend effective interventions.

Assessment and Evaluation

Comprehensive assessments, including psycho-diagnostic evaluations, educational evaluations, and clinical assessments are done to clarify a child’s diagnosis. They are also done to assess cognitive, behavioral, social, emotional, academic, attention, and executive functioning areas, determine strengths and weaknesses, and recommend effective interventions.

Treatment and Outcomes

Treatment is provided through individual play therapy, psychotherapy, behavior therapy, parent counseling, family therapy, group therapy, or a combination of these methods.

A parent workshop series is provided for parents of children ages 3–12 who present with disruptive behavior. These include ADHD, oppositional defiant issues or other issues involving non–compliance. The workshop series focuses on teaching behavior management, parenting and organizational skills while providing the parents the support of a group experience. Visit our Classes and Workshops page to view upcoming workshops.

Group therapy and psycho-educational programs for children  and adolescents with social skill weaknesses or other issues are offered. These groups may be structured to include family and caregiver participation.

All services are always tailored to meet the needs of the child or adolescent and his or her family.

The Comprehensive Feeding Program at Children’s Specialized Hospital offers help for children from birth through 21 years of age, who have difficulty eating due to a medical condition and/or behavioral issue. The Program aims to promote safe, pleasurable, and nurturing mealtime experiences for children and their families while fostering the progression of developmental feeding milestones.

To provide a comprehensive evaluation and treatment plan for each child, the Comprehensive Feeding Program utilizes the knowledge and expertise of a multidisciplinary team of pediatric specialists, including developmental pediatricians, child psycholotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and pediatric dietitians.

Psychological Services Team

The Psychological Services team includes licensed psychologists, clinical social workers, professional counselors, learning disability-teacher consultants, and mental health access coordinators. The Psychological Services staff at Children’s Specialized Hospital focuses on enhancing the mental health of children, adolescents and their families. As pediatric professionals, Psychology staff understands the unique psychosocial, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive needs of children at each stage of their lives and views the family/caregiver as playing an essential role in the development and support of the child or adolescent.