| In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity. |
| -Albert Einstein |
|
|
You offer a lot of services. How do I know which is best for me? Family counseling can help your family weather such storms. Family counseling can help patch strained relationships, teach new coping skills and improve how your family works together. Whether it's you, your partner, a child or even a sibling or parent who's in crisis, family therapy can help all of you communicate better and learn to get along. Family counseling is a type of psychotherapy. It helps families or individuals within a family understand and improve the way family members interact with each other and resolve conflicts. How long should I expect family therapy to last? (Back to top) Family counseling sessions are generally an hour each week. It is often short term. You usually attend one session a week, typically for three to five months. In some cases, though, families may need more intensive treatment. The treatment plan will depend on your family's specific situation. While couple’s counseling is often helpful to married couples, we also work with unmarried couples in committed relationships. Couples planning to marry or enter into a long-term commitment may want to seek premarital counseling to set a healthy framework for communication that will enhance the relationship as they grow together. Couples counseling is a very useful modality of help for couples in relationships of various lengths who are experiencing difficulties such as repetitive arguments, feelings of distance or emptiness in the relationship, pervasive feelings of anger, resentment and/or dissatisfaction, or lack of interest in affection or in a physical relationship with one another. What is your approach to Couple’s Counseling? (Back to top) At Perspectives our philosophy is that couples deserve a stable, fulfilling and passionate relationship between committed partners which results from both partners agreeing to consciously look at themselves and their relationship patterns. How does Couple’s Counseling work? (Back to top) In Couple’s Counseling we combine behavioral approaches to relationship enhancement (such as learning how to listen and communicate, how to set boundaries, how to argue constructively, how to enhance pleasure and intimacy, and how to turn conflicts into solutions) with a psychodynamic investigation which helps both partners understand how their past experiences can contribute to the types of attractions and conflicts which arise in their adult relationships. In addition to couple’s therapy sessions, couples are given exercises to practice at home to deepen their understanding and practice of the ideas discussed. Play Therapy is the systematic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial challenges and achieve optimal growth and development. A working definition might be a form of counseling or psychotherapy that therapeutically engages the power of play to communicate with and help people, especially children, to engender optimal integration and individuation. Play therapy is generally employed with children ages 3 to 11, but can vary depending on developmental level. Play provides a way for children to express their experiences and feelings through a natural, self-guided, self-healing process. As children’s experiences and perception of those experiences are often communicated through play, it becomes an important vehicle for them to know and accept themselves and others. It is helpful in addressing many issues including anxiety, depression, impulsivity, trauma, and behavioral problems stemming from emotional causes. Play Therapy can also be used as tool of diagnosis. A play therapist observes a child playing with toys (play-houses, pets, dolls, etc.) to determine the cause of the disturbed behavior. The objects and patterns of play, as well as the willingness to interact with the therapist can be used to understand the underlying rationale for behavior both inside and outside the session. Play therapy can then be used to help the child address his or her concerns and develop healthier coping skills. Experiential Therapy is any of a group of techniques of psychotherapy that focus on emotional release, inner growth, and self-actualization. Combined with traditional “talk” therapy, experiential therapy can facilitate the awareness and expression of emotions and promote healing and growth. At Perspectives our experiential approaches may include art, music, drama, dance, and movement, as well as pet-assisted therapy. Social skills training (SST) is a form of behavior therapy used to assist individuals with difficulties relating to other people. A major goal of social skills training is teaching individuals who may or may not have emotional problems about the verbal as well as nonverbal behaviors involved in social interactions. There are many people who have never been taught such interpersonal skills as making "small talk" in social settings, or the importance of good eye contact during a conversation. In addition, many people have not learned to "read" the many subtle cues contained in social interactions, such as how to tell when someone wants to change the topic of conversation or shift to another activity. Social skills training helps clients to learn to interpret these and other social signals, so that they can determine how to act appropriately in the company of other people in a variety of different situations. SST proceeds on the assumption that when people improve their social skills or change selected behaviors, they will raise their self-esteem and increase the likelihood that others will respond favorably to them. Clients learn to change their social behavior patterns by practicing selected behaviors in individual or group therapy sessions. Social skills groups are formed at various times throughout the year based on interest and schedules. Please see our Children’s Social Interaction Checklist, complete it and email it to PerspectivePBS@yahoo.com if you would like us to contact you when a group that is appropriate for your child is forming. You can also use this list in helping you decide if your child may need social skills training. You may also print and fax it to Perspectives at (404) 201-2103. If you are feeling frequently frustrated, angry with your child, guilty, or overwhelmed by spending time with your child, parenting coaching may be helpful. There are a number of research-based approaches to raising healthy, confident, responsible, and caring children. Our children do not come with instruction manuals and parents often find themselves struggling with parenting decisions and feelings of guilt and frustration. These research-based approaches can help in addressing problem behaviors, establishing a sense of safety and stability for your children, and in making the life of the parent less stressful. Parenting support is provided through a parenting coach. Parents can have a parenting coach with whom they consult via phone or in the office. Various parenting techniques will be taught and the parent will have an opportunity to practice these and consult with the parenting coach regarding the implementation and effectiveness. Together with your parenting coach you will be able to prioritize concerns and develop a treatment plan that meets the needs of your child and your family. At various points in the process, your coach may observe your child and make suggestions and offer behavior interventions. Parenting Coaching is generally short-term (six months or less), but can be longer depending on the needs of the child and the family. The standard number of sessions per week is one, but may be more or less depending on the needs of the child and the family. At Perspectives we offer testing for adults and children. We test for IQ, academic achievement, emotional/behavioral disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, trauma reactions, ADHD, executive functioning, mental illness, and personality disorders. Recommending particular types of medication should be done only by a medical doctor or a psychiatrist. Psychological testing can give us information about the sources of various behaviors (for example: distinguishing between ADHD and anxiety or other issues). The test results should then be provided to your child’s doctor or psychiatrist to assist the physician in making specific medication recommendations. No. We can administer tests for a neurological screening and determine if further testing should be done, but neurological testing should be done by a neuropsychologist. Yes. We will perform a number of psychological tests and then provide you with a signed copy of a psychological evaluation that you can submit for eligibility requirements. If you or your child’s physician have any concerns about your child’s development, it is wise to have a developmental assessment to determine your child’s strengths and challenges. This enables you as the parents to begin early interventions that may make a great deal of difference in your child’s prognosis. Developmental assessments may also be required in order for your child to be eligible for services. Developmental assessments can be conducted with children as young as six weeks in age. Developmental assessments are generally appropriate for children six weeks to five years. If there is any concern that development may be delayed or if an individual needs an updated developmental assessment to assess progress or for continued eligibility, older children and adults can also be assessed. This may vary depending on the reasons for the assessment. In general, motor skills, communication, social-emotional development, physical development, and adaptive functioning are assessed. Other measures to assess issues such a temperament, executive functioning, and maladaptive behaviors can be included as needed. We offer a number of services including assistance in IEP development. We can help your child by assisting your child’s teachers and paraprofessionals in understanding his or her needs and implementing positive behavioral approaches to enhance learning. We also conduct Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA). We have professionals who are available to attend SST’s and IEP’s. Mediation services are also available. In addition we work with families who are home-schooling their children in the development of effective teaching methods. A Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) takes the observations made in a Functional Behavioral Assessment and turns them into a concrete plan of action for managing a student's behavior. A BIP may include ways to change the environment to keep behavior from starting in the first place, provide positive reinforcement to promote good behavior, employ planned ignoring to avoid reinforcing bad behavior, and provide supports needed so that the student will not be driven to act out due to frustration or fatigue. When a behavior plan is agreed to, the school and staff are legally obligated to follow it, and consequences of not following it should not be inflicted on the student. However, as with so many provisions of IDEA, this may take a lot of vigilance and advocacy by parents to make sure that everyone who is to take these interventions into account does so in a complete and informed way. A Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is an attempt to look beyond the obvious interpretation of behavior as "bad" and determine what function it may be serving for a child. Truly understanding why a child behaves the way he or she does is the first and best step to developing strategies to change the behavior. Schools are required by law to use FBA when dealing with challenging behavior in students with special needs, although you may need to specifically advocate for it. The process usually involves documenting the antecedent (what comes before the behavior), the behavior, and the consequence (what happens after the behavior) over a number of weeks; interviewing teachers, parents, and others who work with the child; evaluating how the child's disability may affect behavior; and manipulating the environment to see if a way can be found to avoid the behavior. This is usually done by a behavioral specialist. The FBA then becomes the basis for a Behavior Intervention Plan. Growing up with a brother or sister who has a disability can give siblings a greater richness of experience and better quality of life, bring out positive traits in their characters, help them develop better senses of humor and fairness, and introduce them to the best aspects of inclusive communities. For many children growing up with a sibling who has a medical condition, developmental disability, or other special needs, there are also some very specific challenges. These siblings may have concerns and interests are sometimes overlooked when a family is in crisis over a diagnosis, or overscheduled in an attempt to meet the needs of their sibling with a disability. While siblings of children with chronic health problems or developmental disabilities are just as important to their families as their brother or sister who has special needs, they may not feel this way. They may struggle with how to talk to their friends about their brother or sister with special needs. They may feel anxious about their role in the family or confused or guilty about why they do not have the same challenges as their brother or sister. Sibling support provides an opportunity for your child to have a space and time that is all his or her own in which he or she can process their thoughts and feelings. It provides an opportunity for this child to work on his or her own challenges without the concern that he or she may be seen as selfish or unsupportive by family members. Involving your child in sibling support services can convey to your child the concept that his or her needs are valued by the family. Life coaching is a practice with the aim of helping clients determine and achieve personal goals. Life coaches use multiple methods that will help clients with the process of setting and reaching goals. Coaching is not targeted at psychological illness, but focuses on effecting change in a client's current and future behavior. Your coach may apply mentoring, values assessment, behavior modification as well as other techniques to assist you in meeting your goals. |
