SPECIALTIES

Child Temper TantrumsWhen parents are concerned about behavior or emotional or social issues with their children, it can be confusing to know who can help. It’s hard as parents to know what to expect when you seek help. You can be worried, frustrated, and even embarrassed because you feel what you’re doing to help your child isn’t enough. These are all common feelings that parents experience.

My expertise is in helping families where your child’s behavior is more (or much more) challenging than other children but usually within the boundaries of normal development. My Ph.D. is in typical child development as well as in clinical child psychology. My training includes more about common parenting issues than is true for most child psychologists. This is some of what makes my child rearing guidance practice unique. Parents call me to meet about their children from ages 2 through 7 year olds.

The following are what parents most often call me about:

  • Our child just doesn’t listen to us. Why don’t our consequences work anymore?
  • My oldest overreacts all the time.
  • How should I handle my child’s tantrums? He’s starting to hit us.
  • Child Behavior Problems
  • Our daughter is being bullied by some of the girls.
  • Our son is having a lot of problems at school. Is it a behavior problem or a learning problem?
  • Our child has been sent to the principal’s office three times so far this year.
  • Our five-year-old son has unlimited energy and can’t sit still in preschool even for a story. He bangs into people and trips over things. What is going on with him?
  • Our six-year-old child wants to be the boss of us and the boss of all the kids in her class. She’s getting a bad reputation at school and even with our extended family.
  • I’m yelling at my children all the time. I feel like such a failure.
  • Our daughter seems to have a lot of fears. She’s worried about burglars and even about being kidnapped.
  • Our child doesn’t want to tell us how he feels. In fact, he doesn’t want to tell us anything. He’s only eight years old and he’s shutting us out already.
  • My son has problems falling asleep and sleeping through the night.
  • My daughter still isn’t toilet trained.
  • Our kindergartner is not a good eater.
  • Our middle child wants us to do everything for her.
  • Our daughter is furious about the new baby. She’s been an only child for six years. How can we help her not to be mad at us and not resent the baby?
  • Our kids fight constantly.
  • Star charts and rewards aren’t working anymore with any of our kids. What can we do about it?
  • I’m not enjoying our kids.
  • Parenting Specialist
  • My husband and I have very different views on parenting.
  • How can we help our children deal with our divorce?
  • My ‘ex’ and I have very different approaches to parenting. It’s worse than when we were together. We can’t be civil to each other and our children are suffering more than we would have guessed.

I provide the necessary help for you to understand what’s causing problems at home and/or at school and to learn effective ways to deal with the problems. Focusing on the age and personality of your child along with the views and skills of the parents, I will help you when you have these and other concerns.

I do this through gathering enough information about your child so I can give you tailor-made guidance and much insight into your child and resolve the problems. (See Services) I also provide consultations to teachers and other caregivers. Child rearing guidance consultation usually takes one to five sessions and is a very effective method of early intervention. My goal is to provide a short-term, results-oriented approach in my work with families except when more is needed and requested.