How can we help you think about your loved one?
Diagnostic & Educational Assessment
Everyone needs some help and guidance at times. Our diagnostic and educational assessments can help provide insight into the ways people think and act. These insights, in turn, guide treatment recommendations and suggested strategies. Each assessment culminates in a comprehensive evaluation report that summarizes relevant history, information collected, results of testing, diagnostic considerations, a complete summary, and recommendations.
These evaluations can be described as a "snapshot" of your or your child's functioning at a specific moment in time. Because people grow, learn, and develop over time, many families choose to return after a few years to get a new, updated picture of how the client is functioning, along with updated treatment recommendations.
We specialize in complex, subtle, or "tricky" cases. Many of our clients have received multiple conflicting diagnoses or inconsistent results from previous professionals. When this happens, we find that there is often a more parsimonious explanation that is able to integrate ALL of the existing information into a single, coherent case conceptualization. Organizing confusing or conflicting information can help individuals and/or their families to feel more confident in selecting treatment approaches and be more effective and efficient with their resources.
Parent Coaching & Family Therapy
Our experience working with a variety of families, including those with developmental, behavioral, and/or mental health conditions that interfere with their ability to function together, has given us a broad variety of tools and strategies that can help in these situations. As we often say, all of our best ideas have come from other families who, when faced with similar challenges, have developed creative, effective solutions to those challenges. Thus, for our Parent Coaching and Family Therapy services, our primary role is to help the family to find the techniques or strategies that work best for them and we are happy to share our own recommendations and suggestions along with what has worked well for other families in similar situations.
Public Speaking
We have experience speaking to a wide variety of audiences on topics. Our audiences have included parents, educators, mental health providers, therapists, medical professionals, and more. We have presented in small, casual environments for local groups and large public events such as the Texas State Autism Conference hosted by ESC Region 2 and the National Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools conference hosted by the Attachment and Trauma Network.
Some of our most popular topics include:
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"Autism 101": What You Need to Know About Caring for Someone with ASD
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Troubleshooting and Solving Behavioral Challenges
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Puberty, Sexuality, and Safety for Children and Adolescents with Developmental Differences
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Talking to Your Child and Others about Their Diagnosis
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Navigating School Systems and Special Education Services
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Executive Functioning
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Legal Issues for Individuals with ASD & IDD
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Co-occurring (Comorbid) Conditions
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And many more! If you have a topic that you would like us to present, please reach out and we can discuss the details!
Trauma & Adoption
With everything that has happened in the world recently, from severe weather disasters, social injustices, and political polarization, to a global pandemic, it is unsurprising that so many people are experiencing symptoms of traumatic stress. Fortunately, there is a large body of existing research and literature on how best to treat these symptoms. Treating traumatic stress can help restore a sense of stability and resilience, helping individuals to reach their potential in exciting and meaningful ways.
One group who can experience some unique forms of traumatic stress are families and children touched by adoption. Our experience, both personally and professionally, has taught us that these families sometimes need a specialized approach to work through challenges and restore healthy patterns of interaction and growth. While not yet recognized by the diagnostic manual for our profession, so called "developmental trauma" presents unique challenges. Our approach to working with these families is inspired by a variety of targeted approaches including Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®), Love and Logic®, Collaborative and Proactive Solutions®, and The Nurtured Heart Approach®.
Child & Adolescent Therapy
Our practice has limited availability for direct therapy with children and adolescents. The clients who find the most success in our individual and family therapy services are often struggling with challenges related to developmental differences, unique behavioral challenges, anxiety, and coming to terms with their own diagnoses. Following the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) model, our therapy is generally time-limited, targeted, and specific. Engaging in CBT generally requires the capacity to think about one's own thinking, discuss hypothetical situations, and consider the cause/effect relationships between actions and consequences, as well as the motivation to change one's own behavior to reach their goals. Thus, not all children/adolescents are fully prepared to participate in this type of intervention. When a child does not yet have the tools necessary for this kind of work, it can often be helpful for parents to engage in parent coaching sessions to further guide their child and help them to develop these skills.
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