Diagnostic Interview & Assessment

It is important to devise an individualized treatment plan tailored to a families' specific needs and strengths. Because parents are the experts on their child, I involve parents in the treatment planning process, where we devise individual and family goals. In order to formulate a helpful treatment plan, we must establish a history of significant events, an understanding of the child's current functioning and challenges, and a mutual representation of how progress will be evaluated. To achieve this, I conduct a thorough diagnostic interview with family members and provide written assessments to be completed by both the parent and the child. These tools assess the child's developmental functioning, the severity of behavioral problems, the child’s ability to integrate sensory information, and the intrusiveness and dissociative effects of trauma. This assessment protocol is repeated periodically to track progress throughout treatment. For a detailed description of assessments used, click here.

The detailed history acquired during the diagnostic interview combined with written and observed assessments informs the diagnosis and treatment plan. I recognize that your child is an individual and that his needs are unique. Treatment plans often involve a combination of therapeutic parenting strategies, family-focused interventions and trauma-focused interventions. My goal is to use the intervention that is best suited to your child’s developmental needs. I consider the first three sessions to be the assessment phase of treatment. At the fourth session, parents will be presented with a diagnostic report, a summary of completed testing, and a formal treatment plan with overall goals and specific objectives for each goal. The mutually agreed upon treatment plan will guide the content of future sessions.