Behavioral Medicine Associates has a group of clinicians who specialize in the cognitive and emotional development of children and adolescents. Our specialists regard children’s developmental stages and milestones as unique and critical. Our specialists understand that when working with children and adolescents it is crucial to understand the children’s developmental stages and milestones in their entirety.
Younger children often demonstrate behaviors that their parents are not accustomed to seeing. This frequently happens after a big life change or as a part of transitioning from one stage in their life to another. We work with younger children to help them understand their emotions deeper and give them tools to deal with them. As well as help the parents develop tools to help their children with their problems.
We combine various interactive therapies, such as play and talk to foster an optimum setting for success. Our therapists are particularly skilled at engaging teenage boys and girls discussions of social and academic situations unique to adolescents to accelerate the therapeutic process. We understand the struggles that many adolescents have in this transitional point in their life and are able to find a common language to encourage open discussion and enable the adolescents to problem solve and cope with their newfound emotions.
When children and teens first come into therapy, we often ask the parents to come along. Often our therapists suggest family sessions in conjunction with the child’s individual therapy so that the “whole system is treated”. It is crucial to understand that the treatment processes involves the family.
Sometimes kids are identified as the problem simply because they are trying to communicate distress, but lack the tools to do so effectively. It is hard for parents to understand that their once calm and perfect child is now “acting out” and rebelling. We provide a way to help the parents understand the causes of the different behaviors in their children and how to approach them in a positive and effective manner. These techniques strengthen the bonds among family members and create a foundation for positive and open dialogue between the parents and the child.