Child Psychology and Counselling Services

How can a Child Psychologist help your child?

Just as you would consult a medical doctor for your child’s physical health, you can consult a Child Psychologist to support your child’s emotional, social and behavioural well being.

Kids First's Child Psychologists specialise in helping kids who experience issues like:

• Anxiety
• Learning problems
• Stress caused by family breakdown or bereavement
• Lack of self esteem
• Bullying / friendship issues
• Behavioural challenges
• ADHD
• Depression

Our Child Psychologists also support parents and carers with strategies and resources that are individually devised to improve the quality of family life when kids struggle with issues like:

• Behaviour management 
• Feeding
• Toileting 
• Sleep
• Anger management 
• Separation anxiety and fears
• Loss 
• Sibling rivalry

In addition, Child Psychologists are qualified to formally assess children’s learning abilities, academic potential and IQ and provide detailed reports to schools and pre-schools about children's learning needs.

Child Psychology services at Kids First

Kids First’s highly qualified and experienced Child Psychologists provide caring support and assessment services to children aged 3-18 and their families.

Our Psychology services include individual consultations and small group programs.

Individual and family support

At Kids First, families seeking support from our Child Psychologists benefit from:

• Individual child/teen counselling
• Family Counselling
• Parenting support
• Formal cognitive and developmental assessments to identify and support children with Specific Learning Difficulties or Giftedness
• Assessment, funding and support applications for children with special needs
• Psychometric and IQ testing to identify gifted and talented children
• Ongoing case management
• Preparation for teacher meetings

We prefer to meet parents and carers first...

Initial Consultations provide an opportunity for parents and carers to have a private and comprehensive discussion with a qualified Child Psychologist prior to their child's first visit to Kids First. This first meeting will allow you to candidly discuss your child's needs and will give your child's psychologist the opportunity to prepare for a first meeting that will be sensitive to your child's personality and clinical requirements.

Our experienced Child Psychologists will talk with you about your concerns, which may include issues like:

• Worries about academic achievement
• Difficulties with learning
• Self-esteem issues
• Challenges caused by stress and anxiety
• Education and career prospects
• Challenging behaviours

The purpose of a consultation is to explore available options; it is not possible to make clinical judgements or diagnoses from a consultation alone. A consultation can be a very helpful opportunity to discuss your child's needs privately and honestly and is generally recommended prior to booking any kind of formal assessment.

Helpful items to bring to your consultation with a Kids First's Child Psychologist include copies of original unedited samples of work; copies of recent school reports; and copies of any other relevant reports (e.g. psychologist, developmental optometrist, auditory processing, occupational therapist, speech pathologist etc.)  

Group programs

Courageous Kids - Ages 8-10
This  anxiety prevention and resilience program helps children and their families to build effective strategies to deal with worry, stress and change. It is a fun and supportive program in which small groups of children are guided toward a more confident future and taught how to find easy and practical solutions to the problems that worry them.  Courageous Kids includes 10 one hour sessions that focus on helping children aged 8-10 to develop better self-esteem, problem solving, self-expression and relationships with peers and adults. Detailed resources for children and families are included in the program, which also includes a 30 minute private consultation for parents and carers with the Child Psychologist half way through the term. Parents and carers seeking to enrol their child in Courageous Kids are required to attend an initial consultation with one of Kids First's Child Psychologists prior to the commencement of Courageous Kids to determine their child's needs and to ensure that this program offers the best clinical options for the child.

Courageous Kids takes place on Tuesday afternoons at 4pm and runs each week during school terms.

Bookings for the Term 1, 2012 series of Courageous Kids are open now. Health fund and Medicare rebates are available to eligible children. Call 9938 5419 now for more information.

Assessments

An assessment can be useful in helping to identify a child’s learning strengths and weaknesses and to determine whether an identifiable learning disability exists. An assessment may help to answer questions like:

• What is my child’s intellectual potential (IQ)?
• Does my child have a learning difficulty?
• Is my child Gifted? If so, in what areas?
• What are my child’s strengths and weaknesses?
• Is my child’s ability age appropriate? Are they underachieving in the classroom?
• How can my child be assisted with a specific Learning Disability and/or ADHD?
• Is my child eligible for special provisions at school?
• Is my child ready for school?

All assessments are conducted by Kids First's fully registered Psychologists who have clinical experience in the field of educational psychology. All information gathered remains confidential and only appropriate and approved professional assessment tools and methods are used. The questions asked vary in accordance with a child's age so that children will not be asked questions that are too challenging. Opportunities to complete practice items are usually provided before each test so that children know what to expect. Most children find the various assessment tasks quite interesting and generally quite enjoyable.

 
Full Psycho-Educational Assessment

A Full Psycho-Educational Assessment includes a comprehensive measure of intellectual and cognitive functioning, in addition to a number of standardised achievement tests. These are completed under a range of conditions and include a combination of reading, spelling, written expression, handwriting and mathematics tasks.

A full assessment also examines a child’s phonological processing skills, working memory and other abilities dependent on individual need. Testing may also include aspects of visual processing, attentional skills, executive functioning, language skills and specific motor skills.
 
The assessment is conducted in one session running for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Should additional testing be recommended, your child's psychologist will discuss this with you. A comprehensive report is provided two weeks after the assessment session has taken place. Detailed and specific recommendations are provided with the report. These are designed to target individual learning strengths and difficulties and include suggestions for both home and school.

Medicare and Health fund rebates

A medical referral is not necessary for children to access psychology services at Kids First, however, rebates may be available through Medicare if appropriate referral is made by your family doctor or paediatrician. Many health funds also provide cover for psychology services – please check with your health fund for the specifics of your policy.

Child Psychology services at Kids First are registered for Medicare, private health insurance rebates and the FAHCSIA Early Intervention funding for children with Autism. For additional information about rebates and funding, click here.

Approved Health Funds