Psychological Testing Sydney

Child Psychology Sydney - Anxiety Treatment for Children and Adolescents

Anxiety Treatment Based on the "Cool Kids" Program

At Comprehensive Psychology we run individual and group based programs to teach children and adolescents to deal better with anxiety. The program is aimed at children between 7 and 17 years of age. Each session of the program involves both the parents and the child, either together or separate. The program is usually carried out over 10 sessions and families are expected to practice the skills learned at home.

"Cool Kids" Program Outline

EDUCATION

Our aim is to educate both parents and children about what is anxiety, how anxiety is different for children and what the program offers.

THINKING SKILLS

Changing thinking about a feared event or stimulus and challenging fear related thoughts. Children are taught to take a different approach towards their anxiety related thoughts.

SOCIAL SKILLS

Challenging fears related to social situations and learning strategies to deal with difficult social situations. Children are taught assertiveness skills and skills to deal with conflict.

EXPOSURE

Role play exercises and actual exposure to "tricky situations". Children and parents are encouraged to reduce avoidance associated with anxiety and to apply the skills learned in sessions to deal with the anxiety provoking situation.

COPING SKILLS

Exploring coping strategies that do not work (e.g., avoidance and anger) and replacing them with strategies that work (e.g., assertiveness, self-talk). How to manage bullying, negative expectancy and physical symptoms of anxiety.

PARENTING

Teaching parents about unhelpful strategies to manage their child's anxieties (e.g., being over-protective and encouraging avoidance) and to replace them with helpful strategies (e.g., support). Exploring the parent's anxiety level and anxiety management techniques.

Child Psychology Sydney - Behaviour Treatment for ADHD

Behaviour Modification for Children Diagnosed with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Treatments for ADHD often include stimulant based medication and behaviour therapy. While most parents report that medication is helpful in managing their child's behaviour, research shows that behaviour management techniques can produce similar outcomes and medication coupled with behaviour training is the most effective treatment method.

At CPAC we offer a behaviour management program that aims to reduce children's difficulties at home and in school. Our program is individually delivered and involve both the parents and the child. The three components of the program are outlined below:

SCHOOL CENTRED INTERVENTION

Many children with ADHD find it difficult to manage during the school day. The school centred approach will teach parents and children how to cope better with stressors, what to do when difficulties arise and how to prepare a child for the school day.

PARENT CENTRED INTERVENTION

Behaviour modification assumes that both parents take an equal responsibility towards behaviour management. Similarly, the success of behaviour management largely depends on consistency between involved parties, such as parents, teachers and professionals. Therefore, parents are required to attend sessions without their child. Skills learned in these sessions should be practiced during the week.

CHILD CENTRED INTERVENTION

This is the part of treatment where children are directly taught behavioural techniques to overcome their difficulties associated with ADHD. These include attention training (e.g., play activities and games) and behaviour modification (e.g., self monitoring skills).

Child Psychology Sydney - "Anger Buster" Program for Children

Treatment for Anger Related Problems for Children and Adolescents

Anger is a normal emotion and all children experience anger as part of their development. However, some children struggle with the expression of anger and may develop difficulties as the result. These may include problems with peers, teachers and parents. Anger problems are also warning signs that children may be at risk from Oppositional Defiance Disorder or Conduct Disorder .

Our "Anger Buster" program is aimed at teaching children about anger as an emotion, how they feel when angry, what triggers their anger and appropriate ways of expressing their anger. This is an individually delivered program, involving both the parents and the child.

SCHOOL CENTRED INTERVENTION

Many children with ADHD find it difficult to manage during the school day. The school centred approach will teach parents and children how to cope better with stressors, what to do when difficulties arise and how to prepare a child for the school day.

Our "Anger Buster" program has three main aims:

What is Anger?

We will teach children and their families about anger and about the different functions of anger. Anger and the inappropriate expression of anger can be normalised within families until it feels overwhelming to live with an angry child.

Triggers of Anger.

We will teach children and their families to recognise the source of anger and why children developed problematic expression of anger. We will discuss the physical cues of anger (or what the body "feels"), the psychological cues of anger (or what the brain thinks), and the behavioural cues of anger (or what we do when angry). We will also discuss what situations are "risky" and why.

Coping Skills.

We will teach skills to recognise anger and we will teach skills of approriate expression of anger (assertive communication). We will teach children to use "self-calming" statements and behavioural strategies (e.g., breathing techniques) to lessen the impact of anger.

Child Psychology Sydney - Social Skills for Children

Professional Social Skills Training for Children

Our social skills program is based on the "Capable Kids" model and aimed at children between 6 and 12 years of age. The program is offered either as a group based intervention or individually. Both children and at least one parent is required to attend. When children are seen in a group, we usually try to maintain no more than four years age gap between the youngest and oldest members. For this reason some familes may find the individual program more beneficial.

Our social skills program includes 10 sessions, divided to three segments. Sessions 1 to 8 are run on a weekly basis and forms the more intensive part of the treatment. Session 9 is usually held 2 weeks after session 8, and the last session is held a month after session 9. This structure allows a better integration of the program and pleanty of opportunity for feedback.

SOCIAL SKILLS PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN - WHAT TO EXPECT?

SESSIONS 1 TO 8

We cover a range of issues in these sessions, accompanied by examples, role play exercises and help from parents. The main topics we cover are body language, sending out messages, listening skills, meeting other kids and adults, friendships and maintaining friends, co-operation, assertiveness techniques, speaking up and saying "no", dealing with bullying and bulding self-esteem.

SESSION 9

Checking on your progress and discussing potential setbacks and difficulties. We will discuss relapse prevention and what to do when re-appear.

SESSION 10

We provide a follow up where you can have your say. What works and what does not work for you and your child. What is it that you tried to correct the difficulties? Moving forward.

Child Psychology Sydney - Parenting Programs

Positive Parenting Program to Help Children and Families

Our parenting program is based on the Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) principles. Triple P is mainly aimed at parents of children up to 12 years of age. For parents of older children and teenagers, we can arrange a Teen Triple P, that draws on the same principles, but for more advanced children.

As the name suggests, Positive Parenting aims to build a positive relationship between parents and children. While punishment is part of Triple P, the overwhelming aim is to re-enforce positive behaviour and to encourage children to "internalise" positive behaviour as rewarding.

We normally carry out our parenting program over a 6 to 8 week period, depending on the presenting problems and aims of the parents.