Your FAQs Answered: Child Therapy at AKIDS

During the first session, our child psychologist will typically conduct an intake assessment, where they will enquire about the client’s concerns, as well as relevant background and history. This might include information about their family, social relationships, and past counselling visits. Rest assured that this information will be kept confidential, and that therapy will take place in a safe, private and non-judgmental space for the client to air their concerns. After gathering this information, the child psychologist will then bring both the child and their family through on what they can expect for future sessions. They will do this by working with the client to craft a collaborative and flexible plan for future therapy sessions. The client can bring along a notepad to record these and other useful discussions that occur during the session.

During therapy, our child psychologist, the child, and the rest of the family unit will work as a team to identify and change the thought and behaviour patterns that are keeping the client from feeling their best. In the process of doing so, the child might learn new skills that are aimed at creating healthy or adaptive changes in their life. These new skills will help them cope with the problem that brought them into therapy, as well as other challenges that may arise in the future. Our child psychologists are trained and experienced in managing mental disorders, such as Autism, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), mood difficulties like depression and anxiety, and more. They also provide a safe and supportive environment for clients to share difficult issues with someone who is objective, neutral and non-judgmental.

Information is strictly confidential and not shared with anyone. Our clinic takes effort to maintain the security of our website regularly to ensure that the personal data collected are kept safe. However, there are legal exceptions to this, such as when one threatens to harm themselves or others, or by court order.

The number of sessions needed differs for everyone. It depends on each child’s needs and their commitment towards therapy. It is dependent on various other factors too, such as the amount of resources an individual has, whether they experience any crises in between sessions, their diagnoses and therapy goals. The child psychologist will then assess how many sessions he/she thinks is appropriate or sufficient for the child. In instances where the client and psychologist do not agree, the client can discuss their preferred plan together with the psychologist as well.

It is not a prerequisite to be suffering from a mental health disorder to see a psychologist. People of all ages see psychologists for a wide variety of reasons. While some might seek therapy in order to find out if they have any disorders or that they feel their problems have reduced their quality of life, there are also individuals who use therapy to improve their quality of life or to work on being a better version of themselves.

Parents can sit in with their children during the beginning of the first session (e.g first 10 minutes of the first session) to understand the parameters of therapy and what therapy is like. During this period, parents can share their concerns and/or queries about therapy. From time to time, our child psychologists may also involve parents in therapy by explaining the management plan and how they can support their children. However, following the beginning of the 1st session, parents are not encouraged to sit in during individual therapy sessions. Therapy is meant to provide a safe space for clients, and this extends to the child as well. Information provided by the child to the psychologist will also be kept confidential and will not be told to the parent unless permission is given by the child.

Our paediatric occupational therapists are concerned about your child’s development and his/her ability to engage effectively in daily activities. These include things like self care skills, participating and learning at school and at home.

The evaluation will usually include chatting with parents on their concerns, completing standardised and non-standardised test. We will also be playing with your child to observe his/her skills. Before your child’s evaluation, you will be given a series of documents to complete, but it’s also a good idea to bring along a list of your concerns or questions you have.

At least one parent needs to be in the room with your child and the therapist during the first occupational therapy appointment.

During an evaluation, our occupational therapist will assess your child’s abilities in the following areas:

• Motor skills (both fine motor and gross motor which includes movement control of the hands, climbing, jumping, catching and throwing, balance and coordination)

• Handwriting skills

• Motor planning (the ability to conceive, plan, and carry out movements)

• Self care (bathing, dressing, feeding, grooming, toilet use)

• Executive functioning or higher thinking skills such as attention, organization, mental flexibility, self -regulation/control

• Sensory processing (how the brain interprets, organizes, and uses sensory information)

These are done through playing with your child and asking about how your child is like at home and school as well as any report from the teachers. We will then discuss with you our observations and answer any questions you may have.

Each occupational therapy session is tailored to meet each child’s specific needs, facilitated in a warm and comfortable environment, and created to reflect the child’s interests.

One of the main approaches we use is Sensory Integration. We believe that higher brain skills and emotional regulation can develop effectively only when the child has a solid sensory and motor foundation. Therefore, an OT session typically involves a lot of play and movement opportunities from swings, therapy balls, balance activities to eye-hand coordination games and writing and drawing tasks. These are to activate and balance the nervous system so that the child is able to flexibly and appropriately respond to challenges.

Progress is dependent on your child’s difficulties, rate of learning, and ability to generalise what he/she has learned. Hence, we are unable to give a definite time frame within which to expect a certain level of progress. However, regular parental/caregiver involvement goes a significant way in helping a child. This is through supporting your child appropriately by understanding more about his/her needs and carrying out home therapy activities and homework to help reinforce the skills learned.

We believe that a collaborative approach between parents and caregivers will maximise your child’s learning. We highly encourage at least one parent to sit in during speech and occupational therapy sessions to observe and even possibly be involved in activities!

However, there may be some exceptions where we request for parents to sit out for the initial few sessions, such as if a child is resistant about joining in activities while parents are in the room. We will then work towards increasing the amount of time that the parents are in the room over subsequent sessions.

The tests that are used to assess children and adolescents are specially designed for their respective age. These assessments are not like “actual” tests, and they cannot be prepared for (i.e. through studying). Children typically enjoy the assessment and therapy sessions as they find the activities fun and engaging as they involve play and movement.

However, we recognize that all children are different and some may find the assessment process to be more stressful than others.

We are dedicated to ensuring that the testing environment is comfortable, and your child’s emotional needs are met. As such, we allied health professionals take breaks with the child, and even play games prior to testing to foster a relationship with the child before easing into the test.

Should you have worries about your child’s emotional wellbeing during assessment and therapy sessions, do let us know, and we can explore a collaborative plan to support you and your child during the process.