Child & Teen Therapy in Bethesda, MD

A majority of youth will qualify for a mental health diagnosis by the time they turn 18. However, only about a third of these kids and teens receive effective care. Like physical ailments, most kids will have had one by the time they reach adulthood, with most of them being mild to moderate in scope. However, unlike physical ailments, a much higher percentage of youth receive no or inadequate care for these problems. Is this not unacceptable?

Understanding kids and teens is a strength of our practice. When he was President of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, Dr. Dave co-chaired a collaborative between the state’s child psychologists and pediatricians. The principal goal of this work was to develop a standard of care for outpatient mental health evaluations of youth. We use this protocol in our practice. It includes the following elements:

1. A 90-minute interview with the child/teen of concern and their parents (in instances when there are two households, we collaborate on which adults to include).
2. A 50-minute interview with the child/teen. For kids this often includes observations of drawing and play.
3. The completion of a battery of parent, teacher and child/teen rating scales.
4. A review of academic records.
5. A review of relevant clinical or forensic records.
6. The creation of a slide show that includes the following elements: sources of information, strengths, charts of behavior rating scales, a list of problems, a diagnostic impression and a list of interventions for the identified problems.
7. In preparing for the feedback we typically invest 3-4 hours of our time.

We also use magic to engage kids, provide science-based therapies, keep parents apprised of all important developments and teach parents how to coach and support the skills we are teaching their child or teen.