Cognitive Behavior Therapy Services

Specialties

At the Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, our team of doctors has expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of the following conditions:

Tic disorders

Anxiety

Obsessive compulsive and related disorders

Disruptive behavior

Mood problems

  • Depression
  • Suicidal thoughts
  • Non-suicidal self-injury (e.g., cutting, burning)
  • Emotion dysregulation

Feeding difficulties

  • Picky eating
  • Self-feeding deficits
  • Unstructured mealtimes/frequent snacking
  • Challenging behavior related to meals

Autism

  • Social skills deficits
  • Challenging Behavior

Trauma

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Childhood sexual abuse

Medical conditions

  • Coping with chronic illness
  • Adjusting to major life changes

Learning differences

  • Reading difficulties
  • Writing difficulties
  • Math difficulties

Treatments

Cognitive behavior therapy is considered a well-established and effective treatment for many child and adolescents mental health problems. The selection of specific cognitive-behavioral strategies to be used for a particular child, adolescent, or family is based on each client’s unique presentation. Some of the cognitive-behavioral interventions utilized at the Center for CBT are listed below.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA)
Behavioral activation
Behavioral parent training
Cognitive restructuring
Contingency management
Comprehensive behavior intervention for tics (CBIT)
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
Exposure therapy
Exposure and response prevention (EX/RP)

Habit reversal training
Mindfulness
Motivational interviewing (MI)
Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT)
Prolonged exposure (PE)
Teacher-child interaction training (TCIT)
Trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT)
Social skills training (SST)

Evaluation and Treatment

At the Center for CBT, we believe that a thorough assessment provides the foundation for precise treatment recommendations. Evaluations at the Center for CBT take place over one or two meetings. As parents you will be included in the evaluation process. Evaluations typically incorporate a diagnostic interview with you, as well as an assessment of your child’s social, emotional, and academic functioning. Adults, youth, parents, and teachers may also be asked to complete questionnaires. In the event that your child is experiencing significant difficulties at school, consultation with school personnel and/or an on-site behavioral observation may be recommended. To ensure continuity of care, with your permission, we will consult with pediatricians and primary care physicians.

At the conclusion of the evaluation, we will provide a comprehensive feedback session. During this time, we will discuss our understanding of your child’s issues, our diagnostic impressions, and areas where we may need additional information or clarification. We will outline a detailed treatment plan, including the names of each specific treatment that we recommend. Of course, we will try to answer your questions as well.

Treatment is individually tailored to meet each child’s needs. Our treatment approach is cognitive-behavioral in nature and administered in a manner that engages your child at an appropriate developmental level. At the start of treatment, and throughout the treatment process, we will educate you and your child about your child’s specific needs. As our work continues, your child will be taught those skills necessary to address specific difficulties, and will be expected to practice them between sessions. You and your child may be asked to monitor the occurrence of specific problem situations to help measure progress and determine whether adjustments needs to be made. Our work is designed to be a time-limited, with the goal of providing children and families with the tools to be self-sufficient following treatment.

Getting Started

How can we get started?

Give us a call and we will gather some basic details and a bit of background about your child’s situation. We will answer any questions you may have about our work. The goal of this initial conversation is to determine whether or not we think we can help. If it seems we can help your child, we schedule an appointment. Otherwise, we will refer to someone we think can better meet your needs.

If we agree to work together, what is the next step?

We will schedule an initial appointmentfor parents only, as this allows for more efficient gathering of information. (When working with older adolescents this may differ, depending on individual needs). During first meeting, we will gather information related to the current concerns and treatment history. If you have documents, such as an IEP or previous evaluation report, please bring a copy to this session. At end of this meeting, we will formulate a short-term plan, which typically consists of setting up a meeting with your child. We may also give you some questionnaires to complete.

What can I expect to happen in the initial visits with my child?

When we meet with your child, our initial goalsare to develop rapport and gather information. Helping a child feel comfortable talking to us is the key to obtaining accurate information. It is usually necessary for us to learn what is going on from the child’s perspective. Understanding the child’s perspective will help us develop a plan that uses motivators that will facilitate change.

Do you visit my child’s school?

We sometimes suggest a school observation if significant concerns are raised related to your child’s behavior at school. These concerns may include school-based anxiety, social challenges, or behavioral concerns in the classroom or at lunch/recess. If a school observation is scheduled, it always happens before we meet the child; once the child knows us and recognizes us, then the observation will be less meaningful. When we go to the school, we also meet with relevant school staff to gather information about the child’s behavior.

When will you share your findings with us?

After the parent and child meetings, and, if necessary, the observation, we will schedule an appointment to provide feedback. During this time, we will summarize our findings and solidify a treatment plan. Basically, we aim to answer the following four questions during our assessment process: Is there a problem? Is there a clinical name for what is going on? Do we need additional information? What can we do about it? When you leave this information-sharing appointment, you will have a clear sense of what treatment will look like. We want you to be aware of the goals, the types of strategies we’ll be working on and the frequency of meetings. We’ll also answer any questions about treatment throughout the process.

What else should we know before getting started?

Throughout treatment, you will be asked to complete various activities between sessions, including tracking the frequency of particular symptoms. As treatment progresses, you will be given certain skills to practice between sessions as well. Treatment is time limited, and the ultimate goal is for children and families to independently use the skills learned during our time together.