Child psychologist recommendation Post Reply

[backtoworkmum]

Hello,
A desperate plea for help. Can anyone recommend a child psychologist for my 10 year old son? I need someone who can assess him (both educational and behaviour). I wonder is there someone that is able to do both? Our family are at breaking point with what’s going on at home, not helped by lockdown. He is so unhappy, anxious and angry I just don’t know where to turn. Having read up a lot on behavioural problems I am sure he suffers from anxiety, possibly ADHD and his teacher thinks also mild dyslexia. I also think we need some family therapy and guidance on how to cope and create a more positive environment for him and us. If anyone knows where I can turn I’d really appreciate it. X

[owenwe]

My work recommended Dr Bev Sokel from the Child & Family Practice, but that's a practice in Bloomsbury so some distance right now. She's also Bupa assured. Good luck, stuffs unravelling everywhere.
 

[Familycompleted]

Do contact Anne-Marie Catterall, she was absolutely fantastic when we contacted her some years ago and our son loved working with her. She was very honest and gave very useful feedback. If you look her up you can see her background and contact her if you think it could be a good match. We ended up not needing her as she felt on assessments that he really wasn’t on the spectrum but was really thorough in her methods. Also a lovely person to work with. Highly recommend.

[HonkersInLondon]

Hi - Sorry to hear this. I can highly recommend Karen King from UK child-psychologists. I can seem to post the website but it’s as above with co and uk at the end. Best of luck!

[shallowmummy]

If you believe your child may have ADHD, your first port of call should be your GP where you can ask for a referral to CaMHS . My experience of Wandsworth CaMHs for my ADHD son has been overwhelmingly positive. We were told that he was dyslexic by an educational psychologist when he was in year 5, however he was diagnosed as ADHD at 13 and now looking back I am sure that his learning difficulties were actually caused by his ADHD. The process for assessment and treatment at CaMHs is quite drawn out due to lack of funding but it is worth persevering. Please DM me if you want any further information regarding the process.

[Moimza]

I highly recommend Dr Carina Eriksen. If you google her you should find her (it won’t allow me to paste the link unfortunately).

[parentpractice]

Hello Back to Work Mum

Elaine here from The Parent Practice and so glad you are reaching out for help as all behaviour has a cause and our role as parents is to be curious and keep working out where the anxiety and anger are coming from. You are the expert in your child and what you are describing falls under the category of a mild specific learning need e.g. the dyslexia and if he does have ADHD ,that is a neurological condition which means he is a little neuro diverse and may be an atypical learner.Put all this together with the stresses of being in lockdown, home schooling and not to mention social isolation and it's a melting point of issues, where sadly there is no one single solution.

My first suggestion would be to get an Educational Psychology report from an EP who specialises in ADHD and with that report you can get a really good understanding of his cognitive learning profile so you can see if some of the frustration  and anger is caused by him actually struggling with his workload. Using this report you can then seek a psychiatric assessment to assess for ADHD if indeed you want to go down that route as they will prescribe medication. Your GP will be able to refer you to CAMHS ( child adolescent and mental health services) who are a multi disciplinary team. Service varies hugely across the boroughs and the waiting lists are extraordinary at the moment and given his age and that he will soon be transitioning to secondary school, time may not be on your side. But much depends on what resources you have. Be prepared to pay at least £800 for a good EP report.

My second suggestion is to get some good behaviour management/ positive parenting skills so you know how to talk to him to build up his self worth, how to listen to him and validate his feelings, as he will be riding an emotional roller coaster and learn how to be both positive and firm so you know how to handle any misbehaviour positively so he can learn from any mistakes he makes. You as parents have the biggest impact on how he  sees himself and you can with the power of your words and knowing how to connect and communicate build up his self worth and confidence.

You may find my book' My Child's Different' of interest as it documents my own story of my son when aged 7 he was excluded from 3 schools in so many years and written off in society. He also was angry and anxious due to his dyslexia and ADHD and we were at a complete loss of how to parent and how to educate him. The story has a very happy ending I am pleased to report but there was no one magic solution, but a combination of getting him into the right educational environment once we understood his needs and then learning how to parent him with more empathy.

I'm holding a space in my heart for you, as you I so understand how desperate as parents we can feel when we feel out of control and unable to help or understand our children. If I can help do reach out. Elaine x