About Milestones

• Anxiety or worries: General feelings of unease, fear, or excessive concerns about future events or situations.

• Social anxiety: Intense fear or discomfort in social situations, often leading to avoidance of social interactions.

• Separation anxiety: Excessive distress or fear when separated from attachment figures, such as parents or caregivers.

• OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder): A mental health condition characterized by recurrent, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (compulsions) performed to alleviate anxiety.

• ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder): A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties with attention, impulsivity, and/or hyperactivity.

• Self-regulation skills: The ability to manage one's emotions, behavior, and reactions to various situations effectively.

• Executive functioning challenges: Difficulties with cognitive processes such as planning, organization, problem-solving, and time management.

• Combined anxiety and ADHD or EF challenges: Co-occurring conditions involving both anxiety and ADHD or executive functioning challenges.

• Mood concerns: Emotional difficulties that may include mood swings, depression, or irritability.

• Autism: A developmental disorder characterized by challenges in social interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviors.

• Social skills: A set of interpersonal communication skills and behaviors that enable age typical and effective interaction with others.

• Social stress: Stressors related to social interactions and relationships.

• Confidence: A belief in one's abilities and self-assurance in various situations.

• Academic struggles and stress: Difficulties with school-related tasks and the associated stress.

• Family strife: Conflict and discord within a family.

• Divorce: The legal dissolution of a marriage.

• Parent-child relationship: The bond and interaction between a parent and their child.

• Life transitions: Significant changes in a person's life, such as moving, changing schools, or starting a new job.

• Learning of a diagnosis: The process of being informed about a psychological diagnosis, learning disability, or mental health condition.

• Change of school placement: Transitioning from one educational setting to another, such as changing schools or classrooms.

• Neurodiversity: The range of differences in how people’s brains work. This term is often applied to children, teens and adults who learn or process information differently than what is expected for their age.

There are different types of Evidence-based treatments provided by clinicians at Milestones. These are:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a widely used therapeutic approach that focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors to promote emotional well-being and address various mental health issues.

• Behavioral Therapy (BT)

Behavioral therapy is a type of psychological treatment that concentrates on modifying and changing specific behaviors, often through techniques like reinforcement, conditioning, and behavior analysis.

• Interpersonal Psychotherapy & Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT & IPT-A)

IPT is a time-limited psychotherapy approach that emphasizes the improvement of interpersonal relationships to alleviate psychological distress. IPT-A is a version tailored specifically for adolescents.

• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)

PCIT is a therapeutic approach designed to improve the parent-child relationship by teaching parents effective communication and behavior management skills.

• Internet-based Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (I-PCIT)

I-PCIT is an online adaptation of PCIT that provides parents with training and guidance in improving their interactions with their children via the Internet.

• Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP)

ERP is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that treats anxiety disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It involves exposing individuals to their fears or obsessions and helping them to increase stress tolerance while preventing the usual compulsive responses.

• Habit Reversal (HR)

Habit reversal is a behavioral therapy technique used to address repetitive, unwanted behaviors (tics, habits, etc.). It involves identifying triggers and replacing the unwanted behavior with a more constructive response.

• Behavioral Parent Management Training (BPMT)

BPMT is a type of therapy that helps parents develop effective strategies for managing their child's behavior and fostering positive parent-child relationships.

• Parent Training

Our parent training sessions are designed to help you develop the skills you need to manage challenging behaviors and support your child's development. We teach you practical strategies that you can use in your day-to-day life to promote positive behaviors and reduce problem behaviors. We also provide you with the tools you need to communicate effectively with your child, set boundaries, and reinforce positive behaviors.

We speak with families every day about when and what type of therapy may be most helpful for you and your child. We invite you to set up a free 15 minute consultation call to help answer this for you.

We typically start with our diagnostic evaluation process which includes a parent-only 90 mins intake, then a 45 mins parent-child observation/intake, and finally a 60 parent-only feedback session.

We generally recommend sharing information with your child in a way that is transparent, feels appropriate to you, and helps ensure they do not feel alone in this experience. We invite you to share your ideas about how to best introduce your child to therapy. You can use words that you’ve already been using at home related to feelings or whatever reasons are bringing you in for support. You could say something like, we’re going to learn ways of getting along better as a family or we’re going to be working with a “feelings doctor” who has helped many other kids with big feelings before.

Milestones does not work with insurance. We are an out-of-network practice and can provide superbills that you can submit for your out-of-network benefits.

We are a group of social workers, psychologists and neuropsychologists. We are not psychiatrists so we are not able to prescribe medication. However, we work closely with a number of psychiatrists and pediatricians who are trained to prescribe medication. Every family is different. For some children, depending on the presenting concern and what makes the most sense for a child and family, behavioral intervention alone is most effective, some benefit from a combination of medication and behavioral treatment. From our experience in this field, we are here to work with you collaboratively, track behavioral progress through our cognitive and behavioral interventions, and help you navigate those decisions.

Neuropsychological evaluations are comprehensive assessments that use a battery of norm-referenced objective tests to evaluate cognitive and behavioral functions such as intelligence, attention, executive functioning skills, academic skills development, memory, language, processing, reasoning and problem-solving, social communication and emotional functioning.

These evaluations are typically administered by licensed psychologists or neuropsychologists who can diagnose a range of conditions. These evaluations and can be useful in diagnosing conditions such as learning disabilities, ADHD, language disorders, developmental coordination disorders, anxiety or depression and Autism Spectrum Disorders. The results of neuropsychological evaluations can provide clear diagnostic impressions, inform intervention and treatment decisions, needed academic accommodations, and help children achieve their full potential by understanding their strengths and weaknesses.ption

A neuropsychological evaluation is very helpful when there are concerns about a child’s skills development in relation to what is expected for their age and grade level or in relation to a peer group. It can provide insight into the reasons behind your child's struggles and guide your next steps.

Real-world questions are often related to difficulties with learning. Some kids are struggling to keep up in class, recall information, get good marks on exams, perform under timed conditions, manage time and assignments, work effectively independently, and improve reading comprehension. There are also kids who have trouble processing information. They can be feeling overwhelmed with homework or social demands, motivation, and school placement.

Such observations can push parents to ask questions like, “Does my child have a learning disability?”, “Does my child have ADHD?”, “Why is my child performing poorly on tests but they study so hard?”, “Is my child anxious?”, and “How can I help my child.”

As neuropsych tests evaluate cognitive abilities, language skills development, emotional well-being, and more, they offer parents and teachers a whole-child approach to conceptualization and intervention planning.