Knowing when to seek help for your child's ADHD

Watch Allison Kawa, PsyD's video on Knowing when to seek help for your child's ADHD...
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Knowing when to seek help for your child's ADHD

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Making the determination of whether your child is spirited or spunky or whether it's something more like ADHD can be very, very difficult. The primary benchmark that you really want to look at is how much is your child's behavior interfering with his ability to participate in his classroom, to be a good friend, to have fun on play dates? How much does it get in the way when you go out in the community? And how much does it affect your life at home? when these behaviors, such as being unable to sit through circle time, blurting things out, being very impulsive, constantly touching things really start to get in your child's way, that's a clue that your child might have ADHD and it might be time to get some help.

Watch Allison Kawa, PsyD's video on Knowing when to seek help for your child's ADHD...

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Allison Kawa, PsyD

Child Psychologist

Alison Kawa is a licensed child psychologist specializing in the evaluation of children and adolescents.  Her pre- and post-doctoral training emphasized child and adolescent testing.  She was a fellow in the UCLA Autism Evaluation Clinic where she acquired extensive training in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders and a range of other developmental disorders.  During this time, she also obtained certification from the University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center (UMACC) on the gold standard instruments (i.e., ADI-R and ADOS) used in autism evaluations.  Following her fellowship, she became Senior Assessor at UCLA where she worked for four years.

Alison completed the PsychoEducational Diagnostic Services Program (PEDS) Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Assessment at the Reiss Davis Child Study Center at Vista Del Mar.  In this setting, she conducted comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations for children and adolescents with a diverse range of issues including ADHD, Learning Disabilities, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders.  She also completed the Child Therapy in a School Setting program offered by Phillips Graduate Institute, where she gained training and experience in play therapy, social skills groups, and therapeutic interventions appropriate for adolescents. 

While completing her graduate training in psychology, she held a staff position at Working With Autism, Inc., where she worked individually with children with autism, provided case management and supervision, and developed and implemented a staff-training curriculum.  It was through this position that she acquired a love for teaching and training. In addition to her private practice, she teaches pre- and post-doctoral fellows at the Reiss Davis Child Study Center at Vista Del Mar, where she also works as a supervisor and consultant.

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