Where should parents turn to seek out appropriate diagnosis, treatment, and assistance in navigating the educational system to provide the best opportunities for their children?

Often students with emotional concerns and/or attention deficit disorders come to the awareness of teachers or school administrators when behavior becomes problematic, when grades suffer, or when academic benchmarks fall behind their peers developmentally.

Students who struggle with diagnosable mental health concerns can experience significant difficulty performing to the best of their ability in a traditional classroom setting.  Accommodation is sometimes necessary to help students with extra time to complete tasks and tests, work in smaller groups, or benefit from individualized attention and learning opportunities.

Teachers and school administrators are often overburdened with large classrooms and demands on their time.  Many schools have had to cut testing psychologists or special education teachers due to budget shortfalls.  Thus, when a student is pointed out as having behavioral, emotional, or attention problems, even if testing is available within the school, the waitlist may be significant (often 6-18 months).  If you are a taxpayer and live in a school district (most of us) you have the right to educational resources even if your child attends private school.  However, due to limited resources in many school districts, your child may be at the bottom of a lengthy list of educational test-takers.  Schools are sometimes able to test children for educational diagnoses (such as learning disorders) which may qualify for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) based on the definitions of learning disabilities set up by Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

An educational plan, such as a 504 plan or IEP may help your child academically, but concerned parents will also want to intervene behaviorally at home for consistency and effective life skills and organizational help.  Working with a counselor, therapist, academic coach, or private professional can provide your family with the executive functioning assistance your child may need. A family approach to helping your student, in our experience, offers the most successful systemic intervention.

Even when schools believe that ADHD or another mental health disorder is present in a student, they are legally limited in their ability to make that diagnosis.  For instance, in Oklahoma, if a school does make a mental health diagnosis, they become liable for the treatment.

Instead of going through the school district, many parents choose to seek out private educational, emotional health, and/or behavioral assessments.  At Christian Family Institute, we offer these assessments and evaluations in an individualized manner.  We take the time to get to know your family, and your child’s needs.  Our process includes taking a detailed history of the concern, customizing an evaluation process that includes psychological tests and data, gathering behavioral observations from multiple sources, and sitting down with the family to provide feedback—including developing a treatment plan that can include helping your family advocate for accommodation needs within the educational system.

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What Every Youth Minister Needs to Know About Handling Mental Health Crises from Dr. Timothy Doty on Vimeo.

Because of the need to respond to primary needs and rescue efforts urgently, philanthropy experts recommend giving monetarily to relief-aid groups who have an established presence in Haiti.  It is more effective during the early stages of disaster relief and during ongoing rebuilding efforts to work with organizations that have leadership in place to respond to a needs-based assessment on the ground.  New organizations to the area or individuals who join in aid efforts without connection to an organization may add to the chaos.

It is okay to wait on your giving.  Reconstruction efforts will take time and monetary giving will be needed on an ongoing basis.

It can be anxiety-provoking to sit “idly by” when so much is needed in response to the Haitian earthquake.  However, this is an instance in which relying on experts in the area (i.e. the Haitian people and established relief-aid workers) is perhaps a more compassionate response than rushing in with our “expertise.”  I would encourage you to donate monetarily and prayerfully to organizations that you already trust to do compassionate work for the needs of our world.

- Tim D. Doty, Psy.D.

The following is a list (not exhaustive) of organization who have a presence in Haiti:

Action Against Hunger

American Red Cross

Beyond Borders

CARE

Direct Relief International

Doctors Without Borders

HED

International Medical Corps

International Relief Teams

Meds and Food for Kids

Mercy Corps

Operation USA

Oxfam America

Partners in Health

Save the Children

Stop Hunger Now

UNICEF

World Concern

World Vision

Yele Haiti

What does Jesus’ family tree have to do with thoughts on psychology, psychotherapy and families?  Well, in family therapy we commonly talk about intergenerational trauma or the affects of previous family patterns on current family dynamics.  If it can be said that Jesus’ own family history included generational embarrassments and individuals of “questionable character,” can it also be said that great healing and redemption can come from our own family histories?  One thing that impacts me about Matthew’s account of Jesus’ lineage is that he listed questionable individuals and even “evil” individuals in the and provided a sense of hope that regardless the struggles that might have been a part of your family, both in distant past and in current circumstances, that God can work out some impressive results.  I also happen to think that Matthew provided a nice example for psychotherapy in that he was willing to engage in conversation about previous sore spots in the family.  I think talking about issues is one step in the healing process.

My above thoughts were in response to this podcast from Imago Dei Community in Portland regarding the Advent season.

Tim Doty, Psy.D.

[1] According to the ESV Study Bible notes

[2] NIV Life Application Study Bible notes