Diagnostic, Therapeutic, and Educational Services in a Collaborative Environment
85 Old Kings Highway North, Darien, Connecticut 06820 P:(203)202-7654 F:(203)202-7655
Our Services
AD/HD Coaching and Treatment
Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic
Developmental Pediatrics
Early Intervention Team
Education Advocacy
Educational and Psychological Assessment
Learning Services
Nutritional Counseling
Occupational Therapy
Psychiatric Services
Psychotherapy Services
Speech and Language Therapy
Vision Therapy
If a child meets the criteria for AD/HD, various interventions may be considered. Based on your child’s specific challenges, our team will work with you to develop an individualized treatment plan for your child.
Medication for this disorder is often the first challenging question that parents must consider. Our developmental pediatrician and our team of psychiatrists are available for consultation and ongoing medication management regarding this challenging decision.
The scientific research suggests that the optimal outcomes for children AD/HD occur when medical treatment is combined with other outcome-based interventions. At the Southfield Center, we have clinicians trained in cognitive behavioral therapy; social skills interventions; cognitive remediation and development through Brain Train Cognitive Training software; executive functions development; and nutrition counseling.
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Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic
Led by Alisa Rohdie, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with over 15 years of clinical experience with autism spectrum disorders, our Autism Spectrum Disorders Clinic provides a comprehensive range of services, including:
- Diagnostic Evaluations
- Independent Educational Evaluations to identify the necessary components of a school program that will result in meaningful progress and growth
- ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) Program Review and Development
- Inclusion and Transition Planning
- Functional Behavioral Assessments
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Developmental Pediatrics
According to the American Association of Pediatrics (www.healthychildren.org), if your child has a developmental, learning, or behavioral problem, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician has the training and expertise to evaluate and care for your child. Developmental-behavioral pediatricians possess training and experience to consider, in their assessments and treatments, the medical and psychosocial aspects of children’s and adolescents’ developmental and behavioral problems.
Dr. Jay Dobos is board certified in both general pediatrics and developmental/behavioral pediatrics. He can evaluate, counsel and provide treatment for your children with difficulties such as regulatory disorders such as sleep, discipline, complicated toilet training issues, enuresis (bedwetting) and encopresis (soiling) and developmental disabilities including cerebral palsy, spinal bifida, spectrum disorders, delayed development speech and language, motor skills and thinking ability, behavioral and developmental problems communicating the full range of pediatrics chronic illnesses and disabling conditions.
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Early Intervention Team
All children develop at different rates, and there is a wide range of what is considered ‘normal’ with regard to meeting developmental milestones. However, some infants and children have significant delays in one or more of the following areas: cognitive skills, communication, social skills, emotional skills, behavioral skills, and fine/gross motor skills. Early intervention is critical for these children.
Our Early Intervention Team specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of developmental delays in children, infants through age five. The group of practitioners for the individual clients will be determined by the child’s particular needs, and may include: a developmental pediatrician, a board certified behavior analyst, a clinical psychologist, a speech-language pathologist, and an occupational therapist.
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Education Advocacy
Ann McCarthy, founder of Advocacy for Kids, is a special education advocate who assists families in securing educational rights for their children with disabilities. Ann empowers parents with the information and tools they need to have productive and positive conversations with their child’s school. Through detailed file reviews, participation at school meetings, and strategic planning, she teaches parents to work with the school system in a non-adversarial way to get their child’s individual needs met. Her end goal is to get parents to a place where they are comfortable advocating for their child on their own.
Our advocacy services include: complete educational record and IEP review, development of strategies to track progress, parent coaching, advocacy services at school meetings, phone and email consultation with parents, schools and private service providers.
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Educational and Psychological Assessment
Psychoeducational assessment is used to determine the underlying mental processes that impact a person’s educational and functional performance. Led by Dr. Christopher Bogart, our practitioners are certified to select, administer, and interpret a variety of neurological, psychological, educational, and vocational assessment instruments. The information provided by our assessments can be used make decisions about a child’s educational and therapeutic needs. An assessment includes an evaluation, a diagnosis, and recommendations.
For children, an evaluation involves gathering information from a variety of sources about a child’s functioning and development in all areas of suspected disability, including information provided by the parent. The evaluation may look at cognitive, behavioral, physical, and developmental factors, including speech and language. All this information is used to determine the child’s educational needs.
A diagnosis is a statement of the specific type of disability that an individual may have, based on an interpretation of the information gathered during the evaluation. A diagnosis serves a useful purpose if it explains an individual's particular strengths and weaknesses, as well as determines eligibility for resources or support services that have not been otherwise available. Through a careful examination and analysis of all the information gathered during the evaluation, we use the diagnostic stage of the assessment process to explain the information gathered and to offer recommendations.
Recommendations can provide direction in education and daily living. Specific recommendations may be made regarding the instructional strategies which an individual will find most successful, as well as other ways to compensate for and/or overcome some of the effects of the disability. Based on specific strengths and areas for development identified during the evaluation and diagnostic stages of the assessment process, recommendations should also suggest possible accommodations that an individual can use to be more successful.
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Learning Services
Led by Heather White, a nationally-known teacher trainer and former special education teacher, our Learning Services tutors are well-versed in a wide range of teaching methods that are often not available in other learning settings. This enables us to combine different programs to create an individualized protocol specifically designed to meet your child's learning needs.
We provide individualized programming based on initial consultation and assessment, and utilize cutting-edge, scientifically-validated strategies for:
- Reading
- Cognitive Processing
- Writing
- Attention
- Math
- Test-Taking Skills
Nutritional Counseling
In recent years, there has been a greater awareness of nutrition, how it impacts our children, and the myriad connections between nutritional heath and mind / body balance. One out of every 3 children is considered to be overweight or obese. As a result, there are a greater number of children who are developing risk factors for adult disease such as diabetes, stroke and heart attack. Improving your child’s nutrition can have a positive impact on his/her heath, self esteem and the ability to participate in school and in sports.
Provided by seasoned nutritionist Abby Greenspun, our nutrition counseling services offer individual nutrition advice, considering your child’s and your family’s needs, to establish reasonable goals and arrive at realistic solutions. You and your child will receive a personalized meal plan, shopping lists, school lunch/camp/snacking strategies, education on reading labels, guidance in making healthy food choices, ongoing support to meet goals, suggestions for increasing physical activity.
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Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists enable their clients to live life to its fullest by improving their ability to participate in daily activities, or ‘occupations’. For children, these ‘occupations’ might include education, handwriting, playing, sleeping, socializing, and activities of daily living.
Our occupational therapy team is led by Lauren Zalis, founder of Little Hands Pediatric Occupational Therapy. She is a SIPT (Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests) certified therapist, and provides intervention for infants, preschool and school age children with a variety of diagnoses. Lauren is certified in Therapeutic Listening and has extensive training in Sensory Integration, Handwriting Without Tears, and The Alert Program. Within the sensory gym environment, our occupational therapists provide therapy using the dynamic medium of play to achieve individualized goals in the areas of sensory processing, gross and fine motor development, social interaction, self-care, and self-regulation.
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Psychiatric Services
Led by Andy Lustbader and Jill Barron, our psychiatric team specializes in the assessment and treatment of child, adolescent and adult psychiatric disorders. They provide comprehensive psychiatric evaluations and treatments utilizing a range of interview and diagnostic methods for disorders, which include: anxiety disorders, trauma-related disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, tic disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and pervasive developmental disorders. They provide various forms of psychotherapy (including: cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic, and play therapies), in addition to providing medication management, when necessary.
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Psychotherapy Services
Individual Psychotherapy with children, teens, and adults
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Dialectic Behavioral Therapy
- Pet-Centered Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Behavior Modification
- Hypnotherapy
- Play Therapy
- Multigenerational Family Systems Therapy
- Parent Guidance
- Strategic Family Therapy
- Behavioral Family Therapy
- Couples Schema Therapy
- Social Cognition/Social Skills Group Therapy
- Anxiety Management Group Therapy
- Parent Training Groups
- Substance Use Support and Education Groups
Speech and Language Therapy
Our speech and language therapy clinicians have extensive experience in diagnosing and treating children with speech and language delays and disorders. This team is led by Aissa Inskeep, M.A. CCC-SLP, who has more than 10 years of clinical experience.
We create a fun and encouraging therapy environment that translates into measurable progress, and incorporate the latest methods and techniques to best serve our clients. Our clinicians have expertise in early language intervention, articulation and phonological disorders, receptive and expressive language delays, auditory and language processing disorders, oral motor and speech disorders, apraxia of speech, language-based learning disabilities, fluency disorders, augmentative communication, social pragmatic skills and cognitive linguistic functioning.
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Vision Therapy
Vision Therapy (often called "VT") involves activities and procedures specifically designed to improve a patient's visual skills and visual performance. Treatment programs are designed and administered by board certified behavioral optometrists. Each patient's Vision Therapy Program is custom designed by your behavioral optometrist to treat specific vision conditions found during your initial Comprehensive Visual Exam.
We have two large therapy rooms fully equipped to administer Vision Therapy. All therapy sessions are supervised by of our behavioral optometrist, Dr. Paul R. Bernstein and he is often assisted by Vision Therapists and/or Optometric Interns. The Southfield Center Vision Therapy service is an adjunct teaching facility for SUNY – State College of Optometry and Southern College of Optometry, both of which schools include Dr. Bernstein among their adjunct faculty.
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85 Old Kings Highway North, Darien, Connecticut 06820; PHONE: (203)202-7654; FAX: (203)202-7655;
E-Mail: info@southfieldcenter.com