All new clients at the University Center for the Child and Family (UCCF) participate in a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation designed to help your child, family, and clinician develop a thorough understanding of your concerns.
These evaluations typically require 3-5 visits and include interviews with parents and children as well as information about the following:
- your child’s development
- family and medical history
- learning
- social functioning
As your clinician gets to know your child’s strengths and weaknesses, he/she will work with you to provide feedback and education, and to develop a tailored set of recommendations and a treatment plan to address these concerns.
Many children and families come to UCCF with concerns about:
- attention
- behavior and learning problems
- anxiety
- depression
- reactions to a traumatic life event
- social skills difficulties
- trouble adjusting to life or family transitions
UCCF also offers a range of specialized assessment and diagnostic services for children with:
The First Appointment
- First appointments for testing services are for parents only; this initial consultation allows parents to share their concerns as well as information about their child’s developmental, medical, and learning history.
- During this initial meeting, your clinician will answer any questions you might have about your child’s testing appointments and how best to prepare him or her for testing.
- For therapy/counseling the first appointment is a consultation appointment, also known as “pretherapy.” One or both parents will attend along with your child. At that appointment, you will discuss your concerns and receive tailored recommendations, which could include counseling at our center. If we feel we are not the best fit for your family, we will offer alternative suggestion(s). If we do recommend counseling at UCCF, your family will be assigned to a therapist who will call you to set up your first counseling appointment. There may be a wait time between the pretherapy appointment and the first counseling appointment. The intake staff can give you a clearer picture of how long that wait may be.
- If you have a young child, it can be helpful to discriminate this appointment from a typical appointment with a pediatrician (which can be associated with shots or uncomfortable medical procedures). We often advise parents to explain that UCCF is a place where Feelings Doctors work and we don’t give shots!