I’m a licensed psychologist, wife, mom, and outdoor enthusiast. For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed working with children, adolescents, and their families. I’ve built a small team of exceptional clinicians, and we are excited to support you and your family!
At Kuehnel Psychological Services, we work with students in preschool through college who have neurodevelopmental challenges, emotional difficulties, and/or adjustment issues. We aim to support the development of those children and adolescents by working collaboratively with their caregivers. Our approach to service delivery emphasizes the role of primary caregivers, such as parents, stepparents, and grandparents, while also carefully considering the meaningful impact of teachers, coaches, and other adults in a child’s life. We appreciate opportunities to consult with school teams and other clinical professionals, as we wholeheartedly believe it allows us to obtain the most complete understanding of a child’s functioning. Over many years of assisting families, we have discovered that the most significant and enduring treatment progress happens when children are backed by a committed team of adults working together consistently.
We approach each child and family with kindness, patience, openness, and compassion, in order to learn how we can best help. With an understanding of individual needs, we engage in three types of professional practice: prevention, assessment, and intervention. Our prevention services allow parents to monitor their child’s social, emotional, and behavioral growth closely, in order to address any typical challenges in child development before they become clinically significant concerns. For students who are demonstrating challenges that may be indicative of a neurodevelopmental or emotional disorder, we have various assessment options that can provide diagnostic clarity and inform evidence-based recommendations for intervention. We also offer bi-annual follow-up to monitor progress for those students, so that families do not have to wait years in between comprehensive evaluations for meaningful information. For children and adolescents who require more individualized intervention, we offer a range of services, though we typically do not see children under age 10 for individual therapy, and we reserve the most space for parent-focused and/or parent-assisted interventions. Ongoing research demonstrates that young children make more substantial gains when therapeutic work is conducted with parents, rather than with the child alone. Generally, we believe that in early childhood, equipping parents with evidence-based strategies is the most effective way to fuel developmental progress.
We wholeheartedly believe that children and adolescents can have individual differences that do not necessarily make them neurodiverse or neuroatypical. Neurotypicality is in and of itself a spectrum, and not every individual with social, emotional, behavioral, or learning challenges necessarily meets criteria for a formal disorder/diagnosis. We want prospective clients to understand that we are dedicated to following our diagnostic manual and regularly invest in professional development to stay updated on new developments in clinical diagnosis. However, it is a disservice to children to reach beyond diagnostic criteria to offer diagnoses that are not grounded in high-quality data. At times, families can feel that without a formal diagnosis, they will be unable to adequately help their child, but effective interventions target a child’s symptoms, not a label. Regardless of whether or not a diagnosis is applicable, we deliver research-informed, individualized recommendations that can make a positive difference in the lives of children, adolescents, and families.
The families we support frequently have diverse needs, yet screentime is an almost universal challenge. The research on screentime and child development is constantly expanding, and our clinical team follows it rather closely. There is an indisputable link between excessive screentime use in early childhood and the subsequent diagnosis of emotional and behavioral disorders. We recognize that preferences and opinions about screentime vary widely among families, and we also wholeheartedly understand the challenges families face in establishing safe and effective family systems for managing screentime. With that in mind, it is crucial for prospective clients to understand our position: excessive screen time is detrimental to children’s neurocognitive development, as is social media use during the preteen and teenage years. Therefore, when we have reason to believe that screentime is playing a significant role in fueling emotional, behavioral, or other developmental challenges, we offer individualized recommendations to foster better outcomes for students. We are passionate about helping parents develop effective strategies for managing screentime, and we are available to collaborate with community and school groups interested in exploring this topic further.
For families looking to talk more openly about their child’s differences, this website from Child Mind Institute summarizes the best literature for children with various neurodevelopmental or mental health differences.
SPACE is a parent-based treatment program that provides caregivers with an opportunity to learn skills for supporting anxious youth. It was developed by Dr. Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center and has been tested in randomized controlled trials.
Unstuck and On Target is an online intervention program to help parents better understand their child’s behavior and executive functioning skills.
I’m a licensed psychologist and the owner of Kuehnel Psychological Services, PLLC. For over 15 years, I’ve been working with children, adolescents, and their families to provide social, emotional, behavioral, and learning supports.
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Supporting a child with social, emotional, behavioral, or academic challenges can be an overwhelming experience for many parents. It’s not uncommon for families come to us with questions about whether testing is warranted, if the school is providing the most appropriate services, etc. Others desire some support with understanding Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), Section 504 Plans, progress reports, behavior support plans, and/or neuropsychological test results from other centers. In these cases, we are happy to meet with families for consultation. We’re also happy to connect with school Teams to share evaluation findings or other relevant information.
We have lots of experience with running parent-assisted intervention groups, where children and parents work together to learn strategies to improve social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. This approach blends the benefits of parent training and individual support, and groups are structured with both components offered simultaneously to increase accessibility for families. As these programs become available, more information will be listed here and sent out via our newsletter.
When children are displaying challenging behaviors at home, behavioral parent training can be a very effective intervention. In fact, some research shows that for children under the age of 10, parent support is more effective than individual therapy for the child. Behavioral parent training involves teaching parents specific strategies, which are grounded in behavioral psychology, so that they have more successful tools to manage behavior on a day-to-day basis. We have lots of experience working with parents of children with autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, attentional challenges, and oppositional and defiant behaviors. Sessions are held with the parent(s) only, though it may be appropriate on occasion for us to meet your child.
When tweens and teens are experiencing significant symptoms of anxiety or depression, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be a very effective treatment modality. In short, CBT is an approach that makes the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors more explicit, so that individuals become more capable of shifting negative thoughts, viewing situations more clearly, and responding in ways that foster improved day-to-day functioning. While we work directly with children and adolescents in CBT, we do also feel strongly that parent involvement is important for generalizing strategies outside of therapeutic sessions, and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate closely.
Solution-focused therapy is an approach that centers on current circumstances, future hopes, and solutions that will directly foster progress towards those goals. There is less of a focus on past problems or causes, and a more explicit focus on solutions. This approach aims to minimize the time spent in therapy, as well as the time spent struggling. Often, it involves 5-8 sessions. Please note that solution-focused therapy is not a particularly effective approach for complex mental health conditions, but can be a good fit for some with anxiety, stress, adjustment challenges, family conflict, or children with behavioral issues.
We greatly value the opportunity to collect real-time data on a child’s functioning in the classroom or other community settings, such as a preschool center, afterschool program, extracurricular activity, etc. When used as a prevention tool, these observations can lead to incredibly helpful recommendations for parenting and behavior management. When paired with a comprehensive evaluation, this add-on service can allow for an even more exhaustive analysis of your child’s day-to-day functioning, and can lead to more detailed, high-quality recommendations for intervention and supports.
The frequency/duration of an observation is determined on a case-by-case basis, often informed by a review of relevant clinical information and input from other relevant stakeholders (e.g., parents, teachers, therapists, etc.). If you are interested in having your child observed, please contact us and we can discuss the specifics of the case, so that you have a clear understanding of the process. Please know that these observations are not considered “medically necessary” and are not covered by insurance.
Although a complete neuropsychological and educational evaluation is most appropriate for the large majority of referred clients, there are some cases where a thorough, educational evaluation is most suitable to specifically identify a learning disability or monitor progress. For example, if a complete neuropsychological evaluation was previously completed and recommendations were offered to address social and emotional issues before a learning disorder could be ruled in/out, a follow-up educational evaluation may be warranted after the child has responded to social and emotional interventions. This service can be offered on a case-by case basis, and we encourage you to contact us for more information.
Our comprehensive evaluation approach pairs developmental, psychological, and/or neuropsychological testing with an educational evaluation, in order to obtain an in-depth understanding of the child’s performance across domains. The evaluations that we conduct typically involve about 25 hours of professional time, some of which is billable to insurance and some of which is not. More information about billing procedures can be shared by our practice manager when you call to book your appointment – it is our aim to ensure that you have a complete understanding of the process and options available to you.
The evaluation process begins with a clinical intake, which is typically about an hour and involves both the parent and the child. Following the intake, we review supporting documents (e.g., medical records, school records, and other information about the child’s developmental and educational history). This information allows us to determine a) if testing is warranted and medically necessary, and b) what specific tests are needed in order to effectively answer the referral question(s).
The next step is for the child to participate in formal testing, which may range from four to six hours of direct, face-to-face administration. In addition to formal testing, evaluations also typically include some combination of social, emotional, behavioral, and adaptive rating scales.
After all relevant information is collected, we then spend time scoring tests and developing the conceptualization that will inform our impressions and recommendations to the family. A feedback meeting is scheduled for approximately one to two weeks after the final testing session. Feedback meetings are typically for parents and any other relevant adult professionals (e.g., educational advocates), though in some cases, it may be appropriate to have older teenagers participate. Most often, an additional feedback meeting is scheduled to provide evaluation information directly to the child or adolescent, if desired and appropriate. At the conclusion of an evaluation (i.e., after the feedback session), a clinical report is written to document the evaluation findings.
At times, a comprehensive neuropsychological and educational evaluation is not necessary, and a brief, targeted evaluation is more appropriate. Perhaps your child has already had an extensive amount of testing done elsewhere, and you’re looking for a second opinion or diagnostic clarity. As another example, maybe your prescriber wants confirmation of a diagnosis before making medication recommendations. If our clinical team feels that a comprehensive neuropsychological and educational evaluation is not warranted, we will offer more targeted, individualized evaluations. However, please note that this is not an a la carte service where families can pick and choose what tests they want; our assessment protocols will always be informed by evidence-based practice and aligned with our ethical guidelines for professional practice.
The assessment and identification of behavioral health challenges is not always clear-cut! At times, data may suggest that your child falls in the borderline or the at-risk range for a particular condition, and waiting multiple years for a follow-up evaluation is unhelpful. Similarly, for those who do meet criteria for a particular diagnosis, it is often reasonable to expect some meaningful progress within four to six months, if the right interventions are in place. Without more frequent progress monitoring though, many children and adolescents wait years before any formal data is collected to examine responsiveness to intervention. To address this gap in service delivery, we are now offering progress monitoring appointments.
Specifically, when there’s reason to believe a child is at-risk following an annual mental health wellness exam, we can schedule a six-month follow-up appointment to assess progress over time and determine if further assessment or intervention is warranted. Additionally, for those who have had a comprehensive evaluation at KPS, we offer six-month check-ins to assess whether your child is demonstrating an appropriate response to intervention.
We strongly believe that prevention is the best intervention. We’re in the process of developing a number of primary prevention workshops to support parents of young children, with the aim of lessening the likelihood of future challenges. As these programs become available, more information will be listed here and sent out via our newsletter.
Anticipated Topics:
• Becoming a Child Behavior Detective – Tools for Understanding Why Kids Do What They Do!
• Sticker Charts, Schedules, and Signs, Oh My! – Structuring Your Home for Positive Behavior
• The Screen Time Battle – Strategies Proven to Decrease Meltdowns and Improve Family Functioning
• Anxiety Pitfalls – Identifying and Avoiding Common Parent Behaviors That Reinforce/Exacerbate Anxiety
• Supporting Kids with Social Weaknesses: A Crash-Course in Evidence-Based Practices
In addition to these primary prevention workshops hosted by KPS, we are also available for community workshops and presentations (e.g., with SEPACs, preschools, or other parent groups). If you are in need of a speaker and feel that we could potentially be an appropriate fit, please don’t hesitate to contact us with specific questions.
We love working with parents, especially those who are proactive about learning best practices for supporting their child’s development. On the very best days, parenting can be exhausting, confusing, and overwhelming. Parenting support should not be reserved only for those who are experiencing clinically significant challenges, and we welcome the opportunity to support parents before problems become more severe or suggestive of a diagnosable disorder.
If you’re a new parent, a tired toddler parent, or the parent of a preschooler with big feelings, we would love to work with you. There are so many research-supported strategies for parenting in the early years that foster healthy emotional and behavioral development in the elementary years and beyond. Let us help you with parenting for the future!
If you’re already through the early years and your child is now searching for more independence in the elementary, middle, or high school years, we can help with that too. Need some guidance on best practices for managing screentime, supporting extracurricular participation, navigating peer/dating relationships, talking to your kids about alcohol and substance use, etc.? These years are challenging, and you don’t have to navigate it alone – we can help!
Annual Mental Health Wellness Exam
Insurers are now required to cover an annual mental health wellness exam, in order to improve patient access to behavioral health care. This exam may be completed by your pediatrician as part of the annual physical, but you have the right to seek care with a licensed behavioral health clinician, if you wish. Without any significant family history of behavioral health challenges, the annual visit with your pediatrician may be sufficient. However, if your child is at higher risk for social, emotional, behavioral, or learning challenges, we can help!
Once per year, we can meet with you to discuss your child’s developmental progress and any related social, emotional, or behavioral concerns. We will have you complete some evidence-based screening tools, provide recommendations for strategies/supports that can foster healthy development, and inform you if more frequent progress monitoring or detailed assessment seems necessary. If/when appropriate, we can provide referrals for further prevention, assessment, or intervention services.
