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Specialty Programs
| Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Clinic |
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Dr. Charlotte Edwards, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, heads our ADHD clinic. She has been specializing in ADHD for over two decades. Our clinic consists of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. We provide comprehensive evaluations, ranging from full neuropsychological batteries to specialized assessments for ADHD. Our psychiatrists provide medication management as well as consultation to schools and families regarding ADHD. The clinic also provides individual therapy for children and adults. For children with ADHD, the clinic also provides parent education and support. Our clinic has been servicing the families of Cook and Lake Counties for over two decades.
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| Cogmed Working Memory Training |
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Cogmed Working Memory Training is a home-based program that helps people with attention problems by training and increasing their working memory capacity.
Clinically-proven results demonstrate that after training, users improve their ability to concentrate, control impulsive behavior and better utilize complex reasoning skills. In the end, in the case of children training, better academic performance can be achieved especially in math and reading.
Program Benefits
- Improved ability to sustain attention
- Improved impulse control
- Better complex reasoning skills
- Better academic performance
What is working memory?
- It is the ability to keep information in your mind for a short time, focus on a task and remember what to do next.
- With a working memory deficit, it is difficult to stay focused, plan next steps, remember instructions, start and finish tasks.
- Studies show a deficit in working memory often leads to difficulties in reading comprehension and math.
Signs of working memory deficits
- Problems focusing
- Easily distracted
- Difficulties starting and finishing tasks
- Forgetting instructions
Improving working memory can lead to better academic performance.
Research has established an important connection between working memory, attention and schoolwork:
- Most children with an attention problem also have a working memory deficit. That means they don’t have the same working memory capacity as their peers.
- Cogmed Working Memory Training is backed by clinical evidence and is proven to train and improve a child’s working memory.
- Post training evaluations show this helps kids perform better in school.
- To put it simply, increasing working memory capacity improves attention which helps improve academic performance.
Comprehensive, home-based program.
- Kids are motivated and train effectively with our unique coaching method and software.
- Training takes place at home five days a week for five weeks. An office visit is not necessary.
- The software automatically increases in difficulty gradually improving the child’s abilities.
- Every participant has a Personal Coach at our practice who leads the training, analyzes results and provides encouragement through weekly phone calls.
8 out of 10 children show measurable improvement.
Parents and teachers see real improvements in attention, problem solving skills and controlling impulses.
- 80% of children who complete training show measurable improvement in attention and complex reasoning skills.
- Parents and teachers also report other benefits in daily life:
o improved social skills
o taking initiative
o remembering things
o completing tasks like homework assignments more independently
- When asked one year after training to report on their experience, 79% of parents whose children had benefited from training reported effects had remained or increased.
Clinically-proven results.
Cogmed Working Memory Training is scientifically validated by placebo-controlled clinical studies published in respected professional journals, and there is on-going research at several leading U.S. universities. Visit www.Cogmed.com for complete information. You can also find useful information about Cogmed by visiting www.Aboutworkingmemory.org.
© 2008 Cogmed America Inc.
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| Asperger’s Disorder and PDD Clinic |
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Asperger’s Syndrome is a developmental disorder within the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) spectrum. It is difficult to recognize and diagnose, especially in early childhood. However, the core symptoms include social, academic, and occupational difficulties. Early diagnosis is important for a favorable treatment outcome.
Our clinic staff includes child psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. Our staff has been working and specialize in Pervasive Developmental Disorders. We provide comprehensive assessments, which include psychological testing and a full diagnostic evaluation by one of our psychiatrists. Our psychiatrists also provide medication management while our team of psychologists and social workers provide individual therapy, family therapy, and family education. Our staff work together to develop a comprehensive treatment plan so that all facets of the person’s life that needs to be addressed are done together by our team of experts. |
| School/Educational Program |
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Our practice provides a wide range of services to school districts throughout the area. Our team of psychiatrists provides medical consultation to schools on children that need to be assessed. Thorough evaluations are conducted with written reports provided to schools in a short time frame. Our staff can also attend school meetings if requested.
Counseling Connections has been providing psychological testing services to schools throughout Lake County for several years. When schools become backlogged with evaluations, our team of psychologists and psychometricians can work with schools to help them get caught up in their testing. We provide full learning disability evaluations, ADHD evaluations, and social/emotional evaluations. Our staff will attend multidisciplinary conferences when requested.
A unique aspect of Counseling Connections is its ability to provide violence/risk assessments. Ever since the tragedy at Columbine High School, school districts have needed a method for determining the risk level of a student for committing violence acts in a school setting. Our staff is able to provide these evaluations. A comprehensive report is written outlining not only the risk level, but also what can be done to decrease the risk level and what should be looked for that could increase a student’s risk level.
Our staff also provides consultation and can conduct psychological evaluations for families who would like a comprehensive private evaluation. We are happy to work with your student’s school to ensure that a comprehensive evaluation is conducted, whether it’s by our staff or your child’s school staff. As with our other school services, the evaluator will attend any school conference if requested. |
| Therapeutic Day Schools |
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In 1998 we opened our first school, Connections Day School. This is a private therapeutic day school for children with emotional and behavioral issues. Students are referred to our schools by their home district when it is determined that the public system can no longer meet their needs. Connections Day School now serves between 80-90 students from 3rd grade through high school. In the fall of 2001 we opened South Campus. Located in Palatine, South Campus serves 90 students also with emotional and behavioral issues. South Campus serves first grade through high school.
In November 2006 New Connections Academy opened in Palatine. This school serves children and adolescents on the Pervasive Developmental Disorder Spectrum. Specifically, we serve high functioning autistic children and children with Asperger’s Disorder from 1st grade through high school. The school was formed to meet the unique needs of Aspergers children and children with high functioning Autism who were in need of an alternate setting. We are very excited about this new program for an underserved population. |
| Northern Illinois Institute of Forensic Psychology (NIIFP) |
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Forensic evaluations require a high level of knowledge and expertise; all NIIFP professionals have specialized training and extensive backgrounds in their areas of services. NIIFP evaluations are completed individually or by a team of professionals, depending on the nature of the evaluation and the need of the parties. Our referral sources include judges, attorneys, law enforcement agencies, human resource departments, court personnel, and school administrators.
| Criminal Evaluations |
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| Our staff can provide a range of evaluations include NGRI, competency to stand trial/understand Miranda Rights, pre-sentencing evaluations, competency to enter a plea, juvenile disposition evaluations, psychological evaluations for sentencing and downward departure, and domestic violence and DUI evaluations. |
| Civil Evaluations |
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| Our staff conducts custody/visitation/removal evaluations, pre-decree and post-decree divorce mediation, sexual abuse assessments, guardianship evaluations, competency to consent to treatment evaluations and parental fitness evaluations. |
| Consultation Services |
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| Consultation services are some of the most cost-effective ways to obtain assistance in legal matters without having clients endure further evaluations. We provide consultation to attorney for deposition and trial preparation, research on mental health issues, consultation to clients, and can provide educational training seminars for attorneys, judges, court personnel and law enforcement agencies. |
Domestic Violence Evaluation and Treatment Program |
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| Arlene Messner-Peters, LCSW, and Alan Heigert, LCPC have been conducting Domestic Violence Evaluations for several years. They have conducted evaluations as ordered by the court, or as requested by an individual. Following the assessment, a treatment program can be implemented. Mr. Heigert and Ms. Messner-Peters have been conducting therapy for adults with domestic violence issues for over a decade. Both individual and group therapy methods can be employed. Ms. Messner-Peters runs an ongoing group to assist men who have been charged with domestic battery. Mr. Heigert specializes in providing comprehensive evaluations for juvenile court. |
| Workplace Services |
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| Our staff conducts Fitness for Duty evaluations, Pre-employment Screening for Public Safety Officers, Violence/Risk/Threat Assessment evaluations in the workplace and school, and psychological/neuropsychological testing for case study evaluations. |
| Therapeutic Services |
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| We provide supervised and therapeutic supervised parenting, individual and family counseling, marital counseling, counseling for children of divorce, Domestic Violence Offender treatment, Substance Abuse Evaluations and treatment and psychiatric services, including medication management, for children, adolescents, and adults. |
| Supervised Visitation |
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Supervised visitation is provided when the court requires a parent to be supervised during parenting time with their child/children. Our agency is able to provide this service in our Libertyville office and in public locations. We are able to supervise visits in restaurants, parks, and other public locations.
When providing this service at our office, we can offer a broad spectrum of family activities. We have a gym/recreation room available so that families are not confined to having visits in an office. We have sports and other equipment available to use for these visits. An art room is also available for use. |
| Therapeutic Supervision |
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| Therapeutic supervision is often ordered by the court to provide families not only with a safe and secure place for visitation, but also to help parents and children develop or reestablish healthy and positive relationships. Our staff is able to work with families to meet both of these goals. Furthermore, we can provide a combination of both services for those families that need supervised visits for several hours followed by a therapy session to process the visit and help families build stronger and healthier relationships. |
| Reintegration Therapy |
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| In some families, children are estranged from one parent or have significant difficulty reestablishing a relationship with that parent. From a physical safety standpoint, these parents do not pose a risk to their children. However, for many reasons there are emotional risks of having the parents involved with the child/children without reintegration therapy. The purpose of reintegration therapy is to assist a child/children and a parent establish or reestablish a positive and emotionally healthy relationship. Our licensed professional staff work with these families to help them move towards a more comfortable and healthy relationship. Our staff also work with the attorneys and courts in developing a plan to move the family towards more independence and reduced need of outside intervention services. |
| Pick Up/Drop Off Center |
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| We are a pick up/drop off location for families that need supervised transfers of children. That is, when the court requires the pick up and/or drop off of children to be in a public setting under supervision, we are able to provide this service at a reasonable cost. We are available on weekdays, evenings, and weekends. |
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