Board-certified psychiatrists provide psychiatric evaluations or consultations for a variety of emotional and behavioral concerns. Following a comprehensive assessment the psychiatrist will discuss treatment options for your child or adolescent, including recommendations for therapy (individual, family, group, or in-home) and medications. Sometimes a recommendation may include more intensive services such as the Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) or inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.

The Partial Hospital Program (PHP) is an intensive treatment intervention for youth with acute psychiatric problems who can be safely maintained at outpatient level of care. Often when youth are experiencing a crisis they are unable to attend school. They need more intensive treatment than once a week therapy. The goal of this intervention is to stabilize the youth and family in order to return to school and a lower level of care as quickly as possible.

Psychologists at Inova Kellar Center provide comprehensive testing and evaluations for children and adolescents who are suspected of having neurodevelopmental, learning and emotional/behavioral disorders.

If your child is demonstrating any of the following symptoms, an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) evaluation may be appropriate.

If your child is showing signs of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a comprehensive psychological evaluation may be appropriate.

Comprehensive testing is the most extensive type of evaluation offered at Inova Kellar Center. It allows us to fully understand your child's strengths and weaknesses and identifies what may be causing the symptoms or behaviors of concern. Children often have more than one difficulty that they struggle with. These multiple issues are sometimes challenging to tease apart. In situations when various factors and explanations may be contributing to a child's difficulty, a comprehensive evaluation can help differentiate and identify these factors.

Social/emotional testing can be helpful when your child is experiencing behavioral or emotional problems.

Psychoeducational testing can be helpful when your child is experiencing difficulty learning basic academic skills. If your child demonstrates problems in one or more of the following areas, psychoeducational testing may be warranted.

Inova Kellar Center provides therapy to children, adolescents, and families. Our licensed masters’ and doctoral-level clinicians with multi-disciplinary backgrounds are trained to work with individuals of all ages using appropriate and evidence-based practices. We provide individual, family and group therapy in an environment that emphasizes collaboration with other professionals, including mental health and healthcare providers and school professionals when appropriate.

Social Skills Group Group sessions focus on teaching children a variety of basic social skills (i.e., introducing oneself, friendly body language, how to start a conversation, how to keep a conversation going, how to deal with frustration). The sessions also are experiential with skills practice through games and role-plays so that skills can be developed and refined in real time. Parents are invited to join for the last 10-15 minutes of each session so that the group members can share what they learned and practice the skills again with parents and/or each other.