This form will help you orient to our services. During the intake process, we need to answer three questions related to matching the needs of you or your child to treatment options.
First question, what is going on with you or your child? Second, is there a formal name, label or diagnosis for what you just described? And third, will these issues respond well to outpatient therapy or are they more intensive? Are home and school-based services like Applied Behavior Analysis* (ABA) needed? Since some individuals are here for diagnostic evaluations only, question 3 may not apply.
Step One: What is going on with you or your child?
Beyond the intake session, a series of assessment related activities occur that are designed to pull information from multiple sources, each providing a unique contribution to defining the problem.
a) You will be interviewed, whether patient or parent, to gather global information on positive and challenging behaviors. Patterns of behavior are investigated to determine likely function, place of occurrence and ways in which people respond to those behaviors. Often teachers and childcare providers are interviewed as well.
b) Frequency, severity and duration data are collected to refine our knowledge on targeted issues. Usually simple, time-limited protocols are sufficient for conditions like depression, anxiety and anger. For a limited set of uncommon conditions, these assessments may be intensive (e.g., speech delays necessitate the use of an ABLLS-R administration).
c) Diagnostic tests will be administered to both look for the presence of potential mental health conditions as well as the absence of other conditions. We refer to this as searching for convergent and divergent data, i.e., what “fits” and what doesn’t. These tests may be completed by the patient, teachers and family. It may be helpful to think about this as “looking for red flags”.
d) Medical and educational records will be reviewed.
e) Observations and interaction data will be gathered.
f) Outside specialty evaluations may be suggested based on presenting problems and needs (e.g., chronic constipation issues require gastroenterologist evaluations to rule out biomechanical issues).
Step Two: Is there a formal name, label or diagnosis for what you just described?
Technically speaking, there is likely a label for what might be occurring. Unfortunately, labels are not always useful. In short a useful label should assist with communication among treatment providers; access resources, financial and otherwise; and, match to specific treatments. Medical labels meeting these features are called diagnoses. If a diagnosis is determined, I will share that information with you. Please remember diagnoses are only provided to persons and agencies with whom you have identified as “needing to know” this information.
Step Three: Will these issues respond well to outpatient therapy?
Most issues and mental health diagnoses may be successfully treated in the outpatient setting with behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, and family systems approaches. Sessions may be held weekly at first, but often taper off as improvement occurs. The number of sessions needed may vary greatly, depending on the person and the diagnosis. Some conditions and diagnoses may require more intensive, home and school-based approaches like ABA. Diagnostic conditions that are very difficult to treat in the outpatient setting include Autism, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Developmental Disabilities. As a cautionary note, some types of therapy may actually worsen your or your child’s functioning. We don’t do those forms of therapy here. We will tell you if we think a treatment request is likely to do more harm than good. For more information on this, please ask. As an academic, Dr. Hatfield is more than willing to share this information with you.
Note*: ABA is the application of the Science of Human Behavior to common everyday issues. Contrary to what you might have heard, human behavior may be studied as a science and should not be considered an art. Art does not follow rules and is not predictable in terms of growth and expression. Art is great for aesthetics and promoting self-inquiry, but not so good for treating certain diagnoses. Studying human behavior as a science allows us to determine the rules governing how one learns, how behavior functions or works, how to grow positive responses while diminishing harmful unhelpful responses and how to optimize personal independence. Data are always collected on the issues targeted for change, and creativity of the therapist is secondary to the application of proven techniques and methods for positive change. ABA is based on reinforcement of behavior, not “insight”. ABA is the only empirically supported treatment for persons with Autism. Unlike some states such as New York, California and Florida, the State of Colorado does not require insurance companies to pay for ABA for any condition except autism spectrum disorders (e.g., Autism, Aspergers, and PPD, NOS) as of July 1, 2010 (Senate Bill 09-244). Tricare, the federal insurance plan for military service personnel and their dependents, may pay for ABA through the ECHO program. Certain limitations and conditions apply.
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