Anyone know any good Child Psychologist ?

[sushigal]

You may try this lady called Liew Ping.


Her charges is S$70 per hour.

Her no : 6333 5080.

She is very experience. We went to her because of our girl 7 years old.

[zaurus]

My brother currently in primary 2 has huge disciplinary problem. He seems to always anger my parents on purpose. And this has been putting my whole family on the edge of destruction. My mother has broken down several times and my father temper sometimes get out of control.

Yet my brother still refuse to listen to us. We are really at our wits end.

Recently we have been implementing time out. We have followed the instructions carefully, but yet he refuse to stay in his seat. The time out dragged up to 2 and half hours today before he finally calm down and admit his mistakes. Is my brother in need of psychologist help? The situation is quite dire, I may end up losing my mother or father if this problem cannot be solved.

Any help or advise is appreciated.

[2ppaamm]

DH just brought the kids to the dockside and so I managed to slip in this little contribution. Hope it helps you if you are looking for a psychologist.


DS2 has been to let’s see 4 psychologists, 1 behavior therapist, 1 sound engineer, 1 OT. The results are varied, and psychologists are very different in the way the treat. What are you looking to achieve in seeing a psychologist?

If diagnosis is what you are after, then what is the diagnosis for? The first psychologist we went to refuse to diagnose my son with anything but advised us to attend behavior therapist. After a few sessions, we gave up, because nothing seemed to work. For those 5 or so sessions, we did IQ tests, ADHD tests etc etc. Cost close to $10K, and nothing worked, except we found out our child is very clever, and some areas deserve some action. This psychologist’s approach is not to label because of the stigma it carries. We understood that.

Then, when his problem did not subside in school, a second psychologist came into the picture. This time, he is the EP from MOE who is very kind and gentle. This time, he did the Asperger test. He diagnosed my son with Asperger. His approach is to diagnose so that school teachers and educators know what to do or handle him. One of the asperger’s syndromes is that he has SID, so we sent him to an OT and another psychologist for behavior classes.

The 3rd psychologist took him into the first behavior class, and refused to believe he is autistic or asperger. He is too socially smart to be AS, so she took him out of the behavior class, and asked us to send him to an OT exclusively. She also did a complete IQ test on him. He was way beyond the curve. Nobody in Singapore knew how to handle this category of children properly.

With the OT, it turned out his hearing was strange, and that he does not have a dominant ear, which was ‘stressful’ to a ‘normal’ human. And after $30K later, we found out that he is like me, ambidextrous, so are his ears. So he is not SID. We went to a sound engineer for therapy, and he refused to believe my son is Asperger or autistic. With the sound therapy, he became more confident and could take instructions better.

At this point, the school and MOE used the diagnosis from the EP to demand we send him to a special school, despite his profound giftedness We refused after speaking to many parents who had special needs children attending that school. We then sent him to a 4th psychologist for a thorough test.

The 4th psychologist now look at him and did a thorough, thorough test. At 10, his academic ability was that of an 17 or 18 year old. But he was reserved, and could not relate well to many people anymore. The psychologist believed it was due to all the trauma he had gone through in our Singapore school system. She confirmed that he had been misdiagnosed and did not have any ADHD or autism. Her recommendation is for us not to send him to a local school. There are better schools, she told me, and contrary to what the newspapers have us believe, these international schools in Singapore fair much better academically than many of our local schools in international exams.

Then, enters the almighty psychologist from MOE who had never seen my son in person. She insisted that the 4th psychologist’s report was faulty and that my son is indeed autistic, and therefore the diagnosis must remain.

My son, through the many psychologists, EPs, educators and teachers, was on the verge of medicated depression. He was misdiagnosed, yet once this diagnosis is made, it is not possible to shake it off.

We left Singapore. He is now 11. Next year, he will be starting his freshman year in a university. I hope the pain and trauma has finally come to an end. Ultimately, the only people who have to bear the consequences is ourselves. Think carefully why you need a psychologist, and be realistic what they can do for you. For all you know, they might cause harm.

I had a mix bag of good, bad and well-intentioned psychologists.

Hope my experience helps those who are looking for solutions. My son was just a smart-mouthed, outspoken boy who did not know restraint. Remember you know your child best, don’t let the ‘experts’ tell you otherwise. Sometimes, it is better to look for answers within your own family, within your children and within yourselves.

[mommyNg]

:goodpost: 2ppaamm!


I agree with you that it is important to \"think carefully why you need a psychologist, and be realistic what they can do for you.\" Most of them are well-intentioned, but as mentioned earlier, diagnosis comes with labeling, and labeling may exacerbate certain symptoms and aggravate certain situations, albeit unintentionally.

So I would recommend to give much thoughts before jumping into the \"psychological-testing\" wagon. Really, \"what are you looking to achieve in seeing a psychologist?\" is an important question. Sometimes a good talk with a counsellor or a professional psychologist would do wonders rather than hours of testing. Because a good counsellor / psychologist would be able to help draw out the situation and help you \"see\" it better, whether as a family, within your children or within yourselves.

By the way, sorry I didn't reply some of your messages because I didn't check this thread since I last replied... :oops: I'm usually reluctant to share names until I understand clearly the intention and situation behind the request. Some of them specialize in a whole range of psychological tests, some specialize in dyslexia, ADHD, & OT, and some with mild learning impairments/difficulty, etc. But again, please note that each child is unique, so one psychologist may work well for one child but not another.

[tisnadi]

2ppaamm... Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. I think it's very true that parents are the one who know their child best.


I guess my expectation is that I will get 'professional' advice from experience psychologist on how to handle certain bad behaviour from my son (5.5 yrs). I really have no idea that it will involve a lot of test, etc. I was asked a few times by his teacher to see psychologist for his bad behaviour. Now, I'm really thinking about the benefit and the risk of seeing a psychologist.

If anybody else can share their experience with child psychologist... I would be very grateful..

[2ppaamm]

Hi tisnadi,


Try bringing him to see a counselor for behavior instead. A good behavior counselor will be able to put him in a behavior class, and teach you coping strategies. A term or two will do. Don’t go through unnecessary tests and procedures. You will waste a lot of money. If you need behavior therapists, I have good experiences with Kaleidoscope at Balestier. There are a few there. They are not psychologists. Call them and see if they can help you.

[tisnadi]

Hi 2ppaamm,


Thanks a lot... really appreciate your advice

I will contact them and see what they can offer to help me...

[yeo88]

Hi,

I suspect my daughter has ADD (10 year old) and I am wondering where would be a good place to do her assessment. Thanks to help me as I don’t know where to start. Thanks.

[bleeze]

My Dd (11 year old) is very negative about life. She always said she wanted to die. She always said nobody likes her. She also said God doesn’t like her. She studied hard and results only average as compare to her younger brother who always played, enjoying life or read story books even during exam period and yet results are very good. Dd always said God loves her brother more than her. Next year is Dd’s PSLE and Dd always said she rather die than to sit for PSLE. She hates next year. I tried to counsel her but she is still so negative. I tried not to put stress on her by giving her more free time. I am worried as next year is PSLE and just afraid Dd can’t handle stress. I intend to look for Psychologist. Can anyone share your psychologist’s contact who has this specialties? Thanks

[2ppaamm]

Bleeze, I gave a contact above there. Call them and see if a professional counselor can help. You may not need a psychologist, which may blow up the situation. Let her sit with someone who will listen and understand her needs. If she needs an assessment, the counselor will refer her. Hope this helps. Kaleidoscope at Balestier. I think you can google them out. The counselor I use there is always booked up, but there are a few, and she is British. But I believe there are a few who are good there, because I heard them talking about it while I wait for my kid in the lobby.


All the best!