Dr. Charlene Messenger has been so gracious to give us her time and share her expertise with us again. Today she agreed to come back on the show to explain how Psychoeducational testing is broken down in order to do different types of testing for various children, provide us with helpful tips on how to help work on memory; share strategies on how to reward children when working with them to prevent frustration, share a success story with us, provide tips for parents that are struggling to find answers and talk about some of the self-help tools she has created can be used as resources to help parents. She talked about how Psychoeducational testing is broken down into these 4 components:

  1. Intelligence (IQ testing) which can cautiously be assessed as early as 2 years of age.
  2. Achievement/Academic Testing- i.e. reading skills.
  3. Process Testing- which looks at functions such as memory, and can assess auditory, visual, and perceptual-based difficulties.
  4. Behavioral/Emotional Testing- which includes screenings for anxiety, depression, mood disorders, ADD/ADHD, etc…

She also talked about how “memory” problems are so easily misidentified and misconstrued these days. She stated that back in the 70’s they didn’t have treatment options for memory problems, but now there are many ways you can practice and strengthen memory skills, like you would strengthen a weak muscle. She encourages parents to check out library books that give 100’s of activities or find memory games on-line, such as subtraction games for your child to do in his or her head, or having them find 3-4 random objects in the house and bring them back to you using only their memory.

She also teaches us that when we challenge children, we need to make sure we are allowing them to have 2 successes for every 1 failure. This is a good balance to achieve so your child is not overly frustrated with tasks that are too easy or hard. Dr. Messenger used the great example of: Shaquille O’Neal practices what is “hard”, not what is “easy”. This is how we acquire difficult skills.

Dr. Messenger feels we can all make a huge difference in the world of a child when we use multiple approaches, and this can be the best way to address children who have sensory processing difficulties. She shared an example of when a parent brought her child into her office feeling like there was a mental disturbance and that medication would be beneficial. It turned out this child needed dietary changes, behavior modification techniques (a simple behavior chart), training in self-control with some play therapy used, exercises for home, and a supportive teacher.

As far as helpful tips for stressed parents…Dr. Messenger encourages parents to take care of themselves, and be patient (as hard as this may be) as nagging and scolding children are not highly effective parenting tools. She also encourages us to be aware of each child’s developmental stages and mental ages, so we are setting our expectations at an appropriate level for them to understand and feel successful. Dr. Messenger also has some great resources on her website including some self-help materials she has developed herself, including her long time book: Secrets of the Third Little Pig which you can find in an Orlando Public Library or on-line, and a game she’s creating for kids that comes with a higher level manual for parents- teaching self-help skills.

Thank you again Dr. Messenger, you are such a pleasure and we are so grateful for your time and expertise over the past 3 episodes.

If you would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Messenger, find out more about her services, or benefit from the extensive knowledge and resources posted on her website, you can visit her web page at:www.brighterpathways.com or contact her office at 407-895-0540

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