Dysregulation: Anxiety, Behavior, Stress

First and foremost, there are no bad kids. Children who struggle with behavior often have neurodevelopmental differences that were missed, identified late or never fully supported. Over time, those unmet needs can leave behind anxiety, stress and depression. For many, sensory differences that were never recognized are part of the picture too.

Many of these children grow into adults whose differences were never identified, or whose challenges became harder to manage under the demands of college, work or parenthood. By the time they reach us, many carry shame alongside anxiety, depression and stress. Understanding the real source of their struggles is often the first step toward letting go of that shame and moving forward.

For children and adults alike, effective treatment starts with a clear diagnosis. From there, you’ll learn the biological and psychological roots of your challenges, and how they shape thoughts and behavior. You become the expert in your own mental health, with skills you can rely on for a lifetime.

Anxiety

• Identification of Type and Cause:

  • Stress: Anxiety related to ongoing learning challenges, social challenges, and additive stress
  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder – Fear of everything
  • Social Anxiety Disorder – Fear of being judged
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder  (Note: If this is the challenge, we will refer you to an expert in this area.)

• Parent Training:

  • We will provide you with a great book on parenting an anxious child.
  • We will help you understand the biology of anxiety.
  • We will help you coach your child through anxiety (CBT) treatment.

• Individual Therapy:

  • We teach how the anxious brain and body work to trick your child into believing fears!
  • We provide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
    • We teach about cognitive distortions.
    • We teach about automatic negative thoughts.
  • We help create school accommodations for Anxiety.
  • We teach your child a ‘User’s Manual’ for understanding and talking back to anxiety!

Note: We treat anxiety, depression and stress related to neurodevelopmental differences like autism, ADHD and dyslexia. For primary mood disorders, bipolar disorder, OCD or moderate to severe anxiety disorders, we refer to trusted specialists. We’re a great first stop, and we’ll help you find the right care.

Misbehavior, Anger, Moodiness

• Identification of Cause:

  • Opposition & Defiance may due to biological or behavioral issues.
  • Biological Issues: anxiety, ADHD, sensory integration, depression.
  • Behavioral Issues: lack of parent knowledge about child development, sibling challenges, divorce, abuse/neglect
  • Misbehavior may be due to parenting that is not appropriate to the child’s developmental age.

• Collaborative Problem Solving & Behavior Management:

  • We teach developmentally appropriate and research based behavior management skills.
  • We primarily use Collaborative Problem Solving (Greene & Ablone) and Your Defiant Child or Your Defiant Teen (Barkley).
  • We co-create structured, developmentally achievable goals to create self-esteem and self-respect.

• Character Development:

  • We teach character development and self esteem.
  • We create a safe, trusted relationship to model respect.

Adoption / Reactive Attachment Disorder

Note: While we don’t specialize in adoption, we work with many adopted children and teens. We support them with challenges such as defiance, behavior, learning, attention and mood regulation, often related to an underlying neurodevelopmental and/or attachment disorder.

• Understand the cause:

  • We teach how kids develop Reactive Attachment Disorder.
  • We teach how RAD changes the young brain to be more anxious/angry.

• Treatment:

  • Co-existing Challenges: It is important to rule out other common challenges: ADHD, depression, learning differences, sibling jealousy.

  • Parent Training: Parent intervention is similar to the Anxiety & Behavioral interventions above. RAD kids need parents to understand their anxiety and appropriately deal with their behavior, while creating a safe home.

  • Individual Therapy: Kids need to understand their RAD brain! Their biology tells them to attach, but they have learned that is dangerous. This push/pull is scary and causes a lot of anxiety.

College Kids

Some kids need extra support when they leave home. College is a life-changing adventure that requires bravery, self-awareness and skill. We often serve as mentors regarding relationship, sexuality, academic, time management and stress challenges for local kids.

Parenting

Research shows that ADHD diagnoses in women rise in the years after childbirth, peaking when children are 2 to 5 years old (Madsen et al., Journal of Attention Disorders, 2026).

It’s common for parents of young kids to develop anxiety while raising children and running a home. This is especially true for bright, capable adults whose ADHD, anxiety or both were never identified. Strategies that worked as a single person can stop working under the constant executive function demands of parenting. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone, and you’re not failing. This is a safe, judgment-free place to understand what’s happening and find your footing again.

Article: ADHD & Perinatal Mental Health: Breaking the silence for neurodivergent mothers.

Dr. Arnold and her son…a long time ago!