For Parents
You know your child best. When something feels off — whether it’s persistent anxiety, behavioural changes, school difficulties, sleep that hasn’t settled, big feelings that don’t soothe with the usual strategies, or questions about ADHD or autism — it’s natural to want answers and a clear path forward. That’s what this page is for.
Where to start, by your child’s age.
If your child is 0–6: the early years page covers what I see at this age — sleep, big feelings, sensory sensitivities, separation, behaviour outpacing your strategies — and walks through the case for waiting and the case for not waiting.
If your child is 6–12: the children page covers ADHD, anxiety, OCD, behavioural difficulties, and school refusal at the primary-school years.
If your child is 13–17: the teenagers page covers what shifts in adolescence — academic pressure, the executive-function strain of secondary school, and the anxiety, mood, and identity work that often comes alongside.
If your child is 18–25: the young adults page is the door — but at this age, the work has to be theirs. I won’t take a referral from a parent for an adult; the appointment has to come from the young adult. What you can do is share that page, or the screening tools page, and let them decide.
If you’re here as a parent in your own right — recognising yourself in some of what you’ve read about your child, or wanting support for yourself in the work of raising a neurodivergent kid — the rest of this page is for you.
Common reasons parents come in.
My child seems more anxious than other children. School refusal, separation anxiety, excessive worry, specific phobias, social anxiety — childhood anxiety is one of the most common and most treatable concerns I see. I trained in parent-coached exposure therapy at the Mayo Clinic Pediatric Anxiety Disorders Clinic.
We’re struggling with behaviour at home. Defiance, emotional outbursts, aggression, or patterns that feel beyond what the books and the older parents prepared you for. I’m PCIT-trained — Parent-Child Interaction Therapy — an evidence-based approach that works directly with the parent-child dynamic for children roughly 2 to 7. The PCIT page walks through what that looks like.
I think my child might have ADHD. If you’re wondering whether attention, organisation, or self-regulation difficulties might be ADHD, the right next step is usually a careful assessment. The child ADHD assessment page and the teen ADHD assessment page walk through what that involves.
My child is struggling at school and we don’t know why. Learning difficulties, underperformance relative to ability, or emotional barriers to learning can all be clarified through comprehensive psychological assessment. The assessment hub walks through what gets assessed and when.
My teenager seems withdrawn, irritable, or not themselves. Adolescent mood, anxiety, identity questions, and peer difficulties all benefit from the right support at the right time. Teen therapy covers direct work with adolescents.
My child has tics, hair-pulling, or skin-picking patterns. The tics, Tourette syndrome, and habit disorders page covers a small but growing line of work I take on.
Not sure where to start?
Book a free 15-minute Meet & Greet to talk through your concerns. I’ll help you figure out the right next step for your child — even if that step is somewhere other than here. No commitment required.
| Common reasons parents come in | What I usually find |
|---|---|
| “Something is off, I just can’t name it” | Worth a 15-min free conversation. Often this is the start of a long-overdue clarity |
| “School is asking us to get him assessed” | Sometimes diagnostic, sometimes a navigation problem — we’ll figure out which |
| “She’s anxious all the time and we don’t know why” | Anxiety in kids often layers with ADHD, sleep, sensory, perfectionism — assessment maps the layers |
| “He had a meltdown at the parent-teacher meeting” | Behavioural questions are usually about regulation + environment + history, not just behaviour |
| “We’re moving back to Singapore and need a clinic” | Continuity-of-care call. We translate prior reports into local context and pick up the work |
How it works.
The first appointment is always a parent consultation, usually up to two hours, without your child present. This extended session gives me the time to understand your child’s history, your concerns, and what you’ve already tried. If scheduling two hours at once is difficult, we can split it across two sessions.
Parents are partners in this work, not bystanders. For younger children, therapy often works through you — you learn the strategies and become the agent of change in your child’s daily life. For school-age children, the balance is mixed. For adolescents, the work is increasingly with the teen directly, with parent involvement at a different angle.
Follow-up sessions are 60 to 90 minutes, depending on what the work needs that day. I keep a small caseload by design and a thirty-minute stagger between clients, so I can write notes and you never run into whoever came before you.
Why Lightfull Psychology.
I completed the Clinical Child Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship at Mayo Clinic, with specialised training across paediatric anxiety, inpatient psychiatry, consultation-liaison, and pain rehabilitation. I trained at UNC Chapel Hill (doctoral, primarily under Eric Youngstrom, with a year-long practicum under Jon Abramowitz), Duke (rotation under Dr. Jill Lorenzi in Dr. Geraldine Dawson’s autism group), and earlier held a research role in Dr. Lauren Alloy’s Mood and Cognition Lab at Temple University. I have worked with children and families across the full spectrum of clinical complexity.
I’m also neurodivergent myself, which means I bring both clinical expertise and a personal understanding of what it’s like to navigate the world with a brain that works differently.
If you’re an international family.
If you’re new to Singapore, or moving on from Singapore, or your child is in an international school with a different curriculum than the local system — I write assessment reports in the format the school will recognise (IB, Cambridge, US-curriculum), and I’m familiar with the practical questions that come up around relocation and transitions. The international families page has more.
Who I’m not the right person for.
If your child has a primary feeding disorder, a primary speech-language delay, or significant developmental delays where the question is “is this on track” start with a developmental paediatrician (KKH or NUH have strong public-sector pathways) or a speech-language therapist. If your child has been hospitalised for a mental health concern, has self-harm behaviour, or you’re worried about acute safety, contact Samaritans of Singapore (1767) or IMH (6389 2222) immediately, and we can talk after the acute concern is addressed.
If your primary concern is an active eating disorder, I’ll route you to someone better placed for that work. The clinical-fit page has more on who I do and don’t take on, and which colleagues in Singapore I refer to.
| What | How long | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 15-minute meet & greet | 15 min | Free |
| Intake | 60–90 min | SGD 300/hr, pro-rated |
| Full assessment (if needed) | 2–3 sessions + collateral input | Package pricing — see /fees/ |
| Feedback session | ~90 min, written report walked through together | Included in assessment package |
| Ongoing therapy | 60–90 min per session | SGD 300/hr, pro-rated |
Next steps
- Early years (0–6) — preschoolers and toddlers
- Children (6–12) — primary school years
- Teenagers (13–17) — secondary school and adolescence
- Young adults (18–25) — for sharing with an adult child
- Assessment hub — what gets assessed and when
- Screening tools — to organise observations before booking
- Fees & payment — assessment packages and session rates
- Clinical fit — who I do and don’t take on
- Book a free 15-minute Meet & Greet
Preparing for your first appointment?
Download my free parent guide to learn what to expect, how to talk to your child about the visit, and what to bring.
Download Parent Guide (PDF)If you’d like to start with a screener before reaching out, the screening tools library has SDQ, SCARED, and other validated parent-report measures. And if you’re not sure what fits, start here is a good place to begin.
A few free screeners
Self-completed, instantly scored, no email required. They are a starting point for a conversation, not a diagnosis.
- SDQ — Parent Report — emotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties for ages 4–17.
- SCARED — Parent Report — anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents.
- PHQ-9 + GAD-7 — for you — parents need a check-in too.