This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

"Finding Your Focus"—A New Community Program Helps Students with ADD

Jewish Family Services offers a new ADD/ADHD treatment program that is both comprehensive and insurance reimbursable.

For some time now, Eve Moskowitz, director of clinical services for Jewish Family Services (JFS), has received nearly five phone calls per month from families seeking affordable evaluations for children with focus problems.

“We found the community was in desperate need of someone who would provide these evaluations at a reasonable cost,” said Moskowitz.

In turn, JFS, a nonprofit, nonsectarian agency that provides emergency assistance and counseling to families along with referral services and evaluations, launched Finding Your Focus, a program providing psychiatric evaluations, counseling, family support, and medication management for children or adolescents suffering from focusing problems, such as attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). What makes Finding Your Focus unique is that it is insurance reimbursable. Dr. Lee Combrinck-Graham, medical director of JFS, works with all major insurance carriers, says Moskowitz.

Find out what's happening in Stamfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Moskowitz, ADD seems to be the diagnosis du jour, and the organization does not want to over-diagnose students.

“What we’re finding is that it’s the diagnosis of the day,” she says. “Many families who come in think their children have focusing problems, although they may have none at all.”

Find out what's happening in Stamfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Even if a client is not diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, JFS says they can still benefit from the behavioral components of the program.

The program, which officially launched three months ago, is aimed to be a one-stop shop for their clients and families. Dr. Combrinck- Graham, who is also clinical associate professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center, aids in properly diagnosing clients and providing medication management. The program will also counsel children and their families to develop support amongst peer groups, learn vocabulary to better understand what they are experiencing, and find the tools and skills needed to better manage the obstacles they encounter with these problems.

“For families, I think there’s a misconception about a child’s abilities. We offer a support group for parents so they can understand their child’s limitations and what it feels like to not be able to do something,” said Moskowitz. “For the children, the support groups let them know they’re not alone. We give them cognitive tools on how to help these kids do better.”

Some common symptoms of children with focusing problems include being anxious, getting down on themselves, missing social cues, and inability to focus in class and on homework. Moskowitz says these symptoms can result in grades slipping, children getting reprimanded often, and difficulty forming social relationships.

“There’s a lot of social stigma surrounding these issues,” said Moskowitz. “It’s best if it can be identified early on.”

The program is offered on a first come, first serve basis, although Moskowitz does not plan on setting a limit to the number of clients and wants to see the program continue to grow.

“I never imagined a ceiling,” says said. “If more people continued to join we would have to expand the program. That’s the mission of a nonprofit—to provide what the community needs.”

The program will meet on Wednesday afternoons in the Stamford office at 733 Summer Street. To register for the programs or for more information, contact Eve Moskowitz at 203-921-4161 or emoskowitz@ctjfs.org.

 

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?