Nurturing Growth:
Behaviour Consultation at Ascend

This service may be a good fit if you are:

• Struggling with knowing how to manage and support your child with their big emotions or meltdowns.

• Feeling "stuck" and unsure how to handle challenging behaviours.

• Wanting to build stronger communication and connection in your family.

• Finding certain expectations to be recurrently upsetting for your child, such as environmental or task transitions, daily routines, and following your directions or requests.

• Looking for positive, realistic strategies to support your child at home or in the community.

• Wanting to strengthen their social-emotional and regulation skills through play-based therapy.

At Ascend Pediatrics, we firmly believe that play is a child's natural language and a powerful vehicle for learning and behaviour change. Our Behavioural Consultants expertly integrate play-based interventions into their sessions, making therapy engaging, motivating, and highly effective for children:

• Practicing Skills in Context: Through structured games, imaginative play, and interactive activities, children can safely practice new emotional regulation techniques, social skills, and adaptive behaviours in a low-pressure environment.

• Motivation & Engagement: When therapy feels like fun, children are more internally motivated to participate, leading to greater cooperation and more consistent effort in learning new ways of responding.

• Building Rapport & Trust: Play naturally fosters a strong, trusting relationship between the child and consultant, creating a comfortable space for exploration and growth.

• Expressing & Understanding: Play provides a unique avenue for children to express their feelings, needs, and frustrations symbolically, helping consultants gain deeper insights into their world.

By integrating play into our behavioural consultation services, we ensure that therapeutic progress is an enjoyable and empowering experience for your child, helping them develop positive behaviours that last.

Our experienced Psychologists and Social Workers provide Behavioural Consultation to support a variety of common challenges children and teens may face, including:

• Emotional Regulation: Developing skills to understand, manage, and express strong emotions in healthy ways (e.g., reducing meltdowns, aggression, or anxiety-driven behaviours).

• Challenging Behaviours: Addressing defiance, non-compliance, tantrums, difficulties with transitions, and other disruptive patterns.

• Social Skills: Enhancing abilities to interact positively with peers and adults, share, take turns, and understand social cues.

• Self-Management Skills: Supporting the development of independence in routines, self-care, organization, and adaptive living skills.

• Communication Barriers: Improving communication to reduce frustration, leading to more effective interactions between children and caregivers.

• Attention & Focus: Strategies to improve concentration and task completion, both at home and in academic settings.

• Sensory-Related Behaviours: Understanding how sensory processing differences might impact behaviour and developing strategies to support regulation.

Our approach to Behavioural Consultation is built upon evidence-based practices and a deep understanding of child development, ensuring the most effective and supportive outcomes for your child and family:

• Comprehensive Assessment & Functional Analysis: We begin by thoroughly understanding the "why" behind challenging behaviours, identifying triggers and the function they serve for the child.

• Individualized Positive Behaviour Support Plans: We collaboratively develop customized plans that focus on teaching new, appropriate skills and proactively preventing challenging behaviours, utilizing positive reinforcement.

• Parent Education & Coaching: We empower parents and caregivers with practical tools and strategies, providing ongoing coaching to confidently implement techniques within daily routines, fostering consistent progress.

• Collaborative & Family-Centered Care: We partner closely with families, recognizing their central role. We also collaborate with other Ascend Pediatrics therapists and external professionals to provide truly integrated and holistic support.

• Neurodiversity-Affirming Practices: Our consultants are committed to a neurodiversity-affirming approach, respecting and valuing individual differences while supporting development and well-being.

We believe in being transparent about our rates to help you plan for your family’s care. Our fees reflect the specialized training and expertise of our clinicians, as well as the comprehensive care we provide. All Behaviour Consultation sessions begin at 75 minutes in duration, which includes a 60-minute behaviour consultation session and 15 minutes of indirect time dedicated to professional documentation, planning, and care coordination.

• Registered Social Worker (MSW): $150 per hour

• Psychologist: $220 per hour

Payment & Coverage

To support our clients and recognize that some may be receiving multidisciplinary services from several providers, we make every effort to provide you with a clear monthly invoice that can be submitted to FSCD or your insurance company. Many of our services are eligible for coverage through extended health benefits. We encourage you to check your FSCD contract agreement or individual health benefits to confirm your specific coverage details.

For more detailed information about our payment methods, cancellation policies, and funding options, please visit our FAQ page.