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Therapy & support
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Therapy & support
How do I help my child learn to advocate for themselves?
Children learn self-advocacy through everyday practice in three skills: knowing themselves, speaking up about their needs, and problem-solving who to ask for help. Parents build it by offering real choices, teaching simple scripts, letting children try before rescuing, and modelling advocacy — especially before big transitions like a new school or adulthood. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child learn to follow instructions?
Children learn to follow instructions through short, clear one-step requests paired with attention and patience, gradually building to multi-step directions as understanding and memory grow. Make it playful, allow processing time, and praise effort. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child learn to walk?
Help your child learn to walk with plenty of floor time, barefoot practice, safe spaces to pull up and cruise, and warm encouragement — and skip the sit-in baby walker. Most children walk between 9 and 18 months. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child make friends?
Help your child make friends by building the skills behind friendship — turn-taking, sharing, reading feelings and joining play — through low-pressure, playful practice and well-set-up one-to-one playdates around shared interests. If friendships feel much harder for your child than for peers, a developmental check can show whether extra support would help. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child make friends and fit in at school?
Children make friends by learning the everyday skills beneath friendship — turn-taking, reading faces, joining a game and holding a conversation — and by getting structured chances to practise them through short playdates and shared-interest activities. Warm parent coaching, going at the child's pace, builds confidence; one safe friend matters more than fitting in with everyone. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child make friends at school?
Help your child make friends by coaching the skills underneath friendship — sharing, turn-taking, reading feelings and starting conversations — through play and short, structured playdates. Begin small, partner with the teacher, and seek a friendly developmental check if your child is persistently left out, very anxious in groups, or finds two-way conversation hard.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child manage big emotions?
Children manage big emotions by first borrowing a parent's calm — staying steady, naming the feeling, connecting before correcting, and practising calming tools when calm. Big feelings are normal developmental work. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child speak in full sentences?
Help your child move from words to full sentences by expanding what they already say, narrating daily routines, reading together and giving them time to respond — warm, playful talk rather than drilling or correcting. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child take part in group activities?
Help your child join group activities by building the underlying skills first — turn-taking, waiting, shared attention and following a simple group instruction — and easing them in gradually: start one-to-one, choose small structured groups, prepare them beforehand, give a clear role, and keep early sessions short and positive. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child through a meltdown?
Help your child through a meltdown by keeping them safe, lowering sensory input, staying calm and close, and pausing all teaching or reasoning until the wave passes — a meltdown is an overwhelmed nervous system, not misbehaviour. Afterwards, reconnect warmly and look for triggers to prevent future ones. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my child work in a group at school?
Helping a child work in a group means teaching the skill in small steps — starting with one or two peers, naming the hidden rules of turn-taking and sharing, rehearsing through play, giving the child a clear role, and planning for sensory overwhelm — all in partnership with the teacher. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my late-talking child start speaking?
You help a late-talking child best by filling each day with playful, responsive language — narrating, pausing for their turn, expanding their attempts and following their lead — rather than drilling words. A developmental check helps if talking is markedly delayed. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my teen learn to travel independently?
Independent travel is a teachable skill built gradually — start with one familiar short route, rehearse the sub-skills and a 'what if' plan, then fade your support until your teen travels solo. Where planning, safety or anxiety make it hard, occupational therapy and a transition plan can bridge the gap. Any clinical AbilityScore® is formed only at a Pinnacle centre under clinician care.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my teen manage emotions and relationships?
Help your teen by staying a calm, available presence — name feelings without judgement, listen before advising, coach friendships rather than solving them, and protect sleep and routine. Big emotions in adolescence are developmentally normal; persistent distress, withdrawal, or any safety concern warrants prompt professional support.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my teenager become more independent?
Help your teenager become more independent by gradually transferring real responsibilities — money, routines, travel, self-advocacy — using scaffolding you fade over time, while staying a steady safety net. For teens with developmental or learning differences, a structured transition plan maps which skills to build next. Developmental measurement supports care planning; diagnosis requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my teenager build social independence?
Teenagers build social independence when parents gradually hand over real responsibility — planning, conversations, money and problem-solving — while coaching rather than rescuing, rehearsing tricky situations, and allowing safe mistakes. Teens with developmental or communication differences reach the same goals with more structure and explicit practice. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I help my teenager make and keep friends?
Help a teenager make and keep friends by coaching small, learnable social skills — starting conversations, reading cues, repairing after a wobble — and by creating low-pressure, shared-interest settings to practise them. Lead with connection over correction. If social situations feel persistently overwhelming across settings, a developmental check identifies what support would help most.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I keep my young child engaged in online therapy?
Young children engage best in online therapy when it feels like play with a trusted grown-up beside them. Keep sessions short, sit close and join in, reduce distractions, use simple home props, and follow the therapist's lead. Restlessness is normal — engagement is built minute by minute.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I know if my child actually needs therapy?
Therapy may help when a child is consistently behind peers in communication, movement, play, understanding or social connection in a way that affects everyday life. You don't have to decide alone — a simple developmental check tells you whether to watch-and-wait or begin support. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I know if my child has ADHD or Childhood Anxiety?
ADHD and childhood anxiety can look alike — restlessness, poor focus, easily upset — but stem from different causes, and many children show features of both. Parents notice patterns; only a qualified clinician can make sense of them. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I know if my child has ADHD or Oppositional Defiant Disorder?
ADHD centres on attention, impulse control and activity level, while Oppositional Defiant Disorder centres on a lasting pattern of anger, defiance and arguing — and the two can overlap. You cannot tell which it is from a checklist; the picture comes from observing patterns across settings over months and a clinician's assessment. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I know if my child has ADHD or Sensory Processing Differences?
ADHD and sensory processing differences can look alike — a restless, easily overwhelmed child — but they come from different roots and can overlap. ADHD relates to attention, impulse and activity across settings; sensory differences relate to how a child responds to specific input like sound, touch or movement. You cannot tell them apart at home, and you don't need to — noting patterns and seeing a qualified clinician is the way forward. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerAutism Spectrum vs ADHD: How to Tell
Autism Spectrum and ADHD can look alike and often overlap; only a qualified clinician can tell them apart through a structured assessment. Broadly, autism centres on social communication and sameness, while ADHD centres on attention, impulse and restlessness. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Read the answer AnswerHow do I know if my child has Autism Spectrum or Global Developmental Delay?
Global developmental delay describes a young child significantly behind across several developmental areas at once, while Autism Spectrum is about how a child communicates and relates socially alongside focused interests and sensory differences; the two can overlap and only a qualified clinician can tell them apart. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
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