Herman & Associates: Life Counseling for Individuals with Attention Disorders, Autism, or Social Communication Disorders

Email: admin@docherman.com

Business Office: 1137 Huntington Drive, Building A South Pasadena, CA 91030 323.344.0123

Herman & Associates has developed an expertise in working with clients who are struggling with Executive Functioning (EF), which are commonly seen in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or the Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), including autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and Nonverbal Learning Disability. Herman & Associates has over 30 years of experience in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of individuals who have problems with sustained attention to task, planning ability, organization, time management, and self-discipline.

Herman & Associates provides the following services:

Psychodiagnostics: Psychological Testing / Assessment for ADHD, ADD, and ASD. The first step is to determine the underlying reasons for problems with executive functioning.
Counseling and Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy / ADHD, ADD, and ASD Counseling. The next step is to develop a treatment plan and initiate counseling / counseling.
Family and Spousal Support: Because you are likely part of a family, educating and engaging the family members who support you is importnat.

Diagnostics

Visit our Diagnostic Assessment website for more information.

Comprehensive psychodiagnostic testing for children, adolescents, and adults.

Psychological Testing
Assessments for:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD / ADD).
- Learning Disabilities in reading (dyslexia), math, writing, processing speed, fine-motor coordination, etc.
- Intellectually Gifted
- Twice Exceptional (2E).
- Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder.
- Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), such as Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA).
- Substance Abuse Disorders.
- Affect Regulation, Anger Management, and Other Emotional Issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD, generalized anxiety disorder).
Our psychoeducational assessments meet or exceed the testing criteria for most professional review boards (e.g., the College board, SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, California State Bar Exam, MCAT, among others).

If you are outside southern California, please click on this line and inquire about our "fly-in/fly-out" assessments.

Therapy and Counseling

Visit our Counseling Center web-page for more information.

The Counseling Center provides individual, couple, family, and group psychotherapy services to children, adolescents, and adults. Our counseling is guided by a line of research that identified a number of characteristics correlated with adult success. These are termed the "Success Attributes" and the published papers are available for download on our research web page.

We believe in the team concept and frequently consult with other professionals (e.g., psychiatrists, working with our clients). For more information, please see our Research and Theoretical Orientation pages. Our services include:

Individual counseling and psychotherapy
Family counseling
Parent education (The "Parent Challenge" program).
ADHD/life counseling skill program to improve self-discipline, organization, and time management.

ADHD Counseling

Individual sessions vary greatly between one 60-minute session a week to 5 10-minute sessions. Our comprehensive program for individuals struggling with executive functioning focuses on:

Affect Regulation and Coping Skills
Executive Functioning Skills

Initiating productive activities.
Inhibiting off-task behaviors.
Developing effective organization, time management, and calendaring skills.
Improving self-awareness and mindfulness.
Increasing planning ability, self-discipline, and self-monitoring on a task.
Developing stronger coping skills and endurance during stressful situations.
Stopping avoidance / escape patterns.
Learn how to manage your emotions and reduce anxiety.

Social/Relationship Skills
Employment Skills
Independent Living Skills (e.g., grooming, cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping)
Appropriate Recreational Activities (there is more to life besides gaming!)
Self-Monitoring Skills
Life-Balance Skills (regulating basic biology - eating, sleeping, exercise)

Research-based Practice

Promotion of The Success Attributes - A research-based set of personal characteristics that predicts adult success.

Professional Consultations

Team Approach: We strongly believe in a team approach and we invite clients to include significant others (parent, partner, therapist, psychiatrist, etc.) when appropriate. During assessments, we invite referring professionals to join our team for our internal case conferences. We consult regularly with other professionals that include:

Physicians.
Psychologists.
Attorneys.
Speech and Language therapists.
Educational therapists.
Occupational therapists.
Physical therapists.
School districts staff (we are available to attend 504 Plan meetings, IEP meetings, and we partner with the school districts and parents to complete "Independent Educational Evaluations - IEE").
Educational Advocates.

Family Support

Regular Conjoint Sessions with Family Members

Learning how to teach The Success Attributes.
Supportive family members (e.g., parents, siblings, spouse) often carry the majority of the stress for the individual with EF problems.
While the stress a family member carries derives from a number of sources, a common theme is that they are managing (e.g., prompting behaviors, filling gaps, smoothing out rough spots) and compensating for problems the person with EF issues often has limited awareness of these concerns.
Over time this can obviously become highly stressful and draining for the family member who is trying to help this person survive.

Other counseling activities might include identifying and establishing connections with Community Resources