Social Emotional Delay

 
 
 
A group of children laugh and play together from a forest floor.
 

At Hamilton Family Counseling we specialize in the therapy for children age 1-12 with big emotions and challenging behaviors like those that arise from social emotional delay.

Adoptive and foster families can especially benefit.
LGBTQIA+ affirmative.

 
 
A father playing with building toys with his son on an office floor.

What is Social Emotional Delay?

Sometimes, acting their age is not a choice. Most children are ahead in some areas of development and will catch up a bit later in other areas. For example, a child may be advanced in motor skills but need a little more time with language.

This particular constellation of a child’s developmental levels can lead to frustration at not being able to communicate wants and needs which can then spill over into disruptive behaviors.

Another area of child growth is called “social-emotional development,” and it has its own set of milestones for bonding, social connections, and managing emotions. A delay in this area can mean that despite being school-aged, the child is still at the developmental level of a toddler in their ability to regulate their impulses and emotions.

School aged boy cutting a pumpkin with mother and father in the their kitchen, illustrating how PCIT and PC-CARE can increase impulse and emotional regulation in children with social emotional delay.

Unfortunately, the social-emotional delay underlying these toddler-like displays is often missed and even punished. The child may be assumed to be intentionally misbehaving, especially if their delay is masked by their advanced levels in other areas of development like speech, intelligence, or height.

While common among children with ADHD, Anxiety, and Autism, both language delay and social-emotional delay can occur on their own and result in disruptive behaviors in otherwise typical kids.

 
A child angrily sits against a couch with her arms wrapped around her legs. A large teddy bear sits to her right while an adult comforts the child from the couch by rubbing her head.

Evidenced Based Treatment Options

Whatever the reason for the delay, we provide two treatment options that can help: Parent-Child CARE Protocol developed at UC Davis Children’s Hospital as well as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Both treatment options empower parents with therapeutic skills that facilitate social emotional development with many children getting caught up without any further intervention.

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Mother and father watching the Online Parenting Bootcamp on their laptop with mother's arm around father and both of them smiling because they are on the same page on how to parent their child.

Additional Options

Hamilton Family Counseling also offers Parent Only Strategy Sessions where parents can ask questions and get on the same page with quick, practical parenting solutions that both parents agree on.

And our Online Parenting Bootcamp teaches the principles of PCIT and PC-CARE in a support group atmosphere from the comfort of your home.

Our Stance on Timeouts

 
 

Let’s work together to transform your child's challenges into triumphs and increase the peace and connection in your home!