The questionnaire tends to arrive a few days before the first appointment, and it goes back further than most parents expect.
It asks about the pregnancy and the birth. It wants to know when she first walked, and whether she talked early or late.
If you booked the appointment because your 10 year old has started throwing things when she loses at Uno, page two can feel like a strange place to begin.
It’s there because a psychologist wants to know the whole child before looking closely at the problem. Temper at 10 can start in a lot of different places, and some of them go back years.
Hardly anyone explains this beforehand, and not knowing what happens puts people off. In a US survey of 1,386 parents last summer, 29% said not knowing where to start had got in the way of finding their child help, and 28% said the child didn’t want to go. (Grow Therapy, July 2026)
Child and Adolescent Psychology at The American Wellness Center in Dubai Healthcare City sees children from the toddler years up to 18. What follows is roughly how that work runs, from the form onwards.
What the assessment is for
An assessment usually runs over more than one appointment. Alongside the history, there are questionnaires for you and sometimes for her teacher, and time the psychologist spends with your child on her own.
Some children also do standardised tests. AWC’s psychologists carry out psychological, intellectual, cognitive and behavioural testing, which is how a reading problem gets told apart from an attention one.
What you get at the end is an explanation of what’s going on and why, and a plan for what to do about it. Some children come away with a diagnosis as part of that, and plenty don’t.
For most families the explanation is the more useful half. A name for a condition tells you what to search for at midnight. The explanation tells you why Uno ends with the cards on the floor.
It helps to bring:
- Recent school reports and any teacher comments
- Reports from earlier assessments, even old ones
- Notes on sleep, eating and screen time
- The two or three questions you most want answered
How therapy changes with age
Under 7, therapy mostly happens through play, because that’s where children that age do their thinking out loud.
In parent child interaction therapy, one of the approaches AWC offers, the parent does the playing. As it’s typically run, the therapist watches from behind a one way mirror and coaches through an earpiece, a sentence or two at a time.
A 2025 review of PCIT studies found it reduced disruptive behaviour across very different settings. In a Norwegian trial, the advantage over usual care held for up to 18 months. (Journal of Clinical Medicine, January 2025)
From around 7, CBT becomes more common. Your child learns to catch a thought like “everyone will laugh,” check it, and try something different, with a small task to practise before the next session.
Parents tend to ask how long it takes. A 2025 review of 86 trials of CBT for children’s anxiety found that, in treatment, 9 to 16 hours with a therapist did better than under 9. (Clinical Psychology Review, January 2025)
In practice that’s roughly a school term of weekly sessions, give or take.
Teenagers spend more of the time alone with the psychologist. For older teens whose emotions swing hard and fast, DBT, which AWC also offers, teaches specific skills for getting through those swings.
At the start, the psychologist explains what stays private and when a parent would have to be told, which is usually about safety. Plenty of teenagers want to know where that line is before they say much.
Where parents fit
Parents get guidance of their own, mostly on what to say at home and what to stop saying. Part of it is making sure the practice tasks don’t turn into another homework fight.
In the same 2025 review, children whose parents were heavily involved in treatment did no better than those whose parents were involved a little, though the authors were cautious about their findings overall.
So the useful thing is to know what she’s working on each week, and to back it up at home.
AWC’s own advice on explaining therapy to a child is to use simple language that fits her age. In practice that means giving her the real reason she’s going, and never bringing it up as a threat or a reward.
If most of the trouble shows up in class, the psychologist can work with her teacher or school counsellor, with your consent.
Back to the form
The question about when she first walked still looks odd on page two. Answer it anyway. If you can’t remember, there’s probably a dated photo of it somewhere on your phone.
The child psychologists at The American Wellness Center in Dubai Healthcare City will have read the form before they meet her, Uno included.
Book a first session, and put the school reports in a folder the night before, with your two or three questions on top.
