As a Psychologist in San Diego, Dr. Donica has a wealth of information regarding psychological and neuropsychological testing and educational evaluations.

Learn more about Dr. Donica, Psychology 360, Inc., and testing and evaluations for children from our interview.

You can see the wheels turning in their head. The more they think about what could happen, the worse they feel.

I’m going to start with the trap. “Do you like it?” This is the common question that children ask adults, especially parents, as they excitedly show you their latest drawing or painting. As parents, we often automatically answer, “Yes, of course, I like it”. “That’s so beautiful!”.

I see the influence of “devices” every day on kids. I base this on my observations over the years of working with parents and children. As a therapist in San Marcos working with elementary school-aged children, I see three ways children are negatively impacted.

As I write this many San Marcos kids have been out of school for a while. For some parents, Back-to-school can’t come quickly enough. When your kids are at camp you try to get as much work done as possible, and when they’re home it feels chaotic.

My list below includes 7 things to remember, contained in the acronym, “RESPOND”. How you purposely choose to respond to your children amid grief, loss, and other stressful events is incredibly important.

In my journey, when I was a younger mom, I experienced health issues. At the time, nothing seemed to help. Then I began working with a nutritionist in Encinitas and it changed so many things.

Adults who come to therapy, often have developed unhelpful ways of coping with their anxiety. Parents who reach out to me about child therapy want their children to learn better ways to cope with anxiety.

Homeschooling lends itself to more outside-the-box thinking. Homeschool parents have a unique opportunity to offer a much wider range of creative experiences and art materials even without art experience and a limited budget.

As I have provided therapy for kids, many have wrestled with anxiety, for various reasons. It's not uncommon for kids to have worries about their own safety. They also worry that something bad will happen to their parents. During the pandemic, these fears heightened for many children.

Your child loves art.

As a parent, you want to connect more, but art is just not your thing. On top of that, you know that creating art has the potential for a lot of mess, and frankly, it just feels overwhelming.

While not everyone, has experienced the pandemic in the same way, we’ve all experienced unwelcome changes and some loss. In my experience, Art Therapy provides a process for people, young and old, to begin making meaning.

While the end of school is not here yet, I know if you're a parent you’re beginning to think about summer, and so is your child. There are so many things to do in Encinitas, and so much beauty to enjoy. However, the logistics of summer can really cause some uneasiness as you survey the calendar.