Dr. Tali Shenfield holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Toronto and is a licensed school and clinical psychologist. She has taught at the University of Toronto and has worked at institutions including the Hospital for Sick Children, Hincks-Dellcrest Centre, TDSB, and YCDSB. Dr. Shenfield is the Founder and Clinical Director of Advanced Psychology Services.
As children grow older, their behaviours change dramatically. While a hysterical tantrum over something minor is completely normal at two years of age, for example, at age ten or twelve it’s often considered aberrant and troubling. Just as acceptable behaviours change dramatically throughout the process of development, so too do the signs of learning disabilities. For parents and teachers ...
Parenting would almost certainly be a simpler job if it came with a standardized book of child-appropriate rules and boundaries. If this were the case, parents would no longer have to hear the familiar outcry of “It's not fair! Everyone else is allowed to...” whenever they tried to establish a curfew, set limits for acceptable media, etc. After all, though ...
For parents, even the little white lies that children sometimes tell - e.g., claiming to have completed their homework when they haven't or to have not eaten a treat they clearly took without permission - can feel worrying and frustrating. Parents are, after all, entrusted with the intimidating responsibility of raising children with well-developed morals, so even minor hints ...
If you are the parent of an anxious child, you probably find yourself occasionally wondering whether or not you have done something “wrong,” something that made your child develop a perpetually worried mind. While such concerns are normal, you can rest assured that the answer is likely “no”; an elevated level of vigilance is simply endemic to the minds of ...
Though children are educated about the physical aspects of sex at school, they still rely on their parents to teach them about the emotional and psychological components of sexuality; as such, parents play an essential role in the development of healthy sexuality. Parents model behaviours and espouse views that show their children how they ought to treat the other gender ...
ADHD in girls manifests differently than the hyperactive stereotype, leading to many girls living with unidentified symptoms and real impairments. When most people think of a child with ADHD, they imagine a precocious youngster who never stops moving and rarely stops talking—a child who, in other words, embodies extreme extroversion. Nine times out of ten, this mental image depicts ...
Confidence, like education, provides an integral foundation for success, fulfillment, and happiness. A confident child will typically experience better interpersonal relationships, be more open to new opportunities, and have an enhanced sense of well-being. Likewise, children with a healthy self-esteem usually exhibit fewer behavioural problems. As a child psychologist, I see an alarmingly high number of children with poor self-confidence. ...
Having your child sometimes wake up and cry out in fear, or come running into your room desperate for you to protect him from a "monster" is a troubling yet relatively common experience. Though basic parental support and comfort (i.e. the offering of physical affection and assurances of safety), is often enough to allay a child's fears temporarily and ...
Anxiety disorders are found in children much more often than many people realize; ten to twenty percent of all children ...
With climate change becoming an increasingly common theme in politics, news, and even entertainment, it’s no wonder more young ...
Over the last two decades, ideological polarization has become a prominent threat to democracy, education, and society as a whole. ...
