WELCOME
Welcome to San Diego Kids First, a highly specialized psychology practice committed to maximizing the developmental, social, emotional, behavioral, and academic potential of children, teens, and families.
It’s our philosophy to meet you where you are. Even literally! In addition to traditional office sessions, we offer in-home, school-based, & telehealth services. Wherever we meet, let’s find the answers.
As featured in:
BRIGHT STARS PARENTING PROGRAM
Does your child have any of the warning signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Click here to watch the first of our four module series of our downloadable Bright Stars Parenting Series about bright children on the mild end of the autism spectrum.
Symptoms of ASD may include:
- Social struggles (making/maintaining friendships, being understood, lack of reciprocity)
- Academic challenges, specifically with reading and math comprehension
- Black and white thinking
- Anxiety
- A tendency to be rigid, argumentative, possibly aggressive
- Difficulty focusing and participating in undesired activities
- Special interest/ hyper focused
For questions about this program, please contact our office manager at 858-692-4187 // contact@sdkidsfirst.com
SAN DIEGO BEHAVIOR SOLUTIONS
San Diego Behavior Solutions provides in-home behavioral health services to improve skills and support children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD, and other social and behavioral challenges.
We are so excited to have Charles Aguilar on our team as our behavior specialist/ interventionist. In addition to direct intervention and skills training with children, Charlie also provides:
- 1:1 Behavioral Modification with Child
- 1:1 Observation
- Functional Behavioral Assessment
- Social Skills Training
- In Home Behavior Intervention
- In person Academic Support
- In-vivo training of parents and caregivers to allow families to foster the growth and development of their children in natural settings in day-to-day life.
We strive to provide these services in a caring manner that stimulates, engages, and motivates children to embrace learning by addressing their individual needs in their own familiar environments. The specific strategies used in each child’s program will vary based on their individual needs and abilities. We also strongly recommend families take advantage of our parent coaching sessions, to allow parents to gain the skills necessary to reinforce and accelerate their child’s progress in-between intervention sessions.
For more information, head to our website SD Behavior Solutions
There are good reasons why we are known as the top specialty clinic in san diego
What Others Say About Us
I am a general pediatrician with a special interest in ADHD, spending about 20% of my clinical time caring for ADHD patients. I have known Dr Pontillo since 2005 and have an enormous respect for her clinical skills and insights. She is my “go to” psychologist for more complicated developmental issues and for diagnosis of subtle high functioning disabilities. Dr. Pontillo’s interest in her patients and her ability to clearly delineate developmental problems allows parents to move forward with establishing a treatment plan. She is an invaluable resource to the San Diego Pediatric community.
Dr. Pontillo is an exceptional, and one-of-a-kind child psychologist. I have referred many children of my patients to Dr. Pontillo and she has always given them the best care and attention. Referring a patient to another professional is a big responsibility. I always look for a colleague who is efficient, professional, experienced and one who is able to come up with a clear diagnosis. I keep referring to Dr. Pontillo because of her expertise, efficiency and especially her warm and caring personality that is extremely necessary when dealing with children. I very highly recommend Deborah Pontillo, Ph.D as a child diagnostician, developmental and behavioral specialist, and therapist.
I’ve been referring my patients to Dr. Pontillo for the past several years with the utmost confidence that she will care and understand their developmental needs. Dr. Pontillo always provided them with a balanced and age appropriate intervention to help not only the child but the family as a whole.
