Grelling Psychology Associates

sensitive, professional care

for individuals and families

925-215-8694

Kent Grelling, Ph.D.

is a licensed clinical psychologist, specializing in the treatment of children, adolescents and young adults. He offers individual and family therapy, comprehensive psychological evaluations, and parent consultation. He specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with ADHD, learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders, and anxiety disorders. He is also an expert in addressing the unique emotional needs of the intellectually gifted. His background integrates expertise in developmental theory, neuropsychology, and child/adolescent psychotherapy into a treatment approach that is supportive, evidence-based, and leavened with humor.

Dr Grelling has retained a number of positions in addition to his private practice in psychology. At present, he works part time for the Bentley School in Oakland, CA as the Director of Student Support in the middle school. Bentley is an academically rigorous private school which caters to intellectually gifted students while remaining supportive of those with unique learning styles. In addition to this position, Dr Grelling works for Kaiser Permanente where he teaches classes for the parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. This role is a continuation of his earlier work as both the autism and ADHD "champions" at Kaiser's Union City, CA facility. In that position he provided support services to families of children with autism, worked on the ADHD assessment and parent-training programs, and developed "best practices" for the treatment of such children. Dr. Grelling had previously worked at Kaiser between 1998 and 2002, and had been awarded Kaiser Permanente's Service Improvement Award for the programs he developed there.

Prior to 2006, Dr. Grelling had lived in Florida, where he served as the Director of the Unicorn Child Development Clinic at Nova Southeastern University in Ft Lauderdale. In this position he directed an interdisciplinary team of clinicians specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of children with developmental disorders. He also worked in the center's Baudhuin School, the largest preschool for children with autism in the country. Dr Grelling lead of many of NSU’s parenting programs for typical children; teaching classes on toilet training, sleep challenges in young children, and behavior management. He also developed and led the "Dads on Deck" program for expectant fathers, which received extensive coverage in the South Florida media. In addition to his work at the university, Dr. Grelling maintained a large private practice in Florida.

Dr. Grelling has lectured widely to community and parent organizations, speaking on issues ranging from raising self-disciplined children, to toilet training difficulties, to early signs of developmental disorders. He has also trained numerous professional groups on topics including diagnostic overlap and alternative diagnostic approaches, diagnostic complications in autism, developmental disorders in the gifted, and the effects of prematurity on parent-child attachment. Dr. Grelling’s work and views have been featured in a number of media outlets including the Miami Herald, the Sun-Sentinel, WSVN News, and the Rick Sanchez Show. (Copies of recent presentation materials can be found here.)

Dr. Grelling attended college at Indiana University, Bloomington, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with honors in Psychology and Philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical and Community Psychology from the University of Maryland in College Park, where he passed his doctoral comprehensive exams with honors, and graduated summa cum laude. He has earned numerous awards and honors during his career, including two consecutive President’s Faculty Research and Development Grants at NSU.

Dr. Grelling has also been active in a number of public policy and advocacy roles. He served on the Board of Directors of the California Psychological Association and on its Governmental Affairs Committees. He has trained gifted teachers in the Broward County schools on the social development of gifted students, and served on the Broward County Advanced Academics Test Adoption Task Force. He has advocated on behalf of children with developmental and learning disabilities to the California state legislature, and served as an advisor to the California Department of Education CALSTAT project. Dr. Grelling is a member of the American Psychological Association, the California Psychological Association, the California Association for the Gifted, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD), the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), the Autism Society of America, and The Tourette's Syndrome Association.

Selected recent presentations and research.

No Simple Gifts: Meeting the complex emotional needs of gifted children (November, 2006)

- Presentation to the parent association of Saklan Valley School, Moraga, CA

Does modern psychiatry blur the boundaries between illness and health?: The Controversy of ADHD (September, 2006)

- San Francisco VA Mental Health Service and UCSF Psychiatry Grand Rounds panel discussion

What's in a name? Dilemmas and alternatives in the diagnostic classification of neurodevelopmental disorders (September, 2006)

- Presentation to Kaiser Permanente Department of Psychiatry, Hayward, CA

No Simple Gifts: Meeting the complex emotional needs of gifted children (February, 2006)

- Presentation to the Broward County Gifted Advisory Committee

Assessment in early childhood: Theory into practice? (June, 2005)

- Presentation to the NSU Developmental Specialist Graduate Program

Twice exceptional children: Gifted children with Asperger’s, ADHD and

and other neurodevelopmental disorders (June, 2005)

- Presentation to the Broward County Public Schools 2005 Summer Institute

Double Down: The interactive risks of prematurity and parental stress on infant development (June, 2005)

- Presentation to the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health Annual Conference

Familial and cultural factors in pediatric dentistry (December, 2004)

- Nova Southeastern University School of Dentistry - Dental Seminar

Emotional development of young children and early signs of autism (November, 2004)

- 2004 Miami Dade County SPARK training

OCD and ODD: A clinician’s insights (March, 2004)

- Nova Southeastern University Internship Program - Special Topics Seminar

Ongoing Research: Emergent Literacy Skills Enhancement

- 2005 Nova Southeastern University Faculty Research and Development Grant

Factors Predicting Early Reading Skills in Preschool Children

- 2004 Nova Southeastern University Faculty Research and Development Grant

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