Comprehensive Learning Services Supports The Whole Child

Dr. Chrisna Perry is an educational psychologist and learning disability specialist and the owner of Comprehensive Learning Services. Photo provided by Comprehensive Learning Services.
Dr. Chrisna Perry is an educational psychologist and learning disability specialist and the owner of Comprehensive Learning Services. Photo provided by Comprehensive Learning Services.

Comprehensive Learning Services Supports The Whole Child

By Tia Carol Jones

As an educational psychologist and learning disability specialist, Dr. Chrisna Perry supports children with various neurodiversity needs, including Autism, ADHD and Anxiety Disorder, as well as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and neurotypical children who are struggling in school.

Perry has always had an interest in supporting the needs of the entire child, not just their academic needs, but also their social emotional needs. She decided to open Comprehensive Learning Services in 2012 after working as a director of student support at a private school in Chicago. During that time, she realized when she needed to refer parents to additional resources for their children, most of the resources were on the North side or the surrounding suburbs. 

“The idea of families running around from service provider to service provider wasn’t feasible. I wanted to have one location where families could receive all the support in one location,” Perry said.

Comprehensive Learning Services fills the need for parents who are on the South side whose children require additional support services. The practice provides speech and language, occupational therapy, academic support, social skills groups, educational therapy and executive functioning. Perry said the goal is to provide a safe space for the children. The service providers at Comprehensive Learning Services work together and collaborate to provide the most effective support possible. 

Perry said that while there is an expectation that children can manage their time and complete their assignments, a lot of children need strategies. Those strategies can include how to initiate a task, plan and organize how to complete a task and preserve through distractions to complete the task. She said this falls within the area of executive functioning coaching, which is a one-on-one session. The social skills group are small group supports where children can work out impulse control challenges, frustration tolerance, emotional dysregulation and anger. Two years ago, Comprehensive Learning Services began providing speech and language therapy and occupational therapy.

Comprehensive Learning Services also provides test prep for students to be successful in taking tests, whether it is exams for getting into private and selective enrollment schools. All of the programs are rolling programs. There is also a summer enrichment program, which has two sessions: June 23rd through July 11th and July 14th through August 1st. This is the fourth year the practice is providing this program. Students in the program start at 8 a.m., with academic, social and emotional enrichment, until noon. In the afternoon, children have the opportunity to have a day camp experience. This year, there is a third session which will take place from August 4th through August 8th. That week will be a cultural exploration camp where children can immerse themselves in various cultures through activities like field trips and cooking classes.

“This camp is really ideal for families who are interested in wanting to ensure that there is no summer learning slide and keep the fun learning enrichment going,” Perry said.

Comprehensive Learning Services is located at 5235 S. Cornell. For more information about Comprehensive Learning Services, visit www.comprehensivels.com.


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