Child and Educational Psychologist

Every child's story is unique and needs to be heard for us to understand their strengths and needs and to support their development and wellbeing in a way that's right for them.

Dr Kelly Tanner

I’m a highly experienced Child and Educational Psychologist based in Blackwood, South Wales; with over 25 years of expertise working with children, young people, families and education professionals. I have worked as a primary school teacher, a head teacher and I have a Doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Cardiff. I am also a mum of two children (primary and secondary aged) which certainly keeps me busy!

I specialise in understanding the stories, experiences, strengths and difficulties of children, young people and their families, in order to jointly plan what is needed to meet their educational and wellbeing needs.

My professional practice includes extensive experience in learning, cognitive and wellbeing assessments using a wide range of educational tools and evidence-based psychological theory with practical strategies to provide clear, actionable recommendations for families and educational settings.

My career spans work within UK schools and local authorities, international education leadership in Latin America and independent consultancy. In addition to direct assessment work, I deliver training, supervision and consultations for schools, families and multidisciplinary teams.

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My Services

Who do I work with?

I work with children and young people from aged 2 to 19 years who may be experiencing a range of learning and/or emotional needs in order to identify the barriers to their learning and/or emotional wellbeing and how we can overcome them. 

 

This may include children and young people with:

  • social, emotional and/or mental health needs
  • developmental trauma
  • physical needs
  • medical needs
  • specific learning difficulties in areas such as literacy skills and/or maths
  • sensory needs such as hearing or visual impairment, and
  • sensory processing needs

What do I do?

Initial consultation: This is usually up to 1 hour long and we talk about the child’s strengths and difficulties. We will come up with some ways forward to support the child and the key adults in their life to understand and support their needs.

Review consultation: We will review the child’s progress including what has been working well and what could be working better. We may tweak the recommendations made depending on any new information that we have learned.

Assessment work: I will carry out direct work with the child to explore any areas that we would like more information about in order to be able to better meet their needs.

Staff training: I deliver training to groups of educational professionals on a wide variety of topics related to understanding and meeting the learning and emotional needs of children and young people. I have recently given training on:

  • promoting independent learners
  • establishing emotional safety at school so that learning can take place
  • loss and bereavement
  • understanding attachment in the classroom

Fees: My usual fee is £90 an hour (a reduced rate may be applied in certain circumstances). This will be discussed before we begin our work together so that you can decide if I am the right ‘fit’ for you. The length of each piece of work that I carry out will depend on an individual’s unique situation. Sometimes, just an initial consultation is needed, if parents or education staff are looking for initial advice. It may be that a review needs to be booked in for 6-8 weeks later to monitor and review progress. Other times, direct assessment work with the child/young person also needs to be carried out in order to give us a better understanding of how to support them. Feel free to contact me and we can discuss what kind of work may be needed to best suit your needs

Testimonials

During the diagnostic process for our son, we engaged Kelly to carry out an assessment. She was excellent — highly knowledgeable and supportive — and provided clear guidance that not only helped us secure an official diagnosis but also introduced interventions that enabled us, as parents, to better understand and support his needs.

— Parent

Thank you so much for your report for my niece as part of her Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). It's lovely that you were so easy to talk with and understood the perspectives. The report, I feel, is a very accurate reflection of my niece's strengths and difficulties and best strategies and will hopefully inform an EHCP that will fully support her.

— Aunty

Just wanted to drop a quick line to thank you for that wonderful report you have put together. After another difficult week in school, I’m hoping to take it into school to gain that extra support. It was wonderful to see what I’ve been trying to articulate written down and all the small but mighty ways that can be put in place to help support my daughter.

— Parent

My daughter was struggling to keep up with school work from the start of Reception and towards the end of Year 3 she was getting really frustrated and more aware of how she was dropping behind across all subjects. The teachers offered no help but said she needed to stop daydreaming and focus more in class. I asked Dr Tanner for help as I was convinced there was an underlying reason preventing her from reaching her full potential. After just one short assessment with Dr Tanner, which my daughter really enjoyed doing, we received a comprehensive report for the school SENDCo who finally took me seriously and suggested we test for IRLENS (Visual Stress) as a starting point before exploring dyslexia. My daughter was diagnosed with IRLENS and within minutes of using the correct coloured overlay, she said reading was "easy because the words are staying still" so we bought the correctly tinted glasses and she has gone on to find school work much more enjoyable and has made huge progress across all subjects. Dr Tanner's report was the turning point in my daughter's school life and my only regret is we didn't seek help from a professional Educational Psychologist sooner. 

— Parent

Dr. Tanner has been an outstanding Educational Psychologist who made a remarkable difference in the lives of my two daughters. Through her expertise, patience, and compassionate approach, she helped them overcome challenges and flourish both academically and emotionally. Her strategies were practical, effective, and tailored to their unique needs, which gave them confidence and motivation. I cannot recommend Dr. Tanner highly enough - her work truly brought out the best in my children.

— Parent

Get in touch with me!

Dr Kelly Tanner
BSc. PGCE. DEdPsy. CPsychol
Child and Educational Psychologist
HCPC registered practitioner: PYL24379
Member of the British Psychological Society (BPS)
Member of the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP)