Dr. Samuel Siah, PsyD, C.Psych. Psychologist
Dr. Samuel Siah is a senior-level registered clinical psychologist. He has extensive experience working with children, adolescents, and young adults through his years of training and employment in multi-disciplinary community-based and private practice settings. At Toronto Psychology centre, Dr. Siah primarily provides comprehensive psychoeducational and psychodiagnostic assessments for children, adolescents and young adults.
Dr. Siah provides psychoeducational and psychodiagnostic assessment for Learning Disabilities (LD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), giftedness, intellectual disability, anxiety concerns (e.g., generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder, perfectionism), mood concerns (e.g., depression, bipolar disorder, low self-esteem), obsessive-compulsive disorder, and personality concerns. Additionally, he is very experienced at identifying and accounting for any other factors that could affect an individual’s mental health or functioning, regardless of whether these are captured by a formal diagnosis (e.g., bullying, parental conflict, adoption).
Dr. Siah has also developed a specialization in diagnosing ASD in individuals who have traditionally been under-identified, such as girls and women, young adults and individuals who may feel like they are, or have learned to, mask their authentic selves in order to fit in with societal expectations.
For over a decade, Dr. Siah’s approach to assessment has been centered on a whole-person and lifelong approach, as well as a commitment to neurodiversity; that is, understanding an individual as a whole–their challenges, but also their strengths and what makes them unique. He also believes that the assessment process should be as comfortable as possible, through engaging with clients in a warm, flexible, compassionate and often humorous way. Sometimes it can even be fun!
Through this approach, Dr. Siah aims to make recommendations as helpful as possible, to help people achieve, function and live in ways that are in line with their goals and values. His reports have been consistently commended as thorough, accurate and helpful in a variety of contexts (e.g., schools, post-secondary institutions, community-based care, hospitals) and with many disciplines (e.g., occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, behaviour therapy, educational consultants). Once reports are delivered, he also enjoys consulting with any other interested individuals (e.g., school personnel, family members, various allied health disciplines) regarding the results and the best ways to help an individual thrive.
Dr. Siah believes that psychological services can be a long-term and fruitful process and has extensive experience guiding families through all stages of development. For example, Dr. Siah has followed several clients from from first diagnosis in the early elementary years, through re-assessment for accommodations and supports in secondary school, and finally assessment and support for post-secondary education. In each step of this process, he is careful to see the individual for who they are at that moment, and adjust diagnoses and recommendations as needed. Satisfied families frequently reach out to him when they need support over the years and often refer loved ones, friends and classmates. He is often the first choice for the families of other allied health professionals and colleagues who seek support for their own children.
Dr. Siah received his Psy.D. at the University of Indianapolis. His doctoral dissertation examined the benefits of a mindfulness-based program on mid-elementary students’ well-being. He received his clinical training from working in a variety of community-based and private clinical settings. He gained clinical experience and training at the Watson Institute in Pittsburgh PA, a mental health agency that provides assessment and treatment for children and adolescents who have been diagnosed with, or are suspected of having, ASD.
Dr. Siah is currently employed in the Adult program at Surrey Place, a not-for-profit multi-disciplinary agency that serves people of all ages with developmental disabilities, ASD and visual impairments. There he conducts various forms of assessment (e.g., psychodiagnostic, DSO eligibility, FASD), conducts individual therapy, has a passion for supervising psychology residents and functions as the team lead for the Adult Psychology team. He is also employed at TELUS Health, a private multidisciplinary clinic where he conducts psychoeducational and psychodiagnostics assessments, as well as individual therapy from CBT and mindfulness-based perspectives with children, youth and young adults. In this clinic, he has also functioned as the psychology team lead, and consults with various allied health professionals (e.g., SLP, OT, BT, educational consultants) and external personnel (e.g. school staff) in both public and private settings. Dr. Siah also has experience in delivering webinars and creating psychology-related content for various social media platforms.
He is a member of the Ontario Psychological Association.