English-speaking child psychologist online in Italy for expat families

In brief: raising a child in an Italian school as a non-Italian family brings challenges that most local families never face: a school system in another language, cultural codes that are hard to read from the outside, teachers who may not have the tools to distinguish between second-language struggles and real learning difficulties. An online child psychologist who works in English, and who knows the Italian school system from the inside, can bridge the two worlds. Sessions are held online, with parents, children or both, adapted to your family's timezone and school schedule.

You may have moved to Milan, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Turin or Venice for work, love or a life change. Your child now attends an Italian public or private school, and every day is a small crossing between two languages and two ways of doing things. Most days go well. On some days, though, something doesn't add up: your child comes home silent, refuses to go to school, is described by teachers with words you're not sure how to interpret, or shows a difficulty that no one seems to know how to name. This page is written for those days, and for the parents who want to understand before they decide.

Contents

1. Your child in an Italian school: what expat families often face
2. Common challenges we see in practice
3. Second language and learning: what the research says
4. Why online counseling in English can help
5. How sessions work in practice
6. When it makes sense to reach out
7. Frequently asked questions
8. Sources

1. Your child in an Italian school: what expat families often face

Italian schools are largely monolingual environments. Teachers are usually trained to work with children who speak Italian at home, and the curriculum, evaluations and communication with families all move in Italian. For an expat child, this means learning school content and school language at the same time, in a class where everyone else already has both. For the parents, it means navigating a system whose codes (voto, scrutinio, PDP, colloquio, condotta) don't always translate neatly, and where a note in the diary can weigh differently than it would back home.

None of this is a problem in itself. Most bilingual children raised across two cultures do very well in the long run. But the transition takes time, and the space between arrival and comfort is where most of the friction lives.

2. Common challenges we see in practice

Families reach out most often for one of these situations:

1. Silent phase and school refusal in the first months. Children going through an intense linguistic immersion can go quiet, lose their appetite, refuse to speak Italian even after months of exposure, or resist going to school. This is often a normal adaptation response and not a sign of a deeper problem.
2. Teachers describe your child as "not engaged" or "not participating". This can look like a behavioural or motivational issue, when in fact it's a second-language processing load taking up all the attention resources.
3. Struggles that look like a learning difficulty. Bilingual children can be misidentified as having dyslexia, ADHD or a language disorder when the real issue is limited exposure to academic Italian, or the other way around: a genuine learning difficulty can go unnoticed because it's attributed to bilingualism.
4. Emotional distress you can't quite name. Homesickness, identity questions ("am I from here or from where I was born?"), difficulty making friends, or a sense that they don't fit in anywhere fully.
5. Family tension over school choices. Parents disagreeing on how much Italian, how much English, whether to stay in the Italian system, whether to switch to an international school, whether to move back home.
6. Diagnosis or a PDP already in place, but with limited language between the school and the parents. Understanding what a Piano Didattico Personalizzato actually means for your child, and how to make it work, often requires a bilingual bridge.

3. Second language and learning: what the research says

Two decades of research on bilingual children in school settings have shown that everyday conversational fluency in the second language is acquired within one to two years, but the academic language needed to fully perform in that language (reading dense textbooks, writing structured essays, understanding subject-specific vocabulary) takes on average five to seven years to develop (Cummins, 2000). This gap is critical: a child who chats easily with classmates in Italian may still struggle to understand a history chapter or write a coherent test, and this gap is often mistaken for a lack of ability.

The research is also clear on bilingualism itself: growing up with two languages does not delay language development and is associated with well-documented cognitive advantages in attention control, cognitive flexibility, and the ability to ignore irrelevant information (Bialystok, Craik and Luk, 2012). The concern parents often bring, that "learning two languages will confuse my child", is not supported by evidence.

Assessment for suspected learning difficulties in a bilingual child must therefore be done carefully. Standard Italian tests were normed on Italian-speaking children, and applying them without accounting for the second language can produce misleading results in both directions.

4. Why online counseling in English can help

The language of a psychological consultation is not a neutral vehicle. Emotions, family stories, memories of childhood and the words we use at home all carry a weight that no translation fully captures. For a parent, being able to describe what's happening in their own language, without stopping to look up the right word, changes how much the conversation can hold.

What English-language counseling adds, in your case, is not only fluency. It's also the fact that both sides of your child's world are held together: the school in Italian, the home in English, and a professional who can talk to both. In practice, that means preparing you for a meeting with an Italian teacher, decoding a report card, or reframing a psychological assessment for a family from another culture.

My work is grounded in the Italian clinical framework, which I've practiced for over twenty years, and I've supported many families whose native language is not Italian. I trained and continue to publish with Italian academic institutions, including Erickson editions and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.

5. How sessions work in practice

1. Initial contact by email (annalaguzza@amamente.it). Briefly describe the situation, your child's age, the city and the school context.
2. Free introductory online consultation. This is where we agree whether the kind of support you're looking for fits what I can offer, and in which format.
3. Secure video platform. No complex setup: a device with a webcam and a stable connection is enough.
4. Sessions in English, with the option to switch to Italian with the child or the school when that helps. Older children and adolescents may prefer one language or move between the two.
5. Session structure adapted to age. With younger children, work is done mostly through the parents (parent training). With school-age children and teens, direct online work is possible with the right adaptations.
6. Reports and letters for the school. When useful, I can draft documents that the Italian school can accept (in Italian), summarising what came out of the assessment or the work done.

6. When it makes sense to reach out

Some situations that most often bring expat families to a first conversation:

1. Your child has refused school for more than a couple of weeks after the initial settling period.
2. Recurring physical symptoms before school (stomach ache, headache) without a medical explanation.
3. A marked change in mood, sleep or social behaviour that has lasted more than a few weeks.
4. Teachers repeatedly describe difficulties that don't match what you see at home.
5. You suspect a learning difficulty or a diagnosis was made, and you want a second reading that also considers the bilingual context.
6. Family decisions about school (stay in the Italian system, switch to international, plan a return home) are creating tension between you as parents.
7. A significant life event (a bereavement, a move, a parental separation, a serious illness in the family) is affecting your child and you want support that speaks your language.

With the Amamente® Method, I work by looking at the whole picture: your child's cognitive and emotional profile, your family's story, and the specific context of raising a child between cultures. I practice in Genoa, in Milan and online. The first introductory online consultation is free. You can write to annalaguzza@amamente.it or use the Contact page:
https://www.psicologaperbambini.it/contatti/

7. Frequently asked questions

Do I need to speak Italian to work with you?

No. Sessions with the parents can be held entirely in English. With school-age children who prefer Italian, we can move flexibly between the two languages.

My child is fluent in Italian but I'm not. Can we still work together?

Yes. Many families I work with have exactly this profile: children more comfortable in Italian, parents more comfortable in English. Sessions can be structured to accommodate both languages, and reports for you can be written in English while any document for the school will be in Italian.

What if the Italian school is suggesting a learning assessment?

An assessment for suspected learning difficulties in a bilingual child needs particular care, because standard Italian tests may not accurately reflect a bilingual profile. If an assessment is already underway or being proposed, we can review the process together and, when appropriate, integrate it with a bilingual-sensitive evaluation.

What is a PDP, and how does it apply to my bilingual child?

A Piano Didattico Personalizzato is a formal school document that adapts teaching methods and evaluations for students with specific needs, including diagnosed learning difficulties (DSA). It is defined by Italian law (Legge 170/2010) and involves compensatory tools (a calculator, digital textbooks, text-to-speech) and exemptions (for example, from reading aloud in class). For bilingual children, additional considerations often apply and can be discussed with the school.

Which cities in Italy do you serve online?

All of them. I work online with families across Italy (Milan, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Venice, Turin, Genoa, Naples, and elsewhere), and I also see families in person in Genoa and Milan.

What about scheduling and time zones?

Sessions run within Italian office hours by default (Central European Time). If your work schedule doesn't allow that, we can arrange evening slots on a case-by-case basis.

How does payment and insurance work?

Payment follows Italian professional standards; a regular invoice is issued after each session. Many international private health insurances reimburse psychological consultations abroad; check with your insurer what documentation they require.

Do both parents need to consent for a child's session?

Yes. Under Italian professional guidelines, work with a minor requires the consent of both parents holding parental responsibility. This applies also when the parents live in different countries, unless a court order specifies otherwise.

8. Sources

1. Cummins, J. (2000). Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Multilingual Matters. The foundational work on the distinction between conversational and academic language proficiency in bilingual learners.
   https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?k=9781853594748
2. Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., and Luk, G. (2012). Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(4), 240-250.
   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.001
3. Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(6), 697-712.
   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.07.013
4. Italian Law of 8 October 2010, no. 170 ("Legge 170/2010"). New rules on specific learning disorders in schools.
   https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:legge:2010-10-08;170

Dr. Anna La Guzza

Clinical and Developmental Psychologist

Registered with the Order of Psychologists of Lombardy, n. 03/14975; accredited with ATS

Founder of the Amamente® Method

Author of Erickson publications in collaboration with Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan

Practising in Genoa, Milan and online (across Italy and internationally)

LinkedIn: https://it.linkedin.com/in/anna-la-guzza-71393935

🟪 Free introductory online consultation

annalaguzza@amamente.it

Article updated 29 September 2026