Learning to Work Beyond the Plan

Ammarah Sakrani · Neurodevelopmental Training · February 2026 · IQ Institute of Neuropsychiatry

Ammarah Sakrani completed her neurodevelopmental internship at IQ Institute in February 2026. Here’s what 20 hours in a clinical room taught her — and how those lessons show up in her work today.

My first ever clinical session was with a five-year-old boy.

As interns, our focus was on socialisation and rapport building, so naturally I went in with a rough idea of how I thought the session would unfold. I planned a couple of structured activities and conversational topics. However, reality caught me off guard.

The session proceeded at the client’s pace, not mine. He had trouble maintaining focus, switched between tasks quickly, and showed little interest in following the structure I had prepared. Almost instantly, everything I had planned fell apart and I had to improvise on the spot.

Rapport Is Entering the Child’s World

On paper, building rapport sounded simple. In practice, especially with a neurodevelopmental client, it is much more nuanced. Rapport was not about having a nice conversation or sticking to an activity to extract required information. It was about entering the child’s world, following his lead, and finding openings that could spark connection.

This was harder than I expected. It required a lot of patience to figure out the client’s non-verbal needs. Gradually, I realised that rapport doesn’t just look like a client completely opening up to you. It can also look like a moment of eye contact, or a child allowing you into their play without resistance, or even a small moment of shared attention — or, at the end of the session, when the client exchanges small talk with you.

These moments may seem minor, but in the clinical room, they held significance. — Ammarah Sakrani

Energy, Not Only Calm

Another important lesson came through my clinical supervisor, Dr. Mahnoor Khan, and her emphasis on energy. As students we are often taught the value of remaining calm, composed and regulated in therapeutic settings (which is of course critical). However, I discovered throughout this internship that calmness is not always enough, whether working with young children or in a group.

When a session loses momentum, the therapist cannot become passive or stuck. Dr. Mahnoor showed us the difference that the therapist’s energetic presence, animation and flexibility can bring into a session, directing the client’s attention and engagement.

This insight changed how I approached sessions. It is essential to stay engaged and responsive even when the client isn’t. Especially in neurodevelopmental work, the ability to shift tone, pace or activity in real time is crucial. This became apparent during peer sessions, where I had to engage multiple children’s energies and interactions at once.

There were times when neither child was interested in listening or participating in the set activity. I had to instantly modify objectives while maintaining the session’s framework. I learned how to balance between structure and flexibility.

What Theory Cannot Teach

Walking into this internship, I expected clinical work to be textbook-like, despite people telling me that real-life practice is unpredictable and novel. You don’t fully understand what that means until you are in the room yourself. There are things no teacher, no theory, no amount of reading can teach you. Only experience can.

This internship showed me that clinical work isn’t just about knowing techniques. It is about learning how to apply them with empathy, patience and flexibility.

Where She Is Now

Today, Ammarah balances her final year of undergraduate studies with freelance content writing and running her own psychology-focused website. The flexibility she learned during her internship shows up in her work daily, especially as she navigates her thesis.

“As a final year student, I’m working on many academic projects, especially my thesis, where things don’t always go as planned. Adapting ideas, reorganizing parts, responding to feedback — it’s all necessary. The internship helped me develop that mindset by teaching me how to adapt on the fly instead of getting stuck when things don’t go as planned.” — Ammarah Sakrani

She’s currently focused on gaining more practical exposure in both clinical work and research. Her particular interests lie in psychological disorders and deviant behavior, approached through application rather than theory alone. She’s also exploring forensic psychology.

When asked what surprised her most about the internship, she says: “I expected clinical work to be quite textbook-like, despite many people telling you that real-life practice is unpredictable and novel. Yet, you don’t fully understand what that means until you are in the room yourself.”

Her Advice to Hesitant Students

If I had one piece of advice for psychology students who are hesitant to apply for a clinical internship because they don’t feel ready, it would be to just go for it. Take the leap. Yes, it’s nerve-wracking and unfamiliar at first, but it’s also deeply valuable. Whether you’re in your first year or your final year, hands-on exposure teaches you things that theory alone cannot.

The value and growth at the end are much greater — and an experience you won’t forget.