Children’s Offers Specialized Care to Developmentally Disabled Kids
from Practice Update, Winter 2007
The Neuropsychiatric Special Care (NSC) program is a newly developed inpatient program in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The Children’s Hospital. This program provides care for the developmentally disabled pediatric patient between the ages of four and 18 years old with co-morbid conditions (medical and/or psychiatric). With five beds, the NSC program makes The Children’s Hospital one of the few hospitals in the country that provides a hospital-based level of care for children with autism and developmental delays.
NSC program clinical director, Robin Gabriels, PsyD, developed this specialized program at The Children’s Hospital with the goal of meeting the medical and psychiatric needs of this special population, who are often difficult to evaluate. Through a multidisciplinary team approach, Dr. Gabriels believes the assessment, diagnosis and treatment is the most effective way to gain an overall understanding of the child’s behaviors.
“Our team addresses chronic or escalating symptoms of behavioral acting out that can lead to out-of-home placement, repeat emergency room visits or inpatient hospitalizations,” said Gabriels. “We also work with families and community providers to implement intervention plans specific to the child’s developmental strengths and needs in order to decrease the child’s negative behaviors and increase independent living skills.”
The program offers both inpatient and day treatment services, and patients receive a full range of routine activities that reflect the TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped CHildren) philosophy. These routine activities include daily living, independent work, leisure, music, dance and art therapy, social engagement and special education. TEACCH is a statewide intervention model that combines behavioral techniques and cognitive social learning strategies to increase safe, independent behaviors and decrease undesirable, dangerous behaviors. TEACCH strategies are well-documented as successful strategies for children with autism and other developmental disabilities.
The Neuropsychiatric Special Care program’s specialized level of care, combined with a community-based transition system, has contributed to the program’s success to date. Since the inception of the program, The Children’s Hospital has served a significant number of children in this specialized population throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The patient readmission rates have dropped dramatically, which reflects the program’s success in stabilizing patients and returning them to the community. In addition, this program has begun to educate other clinics in the hospital about best practices for these children.
For more information about the NSC program, contact Dr. Gabriels at 720-777-1234. For admission information, contact the NSC intake coordinator at 720-777-1234.
