Pediatric NeuroRehabilitation Day Treatment Program
The Pediatric NeuroRehabilitation Day-Treatment program is one part of the University of Michigan Health System's comprehensive program in neuro-rehabilitation. The program is dedicated to working with children, teens and their families to promote recovery from and adaptation to changes resulting from brain injury. Team members work to combine the family's knowledge of their child with the team's expertise in brain injury rehabilitation, working together to achieve the goal of returning a child to full participation in home, school and community-based activities.
Special Programs
Summer Program
The focus of the Summer Program is to promote social success, community experiences and study smart skills in children and adolescents who are recovering from and adapting to a brain injury. The program is individually designed to meet a child/teen's treatment goals, with an emphasis on functional and fun-filled activities. The treatment day may include a combination of individual and group therapies, recreational therapeutic trips and specialized Parent Guidance and Support Group sessions. Group therapies may include:
Social Success: to assist your child in improving social skills and problem solving, including the ability to enter a peer group, start a conversation, maintain a topic, communicate nonverbally and with appropriate assertiveness, engage in conflict resolution and facilitate interpersonal problem-solving
Out and About: to assist your child in developing skills that promote the ability to manage everyday life activities, including independence with activities of daily living and life skills, organization and planning, judgment and safety, motor skills, communication skills and social interaction. Activities may include shopping, snack and meal preparation, playground or recreational outings, therapeutic horseback riding and field trips.
Study Smart: to assist your child in maintaining or improving the skills that impact performance in school, addressing study skills, organizational strategies, tutoring, peer support discussion, test-taking and research skills.
Motor Skills: to assist your child in improving motor skills while learning new activities that can be pursued after therapy is completed. A variety of natural activities are explored. These may include therapeutic horseback riding, dance, swimming, bowling or other activities.
Social Skills
After a brain injury, children/teens may experience difficulty with a variety of skills important to forming and maintaining friendships. These skills include entering a conversation, initiating a conversational topic, maintaining a conversation, choosing appropriate and relevant comments appropriate to the situation and the conversational partners, and using appropriate word choices, eye contact and facial and voice expression. Participants in Social Skills group will be evaluated and goals will be developed to address specific social skills. In individual and group therapy sessions, the team's psychologist and speech-language pathologist will focus on assisting the child/teen in development of more age-appropriate social skills.
CHAMP
It is a therapeutic intervention program that involves restricting use of the less affected upper extremity (hand and arm) using a splint or other device as a constraint as well as use of bilateral motor activities to retrain use of the more affected extremity. Therapeutic activities are to be completed during therapy sessions as well as consistently used at home in order to obtain optimal levels of functioning. This therapy is beneficial because it teaches people to overcome the learned nonuse of the affected arm and hand that developed in the early post-injury period.
Who is Eligible?
All participants need to meet the following set of criteria prior to admission:
- Be at least 6 months or more post-injury.
- Have functional passive range of motion of the upper extremity
- Have the ability to actively move the upper extremity out of synergy
- Have the ability to voluntarily open the hand/use a gross grasp
- Demonstrate mild-moderate, if any, cognitive or language deficits with the ability to learn new tasks with training
What does the Program Involve?
The program involves wearing a splint or other device on the less affected upper extremity for a majority of the participant ’s waking hours while attempting to do all daily activities with the more affected upper extremity.Participants must be willing to work diligently for three weeks of therapy sessions three times a week, for three hours a day. The Treatment sessions include individual Physical Therapy , Occupational Therapy, Therapeutic Recreation, and Rehabilitation Psychology, as well as group sessions. Both traditional treatment methods and facilitation of movement through functional activities are reinforced.
Participants are also provided with a home activity program and diary to complete while they are out of the clinic. This requires a good deal of self-motivation and follow through at home.
How Can My Child be Referred?
All those interested in participating must first receive an evaluation through Drs. Ayyangar, Hornyak, Hurvitz, or Nelson. An appointment can be scheduled by calling 734-936-7175. If a person is considered appropriate, they are placed on a list of potential participants and scheduled for entry into the program as soon as is feasible.Questions regarding the program may be directed to Candice Hardin M.S., L.L.P., Rehabilitation Counselor/Case Manager for the Pediatric NeuroRehabilitation Program, at 734-998-7710.
Bicycle-Tricycle Program
Children/teens who would benefit from an adapted bicycling program will be referred to the Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation's Program at Mott Children's Hospital, University of Michigan Health System. Participants must be 3 years of age or older. There is no cost for this program, as it is funded by Dance Marathon. The contact number for this program is: 734-729-9100.
Martial Arts Therapy (MAT)
An adapted martial arts program has been designed to promote improved balance, gross motor coordination, strength and self-esteem in children working towards improvement of motor skills. The Martial Arts classes take place at Mott Children's Hospital, University of Michigan Health System. Participants must be at least 6 years old and have a physician referral for participation in the program. This program is supported by the University of Michigan Dance Marathon. Please contact Roxanne Reicher at MAT to register: 517-223-7449.
