The Pediatric Neurorehabilitation Program at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital is a specialized outpatient program designed to support recovery and adaptation to changes resulting from injury or disease affecting the brain or spinal cord.
The program uses a team-based approach to care to design a personalized treatment program for your child.
Our goal is to help children, teens, and their families achieve the highest level of recovery in a compassionate, creative, and family-centered environment.
Our patients
Children and teens who have experienced a complex injury or disease that affects the nervous system can benefit from a comprehensive neurorehabilitation program to maximize their long-term potential.
This can include children with the following conditions:
- Traumatic and acquired brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Infections of the brain, such as encephalitis
- Stroke
- Seizure disorder
- Pediatric cancer and late effects from cancer treatment
- Other acquired problems that affect the brain or central motor system
Our team-based approach to care
Children with complex rehabilitation needs benefit from a comprehensive approach to care provided by specialists from a wide variety of rehabilitative disciplines. Our multidisciplinary program includes specialists in:
- Occupational therapy (OT)
- Physical therapy (PT)
- Rehabilitation psychology / neuropsychology (RPN)
- Speech-language pathology (SLP)
- Education
- Therapeutic recreation
- Art therapy
- Case management
- Consultation with rehabilitation engineering, dieticians, and other providers specific to your child’s needs
Our team works closely with your child’s physicians, including specialists in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
Comprehensive neurorehabilitation services
Our team strives to combine your family’s knowledge of your child with our team’s expertise in neurorehabilitation to support participation in home, school and community-based activities. We offer a full spectrum of neurorehabilitation services and support, including:
- Comprehensive assessment and treatment from a full complement of specialists who exclusively treat patients with neurorehabilitation needs, including PT, OT, SLP, psychology, learning, recreational therapy and art therapy
- Individualized treatment plans designed around your child’s needs and goals.
- Assistance with the return-to-school process by an education specialist dedicated to working with children, their families and the child’s school system
- Assessment and treatment of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral concerns with rehabilitation psychology and neuropsychology
- Therapeutic trips to motivating environments, such as parks, playgrounds, museums, or shopping malls, where children can practice walking, communication and use of high-level memory and cognitive skills in a real-world environment
- Age-appropriate home activity plans designed to promote recovery and return to typical activity
One of the key components of a successful therapy program is helping a child transfer newly-learned skills from the therapy room to everyday life. We will meet regularly with your family to review your child’s rehabilitation therapy plan and assist you in helping your child transfer progress made in therapy to every part of his or her life – including home, school, and community/social activities.
In addition to individual therapies, our program also incorporates group therapies to address individual rehabilitation goals through community activities that are both fun and functional. Group therapies vary depending on patient needs and may include:
- Therapeutic yoga
- Horseback riding
- Adapted aquatics
- Creative coping
- Video-journaling
Our Leisure Awareness Program, funded by the University of Michigan Dance Marathon, promotes independence in leisure activities to ensure a healthy lifestyle. The program includes adapted martial arts classes, bowling, adapted bike-riding and even tree-climbing.
We also offer a Summer Therapy Program to address rehabilitation goals in a fun and functional manner. Summer therapy groups vary depending on the needs of the children and teens enrolled in the program. Typical summer group therapies have included:
- Social Success Group: assisting children/teens to communicate effectively, including how to join a peer group, start a conversation and resolve conflict
- Community Planning: using higher-level cognitive skills to plan and initiate an activity in the community
- Study Smart: focusing on study skills, efficient note-taking, test-taking and organizational strategies
- Motor Skills Group: improving motor skills through gross motor activities
- Camera Club: using a camera and photography software to produce creative and thoughtful photos, incorporating field trips and a gallery presentation of art work
- Newspaper Group: learning about the process of making a newspaper, and ultimately creating one of their own using a variety of skills needed for success in school and in daily life, such as reading, writing, planning, decision-making, and working with others
Coordinated care for optimal recovery
Our specialists work closely with other members of your care team to coordinate your treatment. This can include working with hospital physicians involved in your inpatient treatment as well as your primary care provider and other specialists involved in your child’s care.
A case manager will help your family plan your child’s therapy program, communicating with your physicians and identifying ways to obtain special equipment and transportation services that may be needed. The case manager is available to assist you as you transition to the outpatient therapy program and help you navigate the various health system and community resources available to you.
Make an appointment
For more information or to make an appointment, call 734-763-2554.