The Pediatric Psychology Clinic and Consultation Service (PPCS) applies behavioral science knowledge and methods to the assessment and treatment of learning, behavioral and psychosocial challenges associated with diagnosis, treatment and adaptation to pediatric medical problems. This approach helps to address the numerous behavioral, psychological, social and environmental influences on the ability of children and adolescents and their care givers to cope with health problems and medical care. As a result, these individuals are better able to benefit from advanced diagnostic procedures and medical therapies.
Goals of Clinic
The clinic’s primary goal is to promote healthy child development, behavior and psychological adjustment despite the often extraordinary stress and demands placed on children and families by medical problems in today’s health care environment. This goal is accomplished by applying principles of behavior, learning and psychosocial adaptation from the fields of behavioral and pediatric psychology. Behavior analysis and therapy are used to teach children skills for cooperating and participating at a developmentally appropriate level with medical care. Therapists in this specialized outpatient clinic also provide consultation to allied health professionals in a variety of inpatient and outpatient pediatric settings at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Johns Hopkins Hospital Children’s Center, and various schools and community health care facilities. Licensed psychologists and affiliated staff with special expertise in pediatric psychology and behavior analysis coordinate services with multidisciplinary health care, rehabilitation and educational teams. Direct clinical services are provided to children and adolescents with a wide range of medical problems, along with their families and care givers. Services include:
- Behaviorally-oriented individual child/adolescent psychotherapy with emphasis placed on teaching or strengthening skills for coping with stress, anxiety or pain, and on problem-solving skills for identifying and overcoming barriers to adherence with health care regimens and normative psychosocial adjustment.
- Evaluation and treatment of child/adolescent difficulties with behavior, psychosocial adjustment or emotional regulation related to medical problems or health care procedures
- Behavioral rehabilitation to improve daily functioning in youth with pain-associated disabilities
- Parent-child interaction assessment and therapy to improve interpersonal relationships and facilitate adherence with daily health care regimens
- Training parents and health care professionals to implement behavioral interventions that strengthen child coping, cooperation, and adjustment to their medical conditions
- Use of behavioral techniques to help avoid reliance on sedation or anesthesia for motion control or behavior management during medical procedures
- Use of behavioral techniques to supplement medical management of pain, anxiety and distress associated with medical disorders, tests and treatments
- Helping children and families adjust and adhere to prescribed medical treatments and self-care routines, including: taking medicine, repeated blood tests, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, transfusions, dialysis, bowel and bladder management, self-catheterization, tracheostomy care, restricted diet, stoma care, exercise programs, wearing glasses or hearing aids, wound care, dressing changes, intravenous catheter insertion, etc.
Success Stories:
The clinic staff has taught children with and without disabilities of preschool-age and older to cooperate with state-of-the-art medical technologies such as neuroimaging (e.g., MRI or CT scans), radiation treatment, nuclear medicine scans, chemotherapy, sleep studies, EEG tests, ultrasound tests (echocardiogram, sonogram), breathing tests, exercise stress tests, outpatient respiratory equipment (oxygen, positive airway pressure), sleep tests, etc.
The clinic staff has assisted children of preschool-age and older with and without disabilities in using behavior therapy methods for coping with a wide range of fears and phobias in medical situations, ranging from routine examinations to painful procedures such as injections and blood tests.
The clinic staff has taught children and adolescents to perform or participate in their own long-term health care routines requiring oral or inhaled medicine, swallowing pills/capsules, self-catheterization, skin inspection, pressure release exercises, subcutaneous chelation therapy, blood sugar tests, insulin shots, special diets, exercise and the like.
The clinic has developed and used behavioral protocols to measure and manage the behaviors associated with recovery and rehabilitation after spinal cord, brain or orthopedic injury with particular emphasis on early rehabilitation and prevention of behavior problems and secondary health complications.
Wednesday Evening Clinic, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Contact our Care Management Office
Toll-Free Referral: (888) 554-2080
Local Referral: (443) 923-9400
For follow-up appointments:
Shirley Sapp
Program Assistant
Phone: (443) 923-2900
Fax: (443) 923-2835
sapps@kennedykrieger.org
Brain or spinal injury
Neurological disorders
Neuromuscular disorders
Developmental Disabilities
Accidental Physical injury
Cerebral Palsy
Craniofacial disorders (oral clefts, craniosynostosis, etc.)
Spina Bifida
Skeletal displasias
Epilepsy (seizure disorders)
Cerebral-vascular disorders
Sickle cell disease
Cancer
Brain Tumor
Hemophilia and Blood disorders
Heart, kidney, or liver disease
Pre/post organ transplantation
Sleep problems
Eating problems
Asthma and breathing problems
·Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), Center for
·Development and Learning, Center for
·Down Syndrome Clinic
·NICU Follow-Up Clinic
·Neurogenetics Clinic
·Occupational Therapy Clinic
·Orthopedic Outpatient Clinic
·Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic
·Pediatric Rehabilitation Continuum
·Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit (PRU)
·Physical Therapy Clinic
·Speech and Language Outpatient Clinic
·Spina Bifida and Related Conditions, Philip A. Keelty Center for
(Grades Pre-K through 8)
·Kennedy Krieger School: Greenspring Campus - High School Career and Technology Center Program
·Brain Tumor Research
·Rehabilitation Research
·Traumatic and Environmental Brain Disorders Research
The Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy
(www.aabt.org)
American Psychological Association
(www.apa.org)
Parenting Toolbox
(www.parentingtoolbox.com)
National Head Start Association
(www.nhsa.org)
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
(http://www.nationalacademies.org/behavior/)
National Academy Press
(www.nap.edu)
National Institute of Mental Health
(www.nimh.nih.gov)
Continuums l Genetic Laboratories l Clinical Disciplines/Depts.