The Pittsburgh Children's Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to children with special needs and their families in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the United States and Western Pennsylvania.
Mary Irwin Laughlin founded the Children's Institute in 1902 as the Memorial House for Cripple Kids to care for a six-year-old boy whose legs were broken by a train accident. Later called The Rehabilitation Institute, the hospital at The Children's Institute, today, is a leader in pediatric rehabilitation techniques and provides individualized care programs throughout extensive care: inpatient care, outpatient care, transitional and subacute care, and home care. The Children's Institute also features The Day School, an accredited private school for students with special needs, Project STAR, a dedicated social services component to support and find permanent homes for children with special needs, and the Therapeutic Garden, accessible to children at the Institute and the public.
The Children's Institute's main campus is located at 1405 Shady Avenue in Squirrel Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh, and the hospital's satellite facilities are located in Wexford, Green Tree and Norwin Hills. The STAR Project at The Children's Institute has offices in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, and Monaca, Pennsylvania.
Video Children's Institute of Pittsburgh
Hospital
The Children's Institute provides pediatric rehabilitation to children and adolescents from birth to age twenty-one. This is a "self-pediatric specialty pediatric rehabilitation hospital in Pennsylvania, and one of only twenty in the country." Hospital offers special programs such as aquatic therapy, adjunctive therapy, augmentative and alternative communication, autism therapy, brain rehabilitation, diabetes management, functional eating, obesity management, orthopedic rehabilitation, end of life and palliative care, pediatric heart restoration program, , RND (reflex neurovascular dystrophy) and pain rehabilitation, spinal cord rehabilitation, and Prader-Willi syndrome program. Hospital staff members are certified pediatric specialists.
Hospitals receive most insurance plans, federal or state aid programs and offer tariff reduction or free maintenance. The Heasley House is a residence available to families living more than fifty miles away. It's located on Squirrel Hill, and requires the family to pay five dollars a night to stay there.
Inpatient services
The campus located at Squirrel Hill has three units: two units focus on pediatric rehabilitation and the third specializes in Prader-Willi Syndrome. The facility has eighty-two inpatient beds. At the hospital, each patient is assigned to a team of therapists directed by a doctor. The licensed nurse and the healthcare worker provide care twenty-four hours a day. Children and their families are assigned to case managers who facilitate communication between caregivers and families. Patients stay four weeks on average, but they range from one to two weeks to four to six months.
Hospital provides rehabilitation services. These include medical services, nutrition services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological services, recreational therapy, and speech and language pathology.
The Squirrel Hill Campus contains facilities and equipment. There is a swimming pool used in recreation and therapy. The Austin playroom is used for children's play and development activities. There is an outdoor playground for school students and inpatients used in therapy. Sensory space promotes intellectual activity and promotes relaxation for patients. There is a medical library on site.
CABLE stands for a cognitive and behavioral learning environment, a school for in-patient children. This is an educational program that provides cognitive assessment for patients in kindergarten through the twelfth grade.
Outpatient service
Scheduled outpatient services are dependent on time and location. Outpatient services are located at Squirrel Hill, as well as at Children's Institute South locations in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, Eastern locations in Norwin Hills, Pennsylvania, and North locations in Wexford, Pennsylvania.
Outpatient services include occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language therapy, clinical nutrition services, hearing evaluation, home accessibility evaluation, neuropsychological evaluation, special equipment evaluation, assistive technology, and augmentative communication.
Research
Hospitals at Children's Institute of Pittsburgh conduct research for the development of pediatric rehabilitation. Dr. Scott Faber, a Pediatric Neurologist at the Hospital, in his study, found "a very low ratio of zinc-to-copper in the blood of patients with autism." The results of this study are published in Scientific Biomarkers (Journal). Similar research is now underway and is planned to continue this research. A pilot study conducted by the director of Physical Therapy, Christopher Joseph, MPT, along with Chatham University investigated RND treatment, reflex neurovascular dystrophy. The results concluded that "the intensive exercise regimen allows a significant increase in functional activity."
US Senator Bob Casey, Jr. has helped get funding for the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh. This funding has contributed to the establishment of autism centers and pediatric units, which care for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. In 2010, the contribution also guaranteed the purchase of research equipment for the study of environmental autism triggers, for further development of autism treatment.
Maps Children's Institute of Pittsburgh
Therapeutic garden
On April 22, 2010, two dogwood trees were planted during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Children's Institute at the Pittsburgh Nimick family therapy park. The ceremony was performed by the Nimick Family in honor of the late Florence and Tommy Nimick. Tommy and Florence Nimick devote their lives to working with children at the Children's Institute at Squirrel Hill. The gardens are a gift from the Nimick Forbesway Foundation to remember Nimick's long-term leadership at the Institute. "The Nimick Family Therapy Garden will help in teaching, stimulating and calming patients and their families, as well as educators, therapists and neighbors from The Children's Institute." The park is located near the front of the Squirrel Hill Campus along Shady Avenue. He hopes to showcase: a tree house accessible by rope or staircase, a sun pavilion in the heart of the park, sculptures by world-renowned sculptor Albert Guibara, children's gardening gardens, and carved brick paths throughout the park. Therapy parks are not only accessible to their families and children at the Institute, but also to the public.
The story behind the garden
The first garden at the Children's Institute was a triumphal park in the 1900s. The Nimick Gardens will take its place as the Institute's Therapeutic Garden. "Nimick Family Therapy Park will use the outdoors in a way that we have never done before and will reflect our commitment to respond to all the needs of our patients and families." President and CEO David K. Miles. Tommy Nimick was a member of the Advisory Council of Men at the Institute of Children and served on the council until his death in 2007. Florence Nimick is a long-term member of the Board of Directors and serves three positions as Chairman of the Board at the Institute, which at the time was the House for Crippled Kids. He died in 1981. "We are proud to honor our parents in this way - and we believe that, if they were here, they would make this gift themselves.The Institute of Children is a great common interest for them, so much that the three of us were practically raised there.As a child, we played and talked to staff and patients while our mother signed the mail, and then as a teenager, my brother and I volunteered there. "- Kit Nimick Carrasco.
The benefits of therapeutic garden
Mind, body, and soul are the real theme of Japanese Zen garden to Cloister Monastic Park which has been used all the time for therapeutic reasons. The concept of unity is important in the therapeutic garden. The "healing garden" must have simplicity, order, balance, and variety. Roger Ulrich, a professor and director of the Center for Systems and Health Design at Texas A & amp; M University, found that people who have access to natural scenes or elements can overcome feelings of stress, reduce negative emotions, and help with attention disorders. The test subjects show a lower alpha level, associated with being relaxed, when looking at natural settings such as gardens, rather than urban settings. Ulrich also showed that surgical patients who could see nature in garden form had shorter postoperative periods, drank fewer painkillers, and experienced fewer postoperative complications.
Garden sculpture
The statues of Albert Guibara have been chosen to be displayed at the Children's Institute garden. Guibara has stood for almost fifty years and carved in bronze. A lifelong resident of San Francisco, California, Guibara is best known for his statues: rabbits and banyan trees at the Grand Cafe, horses swung at Monaco Hotel in San Francisco, and manini fish and donkey and wiliwili trees interwoven at Kukio Resort in Kona , Hawaii. Guibara is currently sculpting a sunflower pavilion for the Institute; this will be located in the heart of the garden and will represent hope and healing. He will make good wishes for the children. The frog on the lily flower with the sunflower will be carved. Twenty-four inches Jeremy Fisher Frog will lure on a pad lily together with a typical sunflower umbrella Institute; sunflower umbrellas will be displayed in the garden. The sunflower bars are being built to confront Shady Avenue. Fourteen to eighteen inch mice, squirrels, and ducks are also being made.
STAR Project
The STAR Project is created by The Children's Institute to help and educate families about resources to make children's lives as good as possible. This is done through family placement services, family preservation services, and family enrichment services. The STAR Project is licensed by the Pennsylvania Public Trust Department as adoption, foster, and private children and youth social services agencies. This is an affiliate member of the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN). There are two offices, one located in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and another located in Monaca Pennsylvania.
The STAR project began in October 1985 as a collaborative effort of The Children's Institute, the Three Rivers Adoption Board (TRAC), and the Allegheny County Children, Youth and Family Office. The original purpose was to find a permanent home for children with developmental disabilities. This has since extended to all the children in need of a home. Affiliates believe that children with developmental disabilities can be adopted in the condition that the family receives complete information about the child, education about the child's needs, and special training for the child prior to adoption. STAR acronym is short for Special Training for Adoption Preparation. In 1990, Project STAR expanded with the opening of offices in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, to expand the reach of children to help.
The Vacation Gift Drive began in 1997 and provides gifts for children and families from Project STAR during the holidays. Gifts are distributed to all Project STAR families throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. Gift drives receive donations or sponsorship from a particular child through gift giving on the wish list of a child.
Family placements
The STAR project places children in adoption, foster, or resilient situations, depending on the child's particular needs. Their goal is to match a child with the right resource family anywhere from a few days to permanently. Family resources are trained by the institution and are continuously assisted by the institution if necessary.
Family sources include individuals or families who partner with Project STAR to receive children in need of a home. A man or woman 21 years of age or older qualifies to be a source family. Project STAR does not discriminate in terms of marital status, number of other children, economic status, occupation, or home ownership.
Family preservation and enrichment
The purpose of the STAR Project with family preservation services is to keep children with their birth family or to have the child return to their birth family as soon as possible. After preservation services receive referrals about a particular family, they examine the family and provide them with community resources to help family nutrition, discipline, and childhood development. Project STAR receives referrals from mental health offices and mental retardation, child welfare institutions, and families who choose to refer themselves.
The PACT Project (Parents and Children Together) was created by Project STAR to maintain open contact between children temporarily removed from their homes and their biological parents. Visits arranged by staff in supervised and neutral locations. A parenting lesson is given each visit, and parents and welfare professionals are provided with feedback after each visit.
The goal of family enrichment services is to make families stronger by providing ongoing support. The STAR project has open events for educational and recreational issues for families throughout the year.
Post-Permanent Services is available to all families with children adopted under the age of 18. Foster parents and legal guardians may participate in the service. Services include case evaluation, advocacy, tough care, and support groups.
STAR Project Awards
- The 2005 Congressional Awards Angels in Adoption
- 2004 Adoption of the Award for Support for Adoption Family Department of Health and Human Services of the United States
- 2000 Pennsylvania Health Department Provides Exceptional Appreciation for Services to Children and Families
- 1999 SWAN (Adoption of Pennsylvania State Network) Hall of Fame Award for Children's Special Recruitment
Day School
The Day School at The Children's Institute of Pittsburgh is a private school that caters to children with disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, and brain damage. About 200 students, aged 2-21, are currently registered. These students come from Allegheny and the nearby district. Transportation is provided by parents or by the general school district where students live. Students enrolled in the Day School are usually referred to by their public school. The school day lasts from 8:30 am to 3 pm. and the school year ends 180 days.
The Day School is an Approved Private School, licensed by the School of Private Academic School of Pennsylvania and approved as a School of Special Education by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It is also fully accredited by the National Commission for Accreditation of Special Education Services.
Most staff members hold a master's degree. The therapist is certified to work in Pennsylvania schools. Day School administration staff hold certification as teachers, primary or secondary school administrators, special education supervisors, or a combination of these credentials. Paraprofessionals holds a bachelor's degree or have received training in college.
Services
Services available to students, including: speech/language therapy, vision consultation, diet service, psychological services, augmentative communication device therapy, auditory hearing therapy, functional therapy and oral motor therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing services, and social services work.
The Day School has 25 classrooms, a gymnasium, a full-sized pool, a library, a sensory room, a function room, and a treatment area for occupational, physical, and speech therapy. The classroom accommodates eight students, one teacher, and two paraprofessionals. In the classroom with autistic students, there are usually six children, one teacher, and two paraprofessionals.
Curriculum
Students have an individualized curriculum that aims to improve students' life skills, in addition to teaching academic basics, so that each student can learn to be independent. Parental involvement is recommended. Students take tailored physical education, art, library, music, and (GYMBOP). This class integrates music and physical education, which combines physical, occupational, and language/language therapy. Movement activities include: rolling, balancing, sitting, reaching, swinging, stretching, standing, and walking, with and without the help of equipment such as pedestrians, scooters, walkers, pedicabs, benches, and standers. Activities aimed at improving communication skills include: finding sounds, making eye contact, tracking objects, pointing, using simple switches, and following directions.
External links
- The Institute of Pittsburgh children's website
- Children's Institute on Albert Guibara website
References
- Toker, Franklin (1994) [1986]. Pittsburgh: A Portrait of the City . Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBNÃ, 0-8229-5434-6.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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