Before Starting Therapy
To initiate physical therapy, your child must receive a physical therapy referral from his/her pediatrician or specialist to Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Upon receiving the referral and obtaining the appropriate authorization, our department will contact you to make an appointment for an evaluation. Children’s Hospital accepts a variety of insurances including CCS (California Children’s Services), HMO, PPO, Medi-Cal, and referrals from Regional Center (find out more about accepted insurance plans).
Preparing for the Evaluation
It is important to come to the therapy appointment wearing appropriate loose fitting clothing. If your child is coming to have the legs evaluated, please wear shorts. If your child is coming to have the arms or back evaluated, please wear a tank top. Please bring any braces or assistive device that your child uses. If your child has an IEP from the school, please bring a copy to the evaluation.
Evaluation
Your child’s physical therapist will perform a thorough initial examination to assess your child’s strengths and weaknesses and determine the specific areas of focus for therapy. After the first appointment, the physical therapist will discuss how often your child will need to come to physical therapy and set a schedule to meet your family’s needs.
Treatment
Your child's physical therapist will establish an individualized treatment program to meet the goals for therapy. Each treatment session is 50-minutes. In addition, you and your child will receive an individualized home exercise program as well as ongoing education to assist your child and continue his/her progression in therapy as well as at home. We follow a program known as Models of Therapy to help decide how often and for how long therapy services are needed. Your therapist will provide you with a brochure to help explain this approach and will work with you to develop the best plan of care for your child.
Team Approach
Our staff has the unique ability to work closely with the physicians, nurses, and patient care coordinators to provide the best possible care for your child. Therapists regularly consult with the referring physician regarding your child's progress in therapy and raise any concerns that may affect the course of therapy.
Discharge
At the initial evaluation, your child's therapist will write individualized goals to be used to assist your child through the progression of physical therapy. Once your child has met his/her goals and returned back to the optimal level of function, he/she will be discharged from outpatient physical therapy. Challenges in meeting your child’s discharge goals will be discussed with you and your child’s physician to determine the most appropriate course of action.
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