Reservation Developmental Clinics
Project Description:
The Center for Disabilities administers two developmental clinics on the reservations of Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge. The model for these clinics won a project director?s award from HRSA in 1996. These clinics address health, nutrition and developmental needs of children from birth through five years of age.
Pediatric professionals from CD/USD fly by charter plane once a month to work with local professionals to implement these clinics. Two teams provide a comprehensive evaluation to determine if the child may be eligible for early intervention services. Each team work through an arena based style and evaluates motor development, communication, cognition and adaptive behavior. In addition, each child receives a nutrition consult. Quarterly an audiologist provides hearing examinations to the children that appear to be at-risk for a hearing loss. On a quarterly basis a developmental pediatrician also sees children who have been through the developmental clinic but still have questions regarding health/development that need to be addressed.
Approximately 8 children are seen at each monthly clinic. Prior to the clinics, local staff provides developmental screenings in the local reservation communities. Children that appear at-risk as a result of the screening process are referred into the clinic. After clinic, the local staff along with the Birth to 3 Service Coordinator for the area provides a follow-up visit to the family. At this visit all of the information from the clinic is shared and appropriate releases are signed. If the child qualifies and if the family wants it, the child is then connected to the IFSP or IEP and a service plan is developed. Children qualifying for services are usually receiving services within two weeks and always within thirty days.
Many products have been developed in conjunction with these clinics. Some of the products have been translated into Lakota depending on the wishes of the local advisory committee.
Funding for the two of these clinics is provided by the Tribes. The third clinic is working with HRSA funding with the long term intent of that Tribe sustaining the project over time.
Keyword(s):
early identification, early intervention, Native American, rural
Core Function(s):
Training Trainees
Area of Emphasis
Education & Early Intervention, Health-Related Activities, Quality of Life, Other - Cultural Diversity
Target Audience:
Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Geographic Areas, Reservation, Rural/Remote, Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Mulit-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
