Peds Rehabilitation

Peds Rehab Outpatient Programs

Family Centered Care Approach A Typical Day & Schedule Individual Education Program (IEP) 504 Plan

Rehab Medical Director Refer a Patient

Christopher is a tall, fun-loving 18-year-old that is excited about starting his first year in college. He stays busy by playing the guitar and spending time with his friends. Last January, Christopher started having trouble walking. Then he noticed he was losing even more motor skills. Immediately, his mother, Teresa knew that there was something wrong.

After an MRI revealed that Christopher had a tethered spine, he was referred to Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach. Tethered spinal cord syndrome is a neurological disorder that affects the function of the nerves in the spinal cord and causes abnormal stretching of the spine.

It was decided that surgery was needed to ease some of the pressure on Christopher’s spine. Ramin J. Javahery, MD, medical director, pediatric neurosurgery, took on Christopher’s case. Not even 30 days after the first surgery, he had to have another spinal surgery to remove a mass that had been found at the top of his spine.

“Chris is an extraordinary person – as is his mother. They are decent and loving people who were dealt a very complicated medical problem and handled the initial possibility that Chris would be permanently paralyzed with grace and elegance,” says Dr. Javahery. “I am very happy that he has had a great recovery, and I learned a lot from him when he was sick.”

After surgery, Christopher went through nine months of intensive physical and occupational therapy. He had to relearn how to take care of himself on his own again, even the simple task of getting out of bed.

“The care team at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach is outstanding,” says Teresa Hall. “I owe Christopher’s success to the care he received here. The team helped our family get through this tough time together and now we are all celebrating Christopher’s achievements.”

In September, Christopher started his first semester at Cerritos College and is moving around with ease. Thanks to the great care he received at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, Christopher is back to playing guitar and ensuring his freshman year is a success.

Pediatric Rehabilitation Care

Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach offers extensive rehabilitation therapy services, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and recreational therapy. Rehabilitation therapists provide developmentally and culturally appropriate evaluations and treatment for children from birth to 21 years of age. The entire health care team collaborates with children and their families to achieve the child’s maximum physical, emotional, social, and learning potential. Miller Children’s provides rehabilitation services both during a child’s stay in the hospital and through follow-up care in the Rehabilitation Outpatient Specialty Center.

The pediatric rehabilitation care team sees children with a wide range of conditions due to disability, injury or illness. Individualized treatment helps children gain or regain as much function as possible while instilling a sense of independence and well-being. The pediatric rehabilitation care team provides services in many multi-disciplinary core care teams throughout the hospital, as well as within Outpatient Specialty Centers.

Miller Children’s Stands Apart

Miller Children’s is home to one of the region’s only hypertonicity centers.
Pediatric Rehabilitation at Miller Children’s is a regional leader among children’s hospitals in speech therapy, using advanced treatments such as VitalStim therapy.
Pediatric rehabilitation at Miller Children’s offers a specially designed school re-entry program which works with teh school and family to ensure a successful return to school following the child's hospital stay.
Pediatric rehabilitation offers a broad base of specialized group programs utilizing a peer-based model to help children work on social language, sensory processing, feeding, early language development and improving cleft palate speech.
Pediatric rehabilitation has five pediatric rehabilitation gyms, in both the hospital and outpatient centers, including a full-service pediatric rehabilitation gym complete with balance balls, cargo swing, an outdoor play area and exercise and rehabilitation equipment sized just for kids.
Miller Children’s provides pool therapy as part of their physical and recreational therapy program.
The pediatric rehabilitation program at Miller Children’s receives generous community support, including from the California Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation.