Psychologist Supports Team Approach at the Stramski Center at Miller Children’s

Geraldine A. Stramski, a pediatrician, recognized the need for a team approach to the multiple health issues often encountered in children with chronic diseases and developmental conditions. In 1975, she founded the Chronic Disease Center at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach using the multi-disciplinary team philosophy. After her passing in 1991, the clinic was renamed in her honor.

The Stramski Children’s Developmental Center at Miller Children’s provides comprehensive care for individuals—from birth to age 21—with behavioral, developmental and physical abnormalities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, learning disabilities, sleep conditions, genetic disorders, and craniofacial abnormalities, including cleft lip and palate.

Decades later, the Stramski Center continues its mission to provide comprehensive care to children with special needs, most recently with the addition of Ioana Pal, PsyD, a licensed psychologist.

Having a psychologist on the Stramski Center team helps create a clearer picture of what the patients with developmental delays and behavioral issues and their families are going through.

Dr. Pal observes the patients, considers their abilities, stressors, environment and culture, and talks with the families to get a better idea about how the team can help them. In addition to observations, she provides IQ, achievement, neuropsychological, behavioral, and personality testing to find a child’s strengths and areas in need of improvement.

“Once I find out what the patient is dealing with, my recommendations are always focused on working from their strengths,” says Ioana Pal, PsyD, clinical psychologist, Stramski Center, Miller Children’s. “It’s also nice to really understand what a child likes so I can work it into their treatment plan.”

Many Stramski Center patients come in with anxiety that may be associated with their behavioral and neurodevelopment conditions. Through her interviews with the patients and their families, and along with appropriate testing, Dr. Pal considers other factors that may be affecting a child at home, at school or in the community.

“Sometimes it’s not the big problem, sometimes it’s the little things that make it into a big problem,” says Dr. Pal. “I like to look at the issues from all angles because even with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, for example, a child can make friends and learn to tolerate his or her environment when the right interventions like supportive therapy, medication or occupational therapy are in place.”

Dr. Pal’s work isn’t just limited to seeing patients at the Stramski Center. She also visits and meets with school team members to discuss the patient’s individualized education plan (IEP) in order to optimize the child’s academic functioning and to empower parents to become stronger advocates for their children.

Before working at the Stramski Center, Dr. Pal worked in private practice and with the City of Orange with foster care children. She also is the editor of the Orange County Psychological Association’s quarterly newsletter. So far, she is loving the variety in her position at the Stramski Center and working with the doctors, nurses, families and, of course, the patients.