• The Thompson Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center at CHOC offers the following:
• Assessment Program: Providing comprehensive assessments for children ages one through six
• Behavior Program: Addressing challenging behaviors through evidence-based therapies and
  compassionate care, including toilet training and applied behavior analysis (ABA)
• Co-Occurring Conditions Program: Providing care under one roof for children with ASD and a co-occurring condition, such as ADHD, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, gastrointestinal issues, epilepsy or other similar issue
• Research studies and clinical trials looking to transform the future of ASD, provide a better
  understanding of ASD and other neurodevelopmental differences and bring the newest findings
  to families in the region
• Family support, including support groups for parents, grandparents and siblings; access to community programs and resources; transition into adult care, including education, work plans, college or secondary school; and legal consultations
• Education assistance through the Families and Schools Together (FAST) at CHOC Program, in
  partnership with Chapman University; IEP coordination; and access to school system resources.

Palliative care is specialized, additional medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is centered around providing relief from the symptoms and stress of illness to enhance quality of life. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.

Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient, not on the patient’s prognosis. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment. Palliative care is adjacent to hospice and end-of-life care, but it is not actual end of life care.

CHOC’s Palliative Care program aims to enhance the level of support and reduce the amount of suffering experienced by patients with complex medical conditions, as well as for the people who love them and the healthcare team that cares for them.

The Palliative Care Team supports patients by:

• Providing initial consultations and follow up encounters in the hospital, OPI, and other clinics
• Easing pain and managing symptoms and side effects
• Fostering communication between families and health care providers
• Identifying goals of and aligning all involved with the medical care plan
• Delivering effective educational programs to healthcare staff

As the only children’s hospital in Orange County with a pediatric palliative care program, this team is available to provide care in the inpatient and outpatient setting, in partnership with other healthcare providers.

A palliative care consultation is appropriate for patients with serious illnesses who would benefit from enhanced symptom and, or pain management and an increased focus on improving quality of life and family support. During a consultation, families and members from our care team would discuss the goals of care, care preferences, advanced care planning and any spiritual and/or psycho-social distress.

The CHOC Children’s Specialists Psychiatry Division strives to provide the best possible care for children and adolescents with psychiatric conditions. We offer diagnostic evaluation and treatment, including psychopharmacology and psychotherapy.

The CHOC Psychiatry Division is unique in that we are part of a continuum of care delivery which includes comprehensive inpatient, intensive outpatient care, outpatient and emergency psychiatric care and consultations. Our team uses evidence-based interventions to help children, teenagers and their families overcome behavioral health issues.

We also have a Mental Health Inpatient Center that offers the very best patient- and family-centered care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The center is exclusively dedicated to the treatment of children ages 4-17 with mental illness who are in immediate risk of hurting themselves or others. It is the only inpatient facility in Orange County that can treat patients younger than 12.

What We Treat at CHOC Children’s Specialists Psychiatry

• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar disorder
• Delirium
• Psychiatric problems related to co-occurring medical conditions
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Difficulty coping with stressors such as a chronic illness, a life or family change, a social or school concern, and grief and loss
• Disruptive behavior disorders, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiance disorder (ODD)
• Eating disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Tic disorders

Services are complemented by the multidisciplinary are provided by other pediatric subspecialists, nurses, pharmacists, psychologist, therapists, clinical dietitians and social workers.

 Programs

• Inpatient Mental Health Center for children as young as 4 years old
• Intensive Outpatient Program
• Outpatient Services
• New Patient Packet

CHOC Children’s Specialists pediatric radiologists provide the only specialized pediatric imaging services in the region. CHOC Children’s uses cutting-edge technologies to obtain the highest quality image, while at the same time reducing the patient’s exposure to radiation. This is especially important for children whose conditions require repeated studies over the years.

Our expert physicians and staff are dedicated to using the lowest dose of radiation necessary, without sacrificing the quality of images required for quick and accurate diagnoses. Many children are imaged in adult facilities where radiation doses can be up to 50 percent higher than at CHOC.

We are accredited by the American College of Radiology and follow the guidelines of the Image Gently® campaign, so you can rest assured that your child will receive the safest radiology services available.

The CHOC Children’s Radiology Department is one of only a handful of hospital radiology departments in the country to offer a child life specialist. Child life specialists have been shown to decrease the amount of sedation necessary for children undergoing imaging tests. From the imaging suites to our family lobby, the Imaging Department has been designed to be a calm and inviting unit for children of all ages—from infants to teens and young adults. The unit features a number of private areas that allow child life specialists, caregivers and doctors the opportunity to interact with patients as need before or after an exam. CHOC Children’s offers patients special goggles to use during MRI scans. These video goggles allow the patient to watch their favorite movie or television show while undergoing their MRI scan and have been proven to reduce the number of patients needing sedation for MRI procedures.

Services and State-of-the-art Equipment

• 3T and 1.5T MRI
• CT, X-ray, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, MRI, nuclear medicine
• 3D modeling for cardiac, orthopaedic and brain imaging
• Only hospital in Orange County that does pediatric brain mapping using functional MRI (fMRI) and offers pediatric nuclear medicine services
• 50 percent lower CT radiation dose than many community facilities. For example, American College of Radiology recommends a dose of no more than 50 CTDI for pediatric heads, and CHOC is averaging 8-15 CTDI for pediatric heads
• 90 percent radiation reduction on fluoroscopic procedures by using pulse dose technique and image capture, compared to the more commonly used continuous fluoroscopy and full image acquisition
• Techs on site 24/7
• Board-certified pediatric radiologists and specially trained pediatric radiology technologists, nurses and child life specialists
• Distraction techniques, toys and devices, such as iPads and MRI movie goggles, are used for patient’s comfort
• ACR accredited – MRI, CT and ultrasound (pediatric accreditation)
• CT Scans entire body in less than 5 seconds, drastically reducing the need for anesthesia and repeat scans due to motion

The CHOC Specialists Neurology Specialty Division at CHOC Children’s is available for consultation 24-hours-a-day, 7 days a week and provides diagnostic services, medical treatment, and follow-up care to infants, children, and adolescents who have suspected or confirmed neurological disorders. Our pediatric neurologists manage and treat a variety of patients including those with epilepsy disorders, neuromuscular disorders and spasticity.

A pediatric neurologist has completed a residency in pediatrics and had additional training in adult and child neurology. All our pediatric neurologists have certification or are eligible for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (with special qualifications in child neurology). Our group also has pediatric neurologists with Board certification in Clinical Neurophysiology (Epilepsy and Neuromuscular diseases), Palliative Care, and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.

Pediatric neurologists combine the expertise in diagnosing and treating disorders of the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, muscles, nerves) with an understanding of medical disorders in childhood and the special needs of the child and their family. In many cases, pediatric neurologists work as a team with pediatricians or other primary care doctors. In addition, pediatric neurologists may work with other pediatric specialists to care for children with more complex or serious medical issues, such as epilepsy, birth defects, or developmental delay.

CHOC Hospital Comprehensive Epilepsy Program is recognized by the NAEC as a Level 4 epilepsy center. Level 4 epilepsy centers have the professional expertise and facilities to provide the highest level medical and surgical evaluation and treatment for patients with complex epilepsy.

The following conditions may be best treated by a pediatric neurologist:

• Epilepsy and seizures — including intensive long term video EEG monitoring for epilepsy and related disorders
• Motor system disorders — including tics, Tourette’s Syndrome; neuromuscular diseases, including congenital myopathies, muscular dystrophy, hypotonia and other genetic muscular disorders; and cerebral palsy
• Headaches with neurological findings or patients who have failed first line medications
• Developmental and behavioral disorders — including learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental disorders and autism through the Thompson developmental center
• Neurogenetic and neurometabolic disorders — including neurodegenerative diseases such as mitochondrial disorders, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis complex, Rett Syndrome and Down Syndrome
• Neuroimmunological disorders — including dermatomyositis and post-infectious encephalopathy
• Neurological aspects of head injuries, brain tumors, brain malformations, and hydrocephalus
• Complications of central nervous system infection

Clinical services are complemented by the multidisciplinary care provided by other CHOC Specialists, nurses, pharmacists, EEG lab technicians, therapists, clinical dietitians, child psychologists and social workers at CHOC Children’s.

State-of-the-Art Pediatric Sleep Disorders & Neurophysiology Center

Directed by CHOC Specialists Neurologists, this center provides clinical care and electrophysiological monitoring for primary sleep disorders, including narcolepsy and sleep disorders secondary to neurological and other organ disorders. CHOC Specialists Neurology physicians also direct the Neuro-Diagnostic Center at CHOC, providing inpatient and outpatient 24-hour EEG videotelemetry.

Leading-Edge Neurodiagnostic Services

The CHOC Specialists Neurology team is fully equipped with advanced diagnostic equipment:

• Routine and 24-hour EEG videotelemetry for monitoring of status epilepticus, pseudoseizures and neonatal seizures
• Evoked potentials including intraoperative recording
• MRI and MRA
• Pediatric Intracranial Angiography
• Transcranial doppler
• Cranial ultrasound
• EMG and nerve conduction studies
• Polysomnography with or without epilepsy monitoring and intensive gastrointestinal cardiac or pulmonary evaluation
• Neuropsychological and psychological evaluation

Inpatient Neuroscience Unit
CHOC’s dedicated Neuroscience Unit provides specialized, family-centered care for children with neurological conditions in a state-of-the-art setting. The unit features:

• 28 private, single-patient rooms, including 12 designated for long-term EEG monitoring
• Four advanced monitoring rooms equipped for intracranial EEG and high-frequency data capture
• A centralized Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) control room with capacity to monitor 32 patients simultaneously
• An “EMU Without Walls” model, enabling consistent, high-quality monitoring throughout the hospital
• A neurodiverse-friendly playroom with integrated AirEEG technology for safe, continuous monitoring

Care is delivered by a multidisciplinary team of board-certified neurologists, neurosurgeons, nurses, and neuroscience-trained staff, ensuring comprehensive support for each patient and family.