Community-Based Clinics

Contact: Susan Wendel (swendel@uw.edu)
Core Function: Clinical Services, Professional Training

Several clinics in the region, including Yakima Children's Village, Northwest Autism Center in Spokane, Boyer Children's Clinic, etc., provide services to children and adults with special needs; UCEDD faculty and trainees in professions relevant to developmental disabilities participate in a variety of ways in these specialized clinics, as described below.

Yakima Children's Village: located in central WA and supports over 30 different specialized services for families living in Yakima County, with a high percentage of rural and native Spanish speaking population. Children's Village has medical specialty clinics that provide developmental evaluations and diagnostic services, dental services, occupational, physical and speech therapy, mental health counseling, education services, behavioral intervention and nurse home visiting services to thousands of children annually.

Northwest Autism Center in Spokane: located in less populated eastern WA and serves families in Spokane County. Northwest Autism Center facilitates and coordinates comprehensive services for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities through the lifespan, using community-based approaches.

Boyer Children's Clinic, a community-based clinic, is a non-profit therapy and early childhood educational facility serving children from birth to three years of age who have neuromuscular disorders such as cerebral palsy or delays in development. The mission of Boyer Children's Clinic is to improve the quality of life of children with neuromuscular disorders or other developmental delays by providing the best solutions for each child and family. To achieve this mission, a multi-disciplinary team, including a developmental pediatrician, a nurse, speech pathologists, occupational and physical therapists, educators, family resource coordinators and a social worker, provides services. The team works closely with the family to conduct initial diagnostic assessments and plan and implement individual programs. Boyer Children's Clinic is one of the CTU clinical sites for our pediatric fellows and residents.

Holly Ridge Development Center is a non-profit agency that provides services for children and adults with special needs. Holly Ridge Center is an outpatient center for children up to age three with a range of developmental disabilities. Located in Bremerton, WA, Holly Ridge serves clients in Kitsap County and portions of adjacent counties that are often underserved by medical specialists and far from urban tertiary centers.

The Kindering Center, a not-for-profit neurodevelopmental center, has been providing comprehensive services for children with special needs and their families since 1962. Each year thousands of infants and children receive crucial therapies, special education, and counseling. The Clinical Training Unit (CTU) of the UCEDD provides Nutrition consultation services, including chart review, evaluations, and collaboration in the development and monitoring of interventions.

Seattle Children's Autism Center (SCAC) is a multidisciplinary clinic offering medical and mental health services to provide assessment, diagnosis, treatment and support to infants to young adulthood with ASD and their families. CHDD faculty provide patient care and facilitate clinical training for LEND fellows at SCAC. Other centers are Alyssa Burnett Adult Life Center that offers lifelong learning for people 18 & older with ASD/DD. Echo Glen Children's Center is a medium/maximum security facility providing treatment services for younger male offenders and the only institution for female offenders. Consultation with psychologists regarding neurodevelopmental disabilities is provided.