Clinical Services

Waisman Center in collaboration with UW Health

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lawrence Kaplan, MD, ScM, FAAP - Medical Director
Anne Bradford Harris, PhD, MPH, RD - Manager
Information and Referrals: (608) 263-3301

CURRENT WAISMAN CENTER CLINICS and
SERVICES AND SUPPORTS FOR PEOPLE WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES pdf document

You can view information on the clinics below by cateogry, or you can view all categories at once.

Contents

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Overview of Waisman Clinics

The clinics

Lab Services - Biochemical Genetics Lab

Financial Concerns

Referral & Application

Where we are located

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Biochemical Genetics Clinic

(608) 263–5993
Director: Dr. Gregory Rice
Coordinator: Sandy van Calcar, RD, MS

The Biochemical Genetics Clinic serves people who have suspected or known hereditary metabolic disease, especially aminoacidopathies (such as phenylketonuria or PKU), organic acidemias, and defects of fatty acid metabolism. Professionals in pediatrics, nutrition, genetic counseling, and nursing provide initial diagnostic/confirmatory services and longitudinal care. Follow–through is also provided to clients who require careful nutritional supervision. The clinic staff works closely with the Wisconsin Newborn Screening Program as well as staff from other disciplines in the Clinical Services Unit of the Waisman Center and UW Hospital and clinics.

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Communications Aids & Systems Clinic (CASC)

(608) 263–2522 (new appointments)
Director: Julie Gamradt, MS, CCC–SLP
Prog. Asst.: Deanna Kroupa

CASC provides augmentative alternative communication and computer access services. Using assistive technology, the staff (speech language pathologists and occupational therapists with specialized training) provide consumer–centered services to help people with disabilities and neurodegenerative diseases develop written, spoken, or computer–based communication skills needed to reach their full potential. Interdisciplinary services include: direct outcome–focused evaluation and intervention, consultation, technical support, student training, and outreach.

The Communications Aids & Systems clinic is an affiliate of the Trace Research and Development Center of the UW–Madison.

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Cerebral Palsy Clinic

(608) 263–7335
Directors: Michael Ward, MD-Pediatric Rehabilitation and Tina Iyama, MD-Developmental Pediatrics
Coordinator: Traci Bates, RN

Children who have cerebral palsy or other neurodevelopmental problems receive continuity of care in this clinic. They receive comprehensive evaluation, long–term treatment, follow–along care and reevaluation by the core interdisciplinary staff along with orthopedists and other medical specialists. Strong relationships with the families of clients and linkages with other community service agencies are in place. Since the majority of clients have multiple handicaps, their needs are complex and require a high degree of coordination between groups to insure that services meet commonly recognized and agreed-upon goals.

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Developmental Disabilities Clinic/Child Development Clinic

(608) 263–3301
Director: Lawrence Kaplan, MD, ScM, FAAP
Tina Iyama, MD
Coordinator: Lynn Levin, MSSW

The Developmental Disabilities Clinic offers specialized diagnostic and assessment services to persons who have, or are suspected of having, developmental problems. This includes such concerns as developmental delays, need for educational programming, challenging behaviors, or disorders of communication, motor, or social-emotional development. Assessments are provided by specialists who work closely together to provide comprehensive and integrated evaluations. Family members and community personnel have an important role on this team; their input, questions, and opinions are indispensable. As a part of each evaluation, family members and staff meet together to review findings and formulate recommendations.

The Child Development Clinic provides developmental pediatric assessment of young children who have developmental delays and assists parents with questions they may have related to their children. Many of the children seen in this clinic are referred for concerns about possible autistic spectrum disorders. Follow–up appointments are sometimes needed to assess a child's progress over time.

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Early Autism and Communication Research Clinic (EACRC)

(608) 263–3123
Director: Susan Ellis Weismer, PhD and Morton Ann Gernsbacher, PhD

This clinic provides developmental, communication, and diagnostic evaluation services to children between ages 2 and 3 years old who have been diagnosed or are suspected to be on the autism spectrum and who participate in the Toddler Talk Project, a federally–funded longitudinal study of early communication skills in children on the autism spectrum. Specialists in autism and speech–language disorders provide evaluations to families, as well as information on diagnosis (when appropriate) and speech and language development. Families work closely with the psychologist and speechlanguage pathologists during the evaluation, and families and staff meet together after the evaluation to review findings. Families are given information on community resources that may be available to them to access needed services for their child.

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Feeding Clinic

(608) 263–5947
Director: Anne Harris, PhD., RD
Intake Coordinator: Lynn Havemann, M.Ed.

The Interdisciplinary Feeding Clinic, under the auspices of the Developmental Disabilities Clinic, provides developmental feeding consultations for infants and children with special health care needs or children at high risk for feeding issues because of newborn health status. The Feeding Clinic Team is composed of specialists who work collaboratively to provide interdisciplinary assessments (including behavioral, oral motor, nutritional), initial recommendations, and full clinical reports as well as referral to and coordination with community resources.

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Genetics Clinic

(608) 262–2507
Director: David Wargowski, MD
Clinic Coordinator: Sue Kalscheur

The genetics staff, consisting of physicians and genetic counselors, provides services to persons who have genetic disorders or birth defects and to their families. Services include a General Genetics Clinic, which functions principally in diagnosing the cause of complex processes, as well as several specialty clinics and special programs. Specialty clinics include the Bone Dysplasia Clinic (disorders of bone growth), Sensory Deficits Clinic (deafness and blindness), and the Cancer Genetics Counseling Program. Other special programs include a stillbirth assessment service and a teratogen information service. In addition, counselors are involved in clinics serving families with members with clefting, cystic fibrosis, Prader-Willi syndrome, etc. Finally, the genetics staff travels to outreach sites throughout the state, where they provide clinical care, as well as education and training for professionals and the public.

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Phonology Clinic

(608) 263–5798
Directors: Joan Kwiatkowski, MA and Lawrence D. Shriberg, PhD
Phonology Clinic website: http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/phonology/

The Phonology Clinic provides speech therapy services for preschool and school–age children. Younger children may have severely reduced speech intelligibility due to speech–sound deletions and substitutions; older children may have unusual error patterns or persistent speech sound distortions. Individualized treatment programs are based on the child's communication profile, which includes the results of a comprehensive phonetic/phonologic/prosodic analysis and information on cognitive, psycholinguistic, language comprehension, language production, oral-motor, and psychosocial development.

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Spasticity and Movement Disorders Clinic

(608) 263–7335
Medical Director: Leland Albright, MD
Contact: Traci Bates, RN

In the Spasticity and Movement Disorders Clinic, children and young adults with neurological disorders causing abnormalities of muscle tone are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team led by Leland Albright, MD. Each patient is seen by skilled professionals representing neurosurgery, orthopedics, physiatry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and nursing. An individualized and comprehensive plan of care is then developed by the team members, with input from families and patients. Treatments may include oral medications, botox injections, orthopedic operations or neurosurgical procedures, including intrathecal baclofen, deep brain stimulation or other procedures.

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