Pediatric Brain Care
New Clinic Phone Number: 608-915-0680
Clinic Contact:
Phone: 608-915-0680 (8 am – 4:30 pm)
NOTE: This is a new phone number as of 5/1/25. Please update your records.
FAX: 608-265-7429
We cannot communicate through email due to privacy concerns.
WELCOME
Children with brain injuries or certain medical conditions may have problems with development, behavior, and mental health. UW Health Kids helps these children while they are in the hospital and after they go home. We care for kids with brain injuries and complex heart problems. They might need help with walking, talking, eating, communicating, controlling emotions, or doing tasks.
Our team includes experts in:
- How the body moves
- Speaking and eating
- Brain function, emotions, and behavior
- School support
- Community resources
- Brain injury
- Heart disease
Team members work together to help children who spend time in the hospital. They meet once a week to share each child’s progress and coordinate their efforts.
When children with brain injuries or complex heart problems go home, they may need support. We work with their parents or guardians to evaluate these children and connect them with the resources they need at our Brain Care Clinic. We check children for:
- Delays in growth and development
- Behavior concerns
- Mental health concerns
- Learning and memory concerns
- School performance concerns
- Headache management
- When to safely return to physical activity
The Brain Care Clinic is located at the Waisman Center, near the American Family Children’s Hospital. The Waisman Center Clinics provide comprehensive care and support for children with disabilities and their families. The Brain Care Clinic is a partnership with UW Health and the American Family Children’s Hospital.
YOUR CLINIC VISIT
A Brain Care Clinic appointment will be scheduled for your child when they leave the American Family Children’s Hospital. If you have any questions about your appointment, please call the Waisman Center Clinics at 608.263.3301.
Before your appointment
- The appointment usually takes two to three hours, but it may take up to four hours. Please bring supplies you and your child will need (food, toys, diapers, etc.).
- If your child has an individualized educational plan (IEP) or 504 plan, please send copies to the Brain Care Clinic.
- Our team will confirm that the clinic visit charges will be covered by your insurance.
The day of your appointment
- Park in stalls outlined in white and give your license plate number to the schedulers upon check-in.
- Our clinic is on the first floor of the Waisman Center, 1500 Highland Avenue.
- Arrive 5 to 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment. Check in at the clinic reception desk just beyond the Waisman Center’s main lobby.
- A medical assistant may check your child’s height, weight, pulse, and blood pressure. You and your child will be taken to an examination room.
- Your child will be evaluated by a neuropsychologist, who will ask about your child’s development, behavior, mood, and school performance. A psychometrician will observe your child’s movements and behaviors.
- Your child may be evaluated by a physical therapist, who will ask about and observe how your child moves.
- You and your child may meet with a vocational rehabilitation specialist, who will ask about your child’s school performance and any supports your child currently has, including an IEP or 504 plan.
- You and your child may meet either an intensive care provider or a pediatric cardiologist, who will ask about your child’s overall health and any other concerns you may have. They will perform a physical examination of your child.
- Depending on your child’s needs, a pediatric neurologist and a social worker are available.
- At the end of your clinic day, the results of your child’s evaluation will be discussed with you. You will be given recommendations to help support your child’s development, behavior, and mental health. You may receive referrals to other medical specialists, therapists, services, or support organizations.
After your appointment Full visit information will be shared in writing with you and your child’s primary health care provider, subspecialists, and others as indicated by signed release of information forms.
GOALS OF THE CLINIC TEAM
Children with brain injuries or complex heart problems are at risk for behavior concerns, learning challenges, and developmental delays. Our team’s goal is to help children and families:
- Understand their child’s unique strengths and risks
- Identify behavioral, developmental, or learning challenges early
- Connect with services to evaluate or address these challenges, including:
- Early childhood services
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Speech therapy
- Developmental Pediatrics for further evaluation and treatment for specific learning disorders, ADHD, or Autism
- Psychiatry
- Neurology
- Advocate for appropriate school accommodations
- Develop a treatment plan for slow concussion recovery
- Identify community resources and services to support your child and family
Clinic Director
Clinic Coordinator
Clinic Team
DIRECTIONS:
From the east—follow University Avenue through campus and then go off to the right on Campus Drive; stay in the right lane and turn right at the University Bay Drive/Farley Avenue intersection.
From the west—follow University Avenue and turn left at the University Bay Drive/Farley Avenue intersection. After making the turn (from either direction)… Continue straight over the hill; the road at that point becomes Highland Avenue. The Waisman Center is at the bottom of the hill on the left, across the street from UW-Children’s Hospital.
PARKING:
- All visitors should park in stalls outlined in WHITE and hang a visitor’s permit from rear view mirror (a parking permit will be mailed to you prior to your visit).
- A permit is not required in the white stalls after 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, or on weekends.
- A permit is required every day of the week (including weekends) in the WHITE stalls between the hours of 7:00 am and 4:30 pm.
- Individuals parked in DOT DIS or UW DIS stalls must display a valid, state-issued disabled permit at all times.
ENTRANCE:
Enter building in north tower at main clinics/lobby doors.<
A reception desk is located in the main lobby.
