The Children's Program

We sent our daughter to Neela Karikehalli Psy.D and she ended up telling her that I was narcissist without ever talking with me. I may have some anxiety but no signs of narcissism. We took our son to Shawn Marshall MA LPC who is a very nice guy and I can tell he cares but after a dozen or so visits the main information he gave us is that our sons ADHD is caused by the frontal lobe not being developed. We wanted help with his ADHD not the reason whats causing it.

We fostered a teen who was referred here by DHS for a neuropsychological evaluation around 2021-2022. The main concerns was ASD. This recommendation came from her therapist. She was 15 years old. The female clinician was not thorough and told us she didnt complete the educational portion of the evaluation however the Information ended up in a report. Our kid was unhappy after the evaluation and frustrated stating that the lady kept correcting her answers. We were told that her symptoms were due to trauma. They referred her to another clinician from CP for an ASD rule out which came back as most likely trauma. During the feedback session the first CP psychologist stated what good would having a diagnosis do you When we voiced our concerns about our kid and her social and adaptive functioning struggles. It was a very dismissive interaction.For three years she had struggled. I couldnt get her on an IEP because we didnt have a clear diagnosis. We had signed her up with vocational rehabilitation. Her counselor continued to struggle to help her because there was no clear diagnosis. It was hard to identify appropriate services that should would have access to. We couldnt get her another evaluation because the previous evaluation was what the state was going off of. She went through a lot of counseling and a whole DBT program for about a year. Still she struggled with adaptive functioning and social interactions. It got so bad that at one point we were not certain we could keep her in our home. Her frustration was high and she couldnt get along with anyone because of it.After another year vocational rehabilitation paid for a new evaluation by a clinical psychologist. He diagnosed her with 100 confidence with ASD. Since her diagnosis she has been placed on an IEP and is receiving services through county Development Disability services. She is now 18 years old and will need ongoing services through DD service to be independent. Had we not fought so hard none of these services would be available to her.I dont know why Children Program didnt catch this. The Clinical Psychologist had no problem seeing what we were seeing. I did do a little digging on the first CP clinician who saw our kid. Her background is in School Psychology. I do believe that there is a big difference in the practice of these two backgrounds. We honestly dont know how two CP psychologists missed this diagnosis. I would not recommend CP to anyone needing an actual neuropsychological evaluation for their child. The whole process felt very biased.

Weve referred hundreds of clients to this clinic over the years and continue to do so. Weve been pleased with their responsiveness professionalism and how they treat their clients. No clinic is perfect but they invest in their staff and are one of the best places in town if you are looking for effective care for your child.

My two children are young adults now. I spent many years of their young lives at the Childrens Program trying to understand why they just couldnt get it in school and social situations. Diagnosed with ADHD at TCP. I tried all the treatments drugs everything. Nothing changed them. In fact made it kind of worse. It was excruciating and painful. I really liked many of the providers but something stopped them from telling me the kids were on the autism spectrum.They were eventually diagnosed as young adults 18 plus from other clinicians and I can finally as their mother understand their limitations. If only I had understood this sooner I could have learned how to parent them according to their needs instead of expecting them to conform to things that were out of their abilities. Could have saved SO MUCH heartache and pain and guilt. Im disappointed in this treatment center for that reason. NO ONE said Autism. Why I dont understand why that was not put out there as a reason for the problems.I am not blaming the Childrens Program. I am just expressing my experience. Please always get more opinions from other doctors outside one particular clinic. Your kids deserve the very best Leave no stone unturned.

Two staff members I spoke with were very impatient and didnt allow me to finish a sentence when trying to understand what services they provide. For people who deal with sensitive groups it is very unacceptable.

The clinician was nice and my daughter liked her the second clinician the first one was okay but not a great fit. Thats where the good stops.We have since moved on after the treatment I received from the billing person and office manager. I had questions about their billing practices and was immediately met with rude and unprofessional behavior by the staff specifically the billing person. I asked repeatedly for someone to call me and discuss the matter and they declined to discuss with me the office manager did call and leave a voicemail but when I tried calling back she then refused to speak with me. I questioned a negligible 1 per transaction fee that was being charged for every time they ran my card on file which they charged at will no real logical method of how and when they run the charges. I felt the fee was unnecessary and told them I could pay them by check to avoid the fee. They informed me they do not accept checks. There was a 40 fee they charged which I refused to pay without their first billing to my insurance. They told me that the charge was not billable to insurance and I was responsible directly. Again refusing to discuss with me over the phone. I did attempt to discuss the situation with our clinician realizing that put her in a tenuous position so I tread gently on that aspect. Our clinician said that she appealed to the office manager and billing person but they were adamant that I owe what they say I owe and that I could go elsewhere for help. So if your child need to see a professional for any reason I highly recommend staying away from this practice. I do not want any other family to be treated how we have been treated. Its unconscionable.

I have been going here since June 2021 for my son. My 3 stars is less a weighed score on the two services I came here for my 5 year old son Speech Therapy and ADHDSpeech Therapy Ranking - 5 StarsIf I were to rank the clinic solely on speech therapy I would give it 5 stars easily The speech pathologist Christine Moore does an excellent job working with my son and being successful over zoomwhich can be challenging. She keeps parents involved and informed in the sessions and treatment for language challenges. Its easy to see she has passion for her profession and truly cares and wants to help others.ADHD Ranking 2 StarsI was less than satisfied with the services relating to ADHD. The onboarding Doctor and Psychologist I worked with made it seem like medication was a promising solution and was need to help my son focus. However it felt like they flipped flopped and changed their minds about medication ever being an option. Unless your child is a harm to themselves you are unlikely to receive treatment for ADHD. I understand the reason for their strict guidelines around treating ADHD but I think there are cases where it can really be beneficial to children even if they are not a harm to themselvesblindly running into the street ext.....All that being said I would highly recommend you give them a chance and see for yourself. For speech therapy this is the place to be I was skeptical about speech therapy having had bad experience prior. But Christine Moore has brought back my faith in it.

I called based on a referral from my sons doctor. I had to fill out personal information online and they would give me a call. I received a call from Mindy the same day. She immediately started asking me questions regarding my sons father and his role in his life. When I explained that his father has visitation but remains absent in his life she refused to work with me. Let me clarify that I have sole custody and I am trying to get help for my son for anxiety anger and ADHD. When I explained this she still refused to work with us and said it was against company policy because we had a custody agreement. I keep hearing great things about this program but I feel as if I am being discriminated against because of circumstances out of my control.

I would have to say each therapist is different but my daughter was struggling and the turn around after her seeing her therapist regularly there was remarkable. She is so much happier and fully understands how to manage her anxiety. Dr. Monzo is her therapist and he said right away that she wouldnt need medication so Im sorry that some people felt their therapist pushed drugs on their kids. If you dont have a good experience maybe try another therapist We love Dr. Dan

Mental health professionals require such a highly personal match that its really important to make up ones own mind about each person. However with that said Im really glad we finally found this place AND have insurance that covers it.They are really good about coordinating with one another when multiple children are there. They also excel at coordinating between therapists and doctors to ensure that both drug-related and non-drug-related solutions are working well together.They also really understand the complexities of mental health care. Our kids were not put in a box based on a diagnosis alone but rather the whole treatment process is centered around getting them to feel better and move on to be productive members of society.