toddler playing with wooden alphabet

Providence Children's Development Institute

Providence Children's Development Institute

Children are referred to our program to help identify and treat developmental concerns. These concerns may begin anytime during a child’s development and include difficulties with activity, such as daily activities, social skills, communication, mobility and learning. Our multidisciplinary teams collaborate to create personalized treatment programs designed to help each family reach their goals.

We provide a comprehensive, family-centered approach to helping children with developmental needs, from infancy through adolescence.

Developmental pediatricians evaluate and treat children who have a wide range of developmental conditions. We offer neurodevelopmental evaluations and treatment for pediatric patients who may have specific areas of concern or more complex diagnostic and treatment needs. Working with your child’s primary care physician, our developmental pediatricians perform comprehensive consultations and coordinate services for developmental concerns, including those faced by children with complex medical needs.

We use a variety of approaches to address challenges in movement and accessing home and community. We apply our specialized clinical skills to:

  • Help babies/children with movement (e.g., sitting, walking, jumping, increasing strength)
  • Treat issues with muscles and bones (e.g., torticollis)
  • Evaluate for special equipment if needed
  • Help children become as independent as possible

Through occupational therapy, we help children gain independence in the activities of daily life with direct therapy or in small groups. Our highly trained therapists help with:

  • Fine-motor skills (e.g., picking things up, gripping pencils)
  • Daily living skills (e.g., dressing, hygiene, school skills, home skills)
  • Feeding or eating different textures of food
  • Visual motor integration/handwriting
  • Sensory integration and regulation concerns (i.e., helping children control emotions in a positive way)
  • Interacting with others/taking turns

We offer specialized services for children with communication and/or feeding and swallowing needs. We offer direct 1:1 therapy and group therapy for:

  • Language and speech development
  • Feeding/swallowing
  • Organizing and processing information
  • Augmentative communication (i.e., speech generating devices or low-tech communication tools)
  • Social communication/engagement

Our dieticians are specially trained to work with children of all ages with special health care needs. We coordinate our care with the developmental medical providers and therapists to help maximize a child’s potential for growth and development.

Our audiologists are specially trained to identify hearing problems in children at all developmental levels. We diagnose hearing loss through a variety of tests, from newborns to high school age students. We offer:

  • Diagnostic testing
  • Newborn hearing follow up
  • Hearing aid evaluation and fitting

Our psychologists work closely with our developmental medical providers and therapists to assist with the diagnosis of children seen in our program. They are specially trained to assist with diagnosing autism and other developmental concerns in children of all ages.

Swindells Resource Center provides resources and supports parents and caregivers of children who have special health, behavioral or developmental needs. Learn more about Swindells Resource Center.

Our experts work together to create individualized programs for each child. This collaboration improves outcomes by evaluating each child’s ongoing needs.

  • Developmental pediatricians and nurse practitioners
  • Psychologists
  • Physical therapists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Speech language therapists
  • Audiologists
  • Dietitians
  • Social workers