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Children’s mental health professionals unite

By Colleen Kiphart

Photo by Larry Hamel-Lambert

Sherry Shamblin

Though there are similar health networks forming across the country, IPAC is among the first to integrate medical, therapeutic and other disciplines to improve early childhood mental health. Among its initiatives, IPAC expands early screening, trains a professional family care navigator, co-locates health care professionals and runs an interdisciplinary assessment clinic to determine comprehensive treatment plans.

With all of this growth, Hamel-Lambert, Borchard, and other board members agree that one essential aspect of the program, the Interdisciplinary Assessment Team (IAT), is only just approaching its full potential. The IAT brings together health professionals from various fields, including speech language pathology, social work and pediatrics, into one clinic, where they can assess and diagnose a child in a collaborative environment. This avoids some of the run-around that parents experience, and helps mental health professionals learn each others’ disciplines 

 “I am proudest of the IAT,” says Dave Hunter, IPAC board member and project director/clinical supervisor for Athens County Help Me Grow, a state-funded program developed to help children and families with developmental disabilities. “In a few short years we have developed this idea and now we can assess 14 to 15 children this year. We are hoping to expand that number in the future.”

Hunter explains that the IAT helps to cut down on logistical problems, like transportation and insurance, that often keep parents from seeking early intervention. “In the past, if a child might have autism, the only place the family could go was the children’s hospital in Columbus—and then they might wait a year for an assessment.” With IPAC, that is no longer the case, he says. “We have the resources and experts to offer these diagnoses without the drive or wait.”

To help caretakers identify potential issues, IPAC distributes a screening kit for developmental problems to local doctor’s offices, schools and early childcare centers. The kit, called Ages and Stages Developmental Questionnaires®, includes tests that assess how a child is developing mentally and emotionally. IPAC professionals train doctors, nurses, teachers and childcare providers to administer these developmental screening tools as a standard practice.

“Screening every child serves many purposes,” Hamel-Lambert says. “Not every child has an obvious issue, but these screenings help us catch them before they develop into more serious problems. And with universal testing, there’s less of a stigma. Parents don’t feel like their child was singled out.” continue

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