Pediatric Educational and Diagnostic Services
(P.E.D.S.)

About Us

A specialized program

P.E.D.S.-ECMC provides community-based multidisciplinary evaluations and therapeutic services to children, birth to five years of age, who have developmental delays. Evaluation and services are provided in a child's home, daycare or preschool.

Evaluations

Multidisciplinary evaluations include an assessment of the child’s strengths and needs in developmental areas such as:

• Physical (growth and health)
• Cognitive (learning and thinking)
• Communication (understanding and using language, pronouncing sounds)
• Social/emotional (relating to others)
• Adaptive development (self-help skills such as feeding and dressing)
• Motor (large, gross movements and small, fine movements)

Services provided

• Speech-language therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Physical therapy
• Special education
• Education of the visually impaired
• Music therapy
• Psychology/counseling
• Ongoing service coordination

The Department of Rehab Home Health P.E.D.S. is approved by the:

• * New York State Department of Health
• * New York State Education Department

Responsible to the:

• * New York State Department of Health (Early Intervention Program)
• * New York State Education Department through the School District Committees on Preschool Special Education (CPSE)

Significantly funded by the:

• * Erie County Department of Health to allow families of eligible children to receive these services at no cost.

Parent Resources

On the web:

• DD Info Link: www.ddinfolink.org
• Parent Network: www.parentnetworkwny.org
• American Speech and Hearing Association: www.ASHA.org
• National Association for Education of Young Children: www.naeyc.org/families
• Niagara Child Care Coalition: www.wnychildren.org

What Our Customers Say

To: Erie County Medical Center

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to ECMC’s Rehab Home Health Dept. for the outstanding Speech therapy services our daughter Madison has received over the past two years from Kristin Jamieson.

Kristin exhibited dedication and care to the achievement of Madison’s goals. Significant time and effort was put into each speech session for Madison. Extreme attention to detail was always evident in each home visit, annual review report and goal setting. Beyond the speech therapy, Kristin quickly created a bond that always allowed Madison to feel comfortable in expressing herself and using her speech skills.

Additionally, Kristin helped establish peer friendships during sessions at Madison’s pre-school and coordinated discussions, goals and lessons with Madison’s teachers. Such commitment did not go unnoticed and was greatly appreciated.

We look forward to Madison’s transition to kindergarten and believe that Kristin helped create a foundation that will allow Madison to better communicate and build her skills on. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Sincerely,
Ron & Sharon Fortuna

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November 17, 2005

Dear Patricia Migaj,

My name is Alicia Dyson and I have a daughter. Her name is Alexis Geis. Last year in December, she was evaluated by Early Childhood Intervention and subsequently needed to have therapies for developmental delays. Alexis was a year and a half and was just learning to crawl. Kelly Huber was Alexis's physical therapist. Ms. Huber came every Monday at 4 o'clock promptly and was NEVER late. She was pleasant, optimistic, sincere, and a positive role model. As a professional myself what I like most about Kelly was her ability to handle Lexi when she was being difficult. Kelly was stern, consistent, and took control of the situation. Lexi resisted for quite some time and was very nasty at first, but she was able to learn to control herself through Kelly's patience and positive reinforcement. Lexi has been through many therapists so far, and Kelly is by far the most dependable and respected therapist we have had this year. Kelly would even stay over her therapy time to help Lexi.

At this point in time, Lexi is running, jumping, walking on her tiptoes, and walking up and down stairs, and we could not have been able to do it alone if it was not for Kelly. Even after all our sessions were done and it was decided that PT was no longer needed, Kelly still went out of her way to mail us stuff on what to look for in the future and what to work on with Lexi. I just can't say enough about your employee and what a difference she has made in our life and, most important, our child's life. I just thank God every day that there are good people out there like her. She deserves all the recognition she can get.

Sincerely,

Alicia Dyson

Professional Resources

ECMC Corporation is an Approved Provider of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Continuing Education Units (CEU’s). Participants in the Approved Provider Program (APP) have demonstrated their ability to meet established criteria and guidelines for the development and delivery of continuing education that is relevant and meaningful to occupational therapy.