Child Diagnostic Unit

At the Child Diagnostic Unit of the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI), our primary goal is to truly understand your child’s symptoms and the impact this has on your child and your family.

Our mission is to provide child- and family-centered care that is collaborative, compassionate, and trauma-sensitive. This helps us to establish clarification of diagnoses and develop appropriate treatment planning for your child. To do this, we use an approach that relies on specialists in child psychiatry, psychology, social work, occupational therapy, speech and language, education, and nursing to assess and treat your children ages 2 to 12 years old with a variety of diagnoses.

Parents and Family

Our approach enables us to develop comprehensive individualized treatment plans for rational (and early) intervention. Most importantly, the Child Diagnostic Unit’s approach includes encouraging families/caregivers to “partner” in the collaboration of the assessment and treatment of your child with extensive caregiver involvement.

This includes weekly family therapy, weekly parent group, no set visitation times, and the ability to “room in” with your child. Additionally, families/caregivers receive post-discharge case management for 30 days by a Psych TLC mental health professional who assists in integrating treatment recommendations with your child’s community-based resources.

•  Access the Child Diagnostic Unit’s Parent Handbook.

Treatment and Assessment

Using a treatment and assessment model of Collaborative Problem Solving, a cognitive behavioral approach, our staff will assist your child with their disruptive behaviors and assist adults in interacting and collaborating with your child to solve problems. This is a philosophy about children, and how we help children.

•  Access a copy of the Child Diagnostic Unit’s behavioral checklist

The staff of the Child Diagnostic Unit aspires to provide you and your family with respectful, nurturing care and rapport which leads to the development of trust and openness. We strive to be teachers, role models, astute observers of behavior, and collaborators with all children and their families.

Children are all of our future, and we desire to bring hope to that future. We desire to make a difference one child at a time and to be part of a changing system that positively impacts the lives of children and families in Arkansas.

There are several requirements for admission to the Child Diagnostic Unit.

• Download a list of the required documents for admission.
• Download the Child Diagnostic Unit admission packet.

Please fax referrals to our main fax number or email childinpatient@uams.edu.