Adaptive Care Team | Patient Resources

Adaptive Care at a Glance

Many children feel nervous before a medical appointment. For a child with a developmental disability and/or a behavioral condition, seeing a doctor and receiving medical care can feel overwhelming do their individual limits or ability to understand.

At Cincinnati Children’s, we want every patient to have a proactive experience. We offer “adaptive care plans” to eligible patients who have a hard time cooperating and remaining calm in a healthcare setting.

An adaptive care plan is a personalized plan that helps us help your child. It gives our doctors, nurses and other staff insightful and supportive information, such as:

Examples of what makes your child upset and how they’re likely to react
Suggestions for the best ways to communicate with your child
Tips for modifying exams or treatments

The adaptive care plan becomes part of your child’s medical record. It’s accessible by any Cincinnati Children’s provider across all our clinics and hospitals.

Creating an Adaptive Care Plan

We can create a free adaptive care plan for any child over age 3 who meets both of the following criteria:

They’ve been diagnosed with (or are being evaluated for) a developmental and/or behavioral condition. This includes autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, cerebral palsy, generalized anxiety disorder and more.
They have a difficult time coping and cooperating during a healthcare visit and are unable to return to baseline from typical healthcare visits.

Cincinnati Children’s providers are trained to recognize when a patient could benefit from an adaptive care plan. Healthcare providers may reach out to our Adaptive Care Team (ACT) on your child’s behalf. Then, an ACT member will contact you if you’d like to create an individualized plan for your child.

You can also reach out to us directly by sending an email to adaptivecareteam@cchmc.org.

Your child’s adaptive care plan is based on information we gather from you. We’ll ask about your child’s preferences and what they like and dislike, how your child communicates, previous healthcare experiences and reactions. Along with ways we can help your child cope and preferred ways to assist with healthcare tasks. This helps us recommend strategies to support your child during future visits.

In addition to adding this plan to your child’s medical record, we’ll send you a copy. It will also be accessible in your child’s MyChart account.

How We Support Your Child

An adaptive care plan helps us meet your child’s individualized needs during every outpatient visit or hospital stay. It also helps you prepare your child ahead of time.

At-home Activities

We offer handouts with simple words and pictures that explain what happens during certain visits. You can read them to your child in advance, so they know what to expect.

Modified Exams

We can advocate for adapting certain visits to make your child more comfortable. For example, if they’re afraid to lay down during a dental exam, we can keep their chair upright.