Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Mailman Segal Center (MSC) has received a $500,000 gift from the Kapila Family Foundation. The gift will name both the Kapila Family Foundation Feeding Disorders Clinic and the Kapila Family Foundation Challenging Behaviors Clinic.
“We are honored and grateful to be the recipient of this endowed funding,” said Roni Cohen Leiderman, Ph.D., dean of NSU’s Mailman Segal Center for Human Development. “This generous donation allows us to offer scholarships to families who would otherwise not be able to receive evidence-based clinical treatments that positively impact children’s health and well-being.”
The Kapila Family Foundation Feeding Disorders Clinic, one of a handful of its kind in the U.S., works with an inter-professional team that treats children who refuse to eat an adequate volume of food or for those who eat an insufficient and limited variety of food. Without appropriate clinical treatment, many of these children may experience numerous hospital stays, life-threatening medical crises and surgically implanted feeding tubes to support their nutritional intake. With a professional team of behavioral psychologists, nutritionists and speech pathologists focusing on oral-motor concerns, the clinic provides comprehensive evaluation and intervention services with a 94% success rate.
Engaging in significant problem behaviors isolates children from peers, decreases children’s ability to learn, leads to elevated levels of stress in school, home and community settings and may develop into long term psycho-social challenges. The Kapila Family Foundation Challenging Behaviors Clinic addresses these concerns through individual therapeutic sessions for children and offers vitally important continuous trainings for caregivers and support for the professionals who work with the children in school settings.
This gift follows a $150,000 donation from the Kapila Family Foundation in 2014 that named MSC’s Starting Right Program.
Both intensive and outpatient services are available to best match each child’s specific concerns. For more information, please call 954-262-CARE.