Testimonials

We enrolled our son at Pediatric Minds’ Early Childhood Treatment Center for 3 months in summer 2024, and it’s been an amazing experience. Their approach is different from traditional ABA therapy – they focus on following his interests to keep him engaged and make interaction fun. This has been incredibly motivating for him! The team at Pediatric Minds also takes the time to truly understand our son’s existing skills and preferred communication methods. They invest extra time in getting familiar with him before building on those foundations. This personalized approach has been key to his progress. Most importantly, our son is genuinely happy attending sessions. They’ve made learning and interaction enjoyable for him, which is a huge change. We’re so grateful for the dedication and expertise of the Pediatric Minds team! Highly recommend this program for parents seeking an innovative and effective approach to helping their child on the autism spectrum to reach their full potential.

Pediatric Minds changed our lives! They helped us assess what was going on with our daughters “big feelings” and gave her and us tools and strategies to make the most of our time together and others. Our daughters 1st grade teacher pointed out that whatever was going on at Pediatric Minds had quickly and clearly had a positive impact on our daughter’s engagement in class. We participated in their ECTC program and they worked with us and our insurance to get the best treatment and price. They take a tailored and comprehensive approach and our kiddo enjoyed going there everyday during her 12 week program. She also made a great friend, and were urged to connect with the parents and we still hang out 3 years later. They have long wait lists, but they work hard to get through it.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Dr. Hannauer, her whole staff and of course the ECTC program. My son is on the Autism Spectrum and we met Dr. Hannauer over a year ago and was recommended to enroll our son in their ECTC Program. The amount of growth that we saw after the program was tremendous. Dr. Hannauer really opened our eyes and also just really helped my husband and I understand my son’s diagnosis and how to help him now and in the future. The parent trainings were so essential through the ECTC program. Thank you so much Dr. Hannauer! You are so thoughtful and very helpful with recommending different resources in our community. It can be a very lonely journey being a special needs parent, but I feel very seen and heard. It’s so reassuring that there are wonderful Doctors like you, who make this world a brighter and better place. Thank you! Also, special shoutout to Mr. Simone who we miss every day. Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher to our son! Your support and guidance through the whole program was so beneficial and we will be forever thankful!

Pediatric Minds ECTC is an amazing program with an extremely caring and experienced team. We went into the program worried that it was going to be too intense for what we thought we needed at the time, but now I hate to imagine what would have happened if we had just struggled along patching one-off services without the comprehensive insights and deep intensive kick-start that we got from ECTC. We have observed a tremendous shift in our 4 yr old son’s fundamental ability to make friends, and to manage his emotions and social dynamics. He “graduated” the ECTC program a different little guy, even reading our reports now, from his assessment when he started, it’s almost hard to remember back to then, because of the progress he has made. His teachers also can’t say enough good things about the positive skills and outlook that this program gave him. We feel so incredibly lucky that we found ECTC. Now that we are through the program, we are still lining up ongoing long-term supports … but now we are spring-boarding those services off of a foundation of solid success, and we have a focused understanding of what will help him, and we have a very clear road-map to navigate the sea of different services that are out there. And so much more light, and delight, has been brought back into our day to day life. I wish that on any family.  – Abby W.

If you’re looking for a place to enroll your neurodivergent kid, look no further. My 3.5 year old son attended Pediateic Minds for about 12 weeks in the summer of 2022 and emerged a completely different kiddo. Leaving the school, he came away with so many different life skills that will help him navigate the world and help him be more successful at a mainstream school. He was also mostly non verbal when he started – and before he left he had a burst of language that I attribute completely to PM. I cannot thank them enough for all the kindness they showed my son and our family, especially while we welcomed a new baby into the family. Not only did they help us while he was enrolled, they helped us set up a plan for the future. I’m so appreciative of everything PM has done for us. The teachers, doctors, and administrators are all truly top notch. – Chelsea S

My advice on Pediatric Minds ECTC program: Enroll now! And don’t look back.

My Son is 3 years old and he has Autism. He graduated from the ECTC Program today and I am a proud parent for the accomplishments he has achieved from the short time he has been with them. He started in July this year with ECTC and has grown exponentially, socially and mentally. I’m not going to get into what specifically they worked on with my son because every kid is different. What I will say is that the tools, resources, and advices they have given us is more valuable than any other provider has given us thus far. It was an honor working with them and we are truly humbled by their team and the help they have given my son. I would do it a hundred times over if I could. Please take advantage when the opportunity arises to get into this program.

Here’s my story. When I found out that my son was showing signs of Autism more than a year ago, I was lost and didn’t know what to do or how to help him. During that time, I dealt with border line denial of my son’s diagnosis. I went through countless evaluations, trial and error with therapies and providers, and running into issues where I lacked confidence in some of their methodologies. I questioned everything that I was seeing and everything that I was hearing. It was almost as if I felt I had an inside voice that was telling me something is missing. Call it mothers intuition I guess. Yet, I still had to try to do everything I could possibly do and get because time is of the essence and my son needed help.

It was only until I heard about this ECTC program in Torrance through our Lawyer, who is an advocate for disabled persons, guided me to programs like ECTC that will provide an in-depth holistic approach to helping children like my son. And oh boy! My Lawyer proved why she was getting paid the big bucks.

This is a 10 week program (depending on your insurance). You can expect 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, weekly virtual meetings with the psychologist/lead ABA supervisor, and weekly virtual/in-person parent observations. Through this program you’ll get parent strategies, assessments/reports, diagnoses, referrals, any recommended testing like EEG and Genetic tests, and the list goes on.

All in all, I am walking away with the proper tools and valuable resources, and I’m walking away with confidence in the knowledge they have given me to help my son. This was truly a humbling experience for me and for our family. I learned so much. Thank you to Pediatric Minds for existing and for helping children like my son. – E.L Joan

I am so thankful to have found this place. It’s the most comprehensive therapy I have ever been apart of. They have a neurologist, psychologist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, and BCBA on staff. If you really want to get a full assessment of your special needs child, this is the place! No other place compares. In fact, this place should be the standard of care for all assessments! Dr. Hannauer is an absolutely brilliant neurologist. She’s like one of these people that you want to follow with a clip board around and jot down everything she says because you learn so much from her! Dr. Cori helped us so much become better parents by teaching us parenting techniques every week. It’s like, why didn’t they teach this at school! Everyone should learn this before having a child. Tiffany the speech pathologist is helping my child learn to have word associations to build her vocabulary and a better understanding that other people have thoughts outside of her mind. Neusha who is the BCBA is helping my child learn to understand social cues to better cope with her anxiety at school and in the community. My only regret is that I wish I found this place sooner! Don’t hesitate to inquire. We have gone through a lot of different services. There is no better place! – Tabitha V.

This place is AMAZING!!! I can’t believe my son, Daniel, graduated after nearly 6 years in the program. When he started ECTC back in 2016, it was a rough time. We didn’t know what to do or how to help him. They worked with him and us to get him through it. We were SO PROUD of him when he graduated that program. He then moved on to Phase two and just graduated last month. The multiple therapists that he’s had over the years were GREAT! They felt like family to us and Daniel misses them all. He wishes he could go back. From age 3 to age 9, my son is a completely different kid. He learned all the necessary tools to help him control his behavior and socialize with his peers. The social skills group was one of his favorites. Miss Maranda and Miss Michaela will be truly missed, but we promise to swing by for a visit once in a while. – Stephanie C.

My son started at Pediatric Minds from when he was 5 and 5 years later the kid is a completely different child. With the guidance of Dr. Hanneur we were able to get him the help and resources that he needed. There is no way we could have navigated through all the hoops without the wonderful staff and Dr. Hanneur. The office staff has always been so graceful and patient with us. During the ETCT program they have gone above and beyond watching my little one and the other one as well when we needed to speak to Dr. Hanneur alone. When we are running late they have accommodated us multiple times. We’ve gotten earlier appointments by being on their cancellation list. The billing department has worked with us to try and get insurance to pay for many services. Candace and Melissa are so nice and helpful. Just today we were running late and they were so helpful and assured us 10 mins would be okay. We had to get a referral and the process was streamlined and so efficient. Thank you to Dr. Hanneur and the entire staff. We wouldn’t have been able to come as far as we have without all of you. – Fatima K.

We were given a strong recommendation to send our 4 year old girl to Pediatric Minds for anxiety which started to inhibit her ability to make friends, talk to others, and even take naps at preschool. Despite a long wait list into the program, our girl was fast approaching Kindergarten and we knew that longer we waited, the worse things could develop. What we thought was simply a shy personality had morphed into clinginess, frequent tantrums, and defiance. As parents, we were worried about her well-being and her little brother’s safety.

Once we were accepted and informed that a spot was available for our daughter, we were ready for the commitment. The ECTC program not only pours out resources into their children, it also requires quite commitment from the families–to keep up with homework, strategies, and meetings. They will repeatedly remind you that this is an intensive program, and everybody must be all-in. So we changed our daughter’s school schedule and modified our home & work routines to make this work… and it was completely worth it.

How good was it? Our girl loved attending the program from day 1. We loved her teachers and the staff who were caring and knowledgeable while being funny and fun. In terms of treatment, they were honest to us and we took to heart what they suggested. The first couple weeks in the program are used to build a trusting relationship before they push and test and observe starting around week 3. That’s when we started getting more feedback regarding our girl’s struggles. Through one-on-one activities as well as group interactions, they deliberately worked through various situations and shared their results with us. Occasionally, they realized that their initial assumptions were wrong and had to rework their theories (e.g. our girl wouldn’t always get nervous or shut down in similar circumstances). But usually they were pretty accurate in their description of our girl’s struggles, and they were open to hearing about our home life (and asked for it).

Around week 7, we were heartbroken when we were told that our insurance was stopping coverage. And we were willing to pay out-of-pocket for an additional week or two because we felt we had made so much progress and needed more answers and tools to feel complete. But fortunately, the director was able to get our insurance to give us 10 weeks, at which time we celebrated with our girl who had shown tremendous improvement.

Today, I’m reviewing 10 weeks after she graduated from the program. She’s not “fixed” and we’re not expert parents by any means. But we’re equipped. Our girl still struggles with anxiety and is taking medication, but we are able to create plans and goals for various settings which gives us confidence to do family activities that weren’t previously possible. In the past 2 months, we’ve been able to do playdates again and our girl even successfully walked down the aisle as a wedding flower girl! She was so proud of herself, and a big credit goes to ECTC. By the way, our girl started napping in preschool again. – Alex Y.

Dear, ECTC Team,

Thank you for all you do for the families who enter the ECTC program. You are an amazing team! We appreciate your knowledge, patience, and consistency.

Love,

The T Family

Rocco completed his program at Pediatric Minds!! So grateful for the progress he has made here in such a short time! Simone Volpatti we were meant to be with you. Rocco is going to miss seeing you! Thank You for all you and the Pediatric Minds staff for all you have done for our boy💙 – Lauro Family

My heart compels me to share this with you… after leaving ABA/speech therapy this morning we arrived at Darian’s school about 15 minutes early. I parked in the lot and Darian discovered how to open my car’s sunroof. His school friends were walking towards the entrance gate where we parked nearby. Darian quickly jumped on his feet, poked his head out the sunroof and said LOUDLY and CLEARLY:

“Hi! What is your name?” to a little girl standing by.

Unfortunately the girl didn’t answer… so he turned back to me and said “My name is Darian”. I then followed up with a question “oh great Darian, and how old are you?” Darian said with no hesitation and looking right into my eye with a big SMILE “I’m 4 years old Mommmmm”.  I paused as I got a little chocked up.

After that and as we were walking to his classroom, he repeated a few times… “Hi! What’s your name?” A few feet away, Darian stalled when he realized it was scooter/bike day. He stopped “Hi’ing” people, waived at me and said “Bye Mom!” as he was running towards the bike path with much excitement…

Most people would say… and so what?! I’m sure as I share this very special moment with you, you will know how astounding it is…

Rapid thoughts went through my head taking me back to the day our lives changed… I remember walking into Pediatric Minds 7 months ago in total panic and distraught.

…and then there was Rosanna with her comforting smile and thoughtful nature.

I met precious JeNae for a tour and I thought “wow this people might just be the miracle I’m looking for”. She was gracious, understanding and for the first time, someone that truly understood my desperation and gave me hope. JeNae saw me eye-to-eye.

Kim, Christy and Lucy fought the insurance battle which I simply was too exhausted to fight. If it wasn’t for their defiance… none of these would have happened. Wow the thought of it gives me chills.

Chris was Darian’s first guiding light – the one who brought Darian’s personality glimpses out. My husband still wittily jokes how Chris taught me how to be a Mom… I will always remember him walking out the “therapy the door” with his stripped jumper suit, red hat and looking like Mario Brother.

Vivian’s everlasting patience and inspirationally abundant knowledge defies Darian to come out of his shell. She taught me that sometimes silence is just as important as a million words… coming from a speech therapist, I found that quite startling. She gives me great advice; she says that I need to take an hour every day to just be a MOM. In the midst of all the activities and the never ending learning/therapies opportunity minutes in the day, I shouldn’t forget that it is just as important to let it loose and have silly playful mommy-child moments. I also remember a conversation we had in one of our first meetings… she shared how she had just gone to one of her kiddo’s graduation party who was the Valedictorian speaker. She shared that when she first started seeing him; he barely spoke and behaved similarly to Darian. That story touched my heart and infused me with over powering hope.

Haydee and Cheryl… hum… you are my cornerstones – you guys fuel me every day with continuing courage as you guide me through the path of discovering my Son. Tantrum after tantrum; transition after transition; you have taught my Son to say “look Mom!” to the point I can’t get him to be quiet sometimes (as I tap my lips). He tells me when he is hungry, cold, happy or tired. I remember sharing with them my fear of Darian getting lost (again as I tap my lips) and him not being able to answer basic questions like “what his name is”. Within a month of working with them, Darian verbalizes his name, age, birthday, Mom’s and Dad’s name. They taught me concepts as “Shared attention”, “Joint attention”, “SSB”, “preservative behaviors”… many people go through their lives not knowing what those mean J

Dr. H, for you I have another experience to share…  About 2 months ago, I was walking out the genetics office in UCLA towards the lab to get Darian’s blood drawn for testing. I was in a meltdown state as I was trying to sort out the information I had just been given by the geneticist. I needed to prepare Darian to have a needle poked to his arm (say “tantrum alert!”). Oh boy, my head was spinning. If an Autism diagnosis wasn’t enough, I had just been presented to a list of genetic syndromes that Darian could have had…. but wait, I couldn’t bog myself down with those thoughts for too long… I had to compose myself, be strong for Darian. As I was walking down the hall and reaching for the iPad in my purse, thoughts were rushing through my head: “I need to find an app, a YouTube video or a social story to prepare Darian to get his blood drawn!” “Oh my, what do I do?!” It was that time, I bumped to Dr. H. She looked at me and said with her very soothing and calm voice: “Hi Lucy, how are you?” Call it a coincidence, I say, she is God send. At that moment, she brought me peace and serenity just as she and her staff have done throughout this entire path.

Really, words can’t describe how much I’m appreciative of each and every one of you. I can’t wait to the day Darian will be able to write his own appreciation letter to you… given his passion for letters & words and your continuing support, I know that day isn’t too far away J

Thank YOU for bringing my Son to me.

Most sincerely and with the deepest gratitude,

Our son was admitted to the Pediatric Minds program approx. 2 months after being diagnosed on the autism spectrum at the age of 2 1/2. We could not be more satisfied with the results of the Pediatric Minds program. After completing the 12 week program, our son’s progress exceeded our expectations. In addition to continuously challenging our son, the team at the Pediatric Minds additionally challenged us as Parents to recognize and tap into our son’s full potential. The staff are experts in their fields and were able to not only gain our trust, but also that of our son, resulting in significant progress in his development. We felt as if we were key players in every step of the program and we have obtained tools that will benefit our son well into the future. Additionally, the staff was able to identify and set goals to attend to our child’s specific needs, and recognized on a consistent basis, when it was necessary to modify the approach to ensure that his goals were properly addressed. We highly recommend the Pediatric Minds program and Dr. Sharifi-Hannauer’s services to all parents that are looking for a program that will support their children and give them an advantage in their treatment. We never doubted that our son’s well-being was fundamental during this intervention and the gratitude we feel for being a part of this program will carry on for our family indefinitely.

My daughter was diagnosed by Dr. Sharifi-Hannauer as Autistic. Although I already knew my daughter had delays, it was comforting to finally get a difinitive diagnosis by a professional. When my daughter started Dr. Sharifi’s extinsive 12 week program, she had no eye contact, no interest in people or social situations, as well as not responding to her name when called. I felt hopeless for her future, and unsure what would become of my darling daughter. The first week she was enrolled, she was already making progress. I noticed her attention was getting better, and she seemed to blossum with her eye contact, awareness, and willingness to participate in the various tasks assigned to her. I was astonished and pleasantly surprised by the complete transformation in her. Without Dr. Sharifi, and her excellant staff, my daughter as well as myself would still be in the dark and fearful for the future. I am eternally grateful for the people and the experience Pediatric Minds offered me and my daughter. I have and will continue to recommend Dr. Sharifi, and Pediatric Minds to any parent who has a child with a developmental delay.

Our beautiful son, at the age of 4, was diagnosed with Hypotonia Autism. We researched a variety of treatment options available to our son and felt that the program offered at the Early Childhood Treatment Center (“ECTC”) would be the best fit. A highly qualified team of professionals from several disciplines worked with our son in a one-on-one setting, four hours per day, five days a week, for ten weeks. We were thrilled with the progress our son made over the course of the ten-week period. The combination of the team’s knowledge base along with the amazing compassionate human interaction proved very powerful for our son. The team did an outstanding job educating us on a variety of issues and provided us with certain tools to assist with our son’s development. We feel blessed to have access to such a wonderful program.

Thank you. Thanks so much for all your hard work and dedication not only for Julia but for all the kids. This office is a very special place we are so lucky to have been here. You have all worked hard to make this a welcoming safe place for families. Having a child with special needs is very difficult and we have a long road ahead. But I am hopeful you have given our family hope that Julia will grow up to lead a happy, meaningful life. We hope to keep you posted on her progress. With Love.

Thank you so much for hard work and diligence. We can never thank you enough.

You all have made such a huge difference in Diego’s life and future. The love we have for our son is immeasurable and the help you have provided is equally immeasurable that words can’t describe.

From the bottom of our hearts. Thank you very much.

We had a great experience with ECTC. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable. Our son greatly benefited from his time with ECTC. He is less anxious, has improved with his listening, is better at communicating, and his frustration level diminished. His treatment was very thorough and thought out.

Christian has enjoyed attending the classes here and especially looks forward to coming every day to see Ryan. Ryan is exceptional and has done a superb job in handling Christian’s behaviors. This program has exceeded my expectation level. My questions I had about Christian have been answered. I now have a better direction and outlook ahead on Christian’s behavior therapy plan and schooling. Christian behaviors have calmed and he is doing so much better I am truly grateful for this program and highly recommend it.

My son completed the amazing Early Childhood Treatment Center (ECTC) program in 2018 and has continued to see Dr. Hannauer since then. I am so grateful to her and Dr. Cori for their careful evaluation and concern for our son as well as their recommendations for therapies, behavioral strategies, and guidance regarding medication. Thanks to Dr. Hannauer my son is currently receiving much needed physical therapy. This review is overdue but I wanted to say how grateful and impressed I was with all the staff who worked with him! The program helped our son with various behavioral and speech challenges, and provided to him opportunities to learn and feel confident in his abilities. The teachers (including Mr. Simone, Ms. Pat, and Ms. Ne’Ausha and others) are very skilled and were so kind to our son and his peers.