Dr. Sandra Wiegner Bowker, PhD

I brought my son to see Dr. Bowker to assess his learning and emotional concerns. I had previously been referred to a different neuropsychologist in the area (will not use his name), but the first appointment with him was AWFUL. He was rude to my son, disrespectful and dismissive of myself and my husband. Obviously, we did not go through with the evaluation at his office. We did have to wait for an appointment with Dr. Bowker, but it was well worth it. My son and my husband were both opposed to trying this again, but they did finally agree to attend. I am so grateful that we did! Dr. Bowker was immediately kind, compassionate and instantly put all of us at ease. She answered all out questions and made us feel valuable. The evaluation itself was also as pleasant as it can be. My son was tired by the end of the day, but had no complaints. The final session was so helpful! She pointed out our sons strengths and when discussing weaknesses, she had ideas already in place for us to help… him move forward successfully. She had various referral ideas that were tailored to my son. No cookie cutter approach! We are currently on a waitlist to see one of their therapists. Again, she provided other referral sources, but I would much rather wait in hopes of seeing someone GOOD!

My daughter was first seen by Dr. Bowker 10 years ago and we have returned for 2 evaluations since that time. I feel like I should respond to the other rating because we have had a very good experience with the office. My daughter has multiple medical and psychological issues and when she was six, her pediatrician suggested that we see a psychiatrist in Ann Arbor. While that was 2 hours from our home, the doctor explained that the Ann Arbor psychiatrist was a better fit for her needs. She was right and once the medications got straightened out, our doctor took back over prescribing. After our first evaluation with Dr. Bowker, we wanted our daughter to see a therapist in her office but she felt they did not have a therapist that met her needs and referred her to a trauma therapist. We waited 2 months for that therapist but the wait was worth it and our daughter is now thriving. We appreciated the thought that went into both referrals and that we were not just provided with generic… referrals that were not specific to our daughter. It has been a long process but she is doing so much better and we feel it was worth all the waiting and driving to get good care.

After waiting three months for our appointment, and spending over a thousand dollars on an initial consultation and assessment, we are still no closer to getting any help for our son than we were when we started. The doctor provided us with recommendations over a month ago and referred us to a psychiatrist in GR but didn't know that they needed a referral from her with a medical diagnosis that she can't provide. When we contacted their office for different recommendations, she referred us to a doctor in Albion and in Holland, both over an 1 1/2 hours from our home. Any referral we requested was not sent in a timely manner and multiple follow up calls to their office were required to make sure it was done. In addition, to start her recommended counseling sessions, we are put on ANOTHER waiting list for one of the therapists in her office, which could take weeks or months. When asked, they would not provide other options for counseling with other providers outside of their… office but only to be patient while she finds the best provider for our son's need. Overall, there seems to be a whole lot of waiting and absolutely no sense of urgency. The doctor says that she cares about our family but if she does it's difficult to be seen.

Dr. Bowker's "policy" of refusing to speak with parents on the phone is downright unacceptable. Her sincere regard and concern for your child is non-existent. I have two children 5 and 11 and have had multiple engagements with pediatric doctors - refusing phone calls in lieu of office appointments with a 6 month waiting period for established patients is absurd. Do not trust your child's future with Dr. Bowker.

IF YOU HAVE A CHILD WHO NEEDS HELP, DONâ??T COME HERE. We took our son to Dr. Bowker to get him help. He was struggling in school, had a low self-image and poor impulse control. We struggled for nearly 6 months to get our insurance to cover the evaluation to some degree. Dr. Bowker made a diagnosis and a rough treatment plan. However after the evaluation we had no further contact with her. My sonâ??s sessions were conducted by one of her staff with a masterâ??s level counseling or social work degree. Most of their time spent in the appointment was playing. We saw the provider for nearly a year with no change in our sonâ??s behavior. Despite Dr. Bowkerâ??s assurances that she would work with our family, we never saw her once. My sonâ??s counselor spoke with my wife and me only once and was of no help. In addition to taking money from my insurance Dr. Bowker billed us and was unwilling to be flexible with the payments. When we terminated the relationship she and her staff… would not share their notes or any of the testing questionnaires they had used in the evaluation. I requested several times that more detail be placed in her evaluation report, but this was never done. When we went to a new counselor he showed improvement in just 3 months. IF YOU HAVE A CHILD WHO NEEDS HELP, DONâ??T COME HERE.