What is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician?

If your child has a developmental, learning, or behavioral problem, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician has the training and expertise to evaluate and care for your child. Developmental-behavioral pediatricians possess training and experience to consider, in their assessments and treatments, the medical and psychosocial aspects of children’s and adolescents’ developmental and behavioral problems.

What do they do?

Developmental-behavioral pediatricians evaluate, counsel, and provide treatment for children, adolescents, and their families with a wide range of developmental and behavioral difficulties, including:

• Learning disorders including dyslexia, writing difficulties, math disorders, and other school-related learning problems
• Attention and behavioral disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and associated conditions including oppositional-defiant behavior, conduct problems, depression, and anxiety disorders
• Tics, Tourette syndrome, and other habit disorders
• Regulatory disorders including sleep disorders, feeding problems, discipline difficulties, complicated toilet-training issues, enuresis (bedwetting), and encopresis (soiling)
• Developmental disabilities including cerebral palsy, spina bifida, intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, and visual and hearing impairments
• Delayed development in speech, language, motor skills, and thinking ability
• Behavioral and developmental problems complicating the full range of pediatric chronic illnesses and disabling conditions (for example, genetic disorders, epilepsy, prematurity, diabetes, asthma, cancer)

Where can I find a developmental-behavioral pediatrician?

Developmental-behavioral pediatricians practice in hospitals, major medical centers, clinics, private practice settings, rehabilitation centers, schools, and community centers.

Often a developmental-behavioral pediatrician works collaboratively with a team of professionals. This team may include a psychologist, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, neurodevelopmental disabilities pediatrician, child psychiatrist, child neurologist, nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant, educational diagnostician, or clinical social worker.

Excerpted from “What is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician?” in healthychildren.org. Read full post online.

Source: healthychildren.org | What is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician?, https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/health-management/pediatric-specialists/Pages/What-is-a-Developmental-Behavioral-Pediatrician.aspx | © Copyright 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics

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