Identifying and Addressing Developmental-Behavioral Problems:
Overview
This indispensable textbook supports life-long learning in medical and nursing school, to residency and fellowships, to precepting and community practice, and from there, into research and advocacy. Explained are the basics of child development and how parent-child communicative play and shared effect promote learning and well-being.
Provided are techniques for efficiently detecting and addressing developmental problems in busy clinical settings, i.e., by staggering the tasks of screening and surveillance over time from infancy through late adolescence. Because well-visits should also focus on addressing problems (e.g., “the worried well”) there is abundant guidance on how to work with families, promote development, deliver difficult news, monitor progress and collaborate with non-medical providers. Much attention is paid to unique populations (e.g., children in-care, families from diverse cultural backgrounds) and, to the most onerous issue in primary care: How to actually implement quality developmental-behavioral care. Work sheets and flow charts aid clinicians in planning and deploying an effective process.
Delineated are research methods for measuring child development including how to create new items for studies, ensure effective translations, standardize measures, and design quality research protocols. Options for Quality Improvement and Maintenance of Certification initiatives are described. Also specified is a range of techniques for public policy advocacy. Throughout, case examples and professional perspectives are used to illuminate content.
The book’s website offers downloadable tools for learning and teaching (e.g., observation forms, a detailed list of milestones, pre/post-tests for assessing learning) as well as tools for community practice (e.g., a list of evidence-based screening and surveillance tools, well-child visit encounter forms embracing health as well as developmental-behavioral care, two-way consent forms, live links to services, etc.). These instruments facilitate instruction and aid practicing clinicians in complying with American Academy of Pediatrics policy — all within the time constraints of primary care.
The many contributors to this book are content experts but also practical advisors who themselves deal with real-world challenges facing families and work with graduate and undergraduate students, residents, fellows, clinicians, researchers, and advocates. In short, Identifying and Addressing Developmental-Behavioral Problems is a practical and essential handbook for all those interested in improving the development and well-being of children and their families.