Developmental Pediatrics PLLC is a pediatric practice devoted to the special care of children with a developmental disability. Our primary purpose is to offer high level clinical diagnostic services, help parents gain the knowledge and capability to care for their children through our medical case management, and to improve the competence of community providers who play an important role in the care of children. We provide excellence in service to families and children of special need and work to enrich the community’s capability to provide care. Our core services consist of high level diagnostic and consultative medical service through experienced and clinicians, and caring, competent case management by developmental nurse specialists. Our practice is made up of experienced developmental pediatricians and a pediatric neurologist along with nurses who are specially trained and highly experienced in working with children and families of special need.

We work hard to help parents understand the complex needs of their children and family. We provide individualized counseling for parents of children with special needs, as well as group experiences and educational services.

What kind of evaluation is done?  The developmental pediatrician operates within the boundaries of a medical, neuropsychologic and neuropsychiatric approach. The assessment  includes consideration of heredity, medical history, current health status, neurologic evaluation, mental status evaluation, family constellation and assessment of the specific area of concern.  The pediatric neurologist considers the presenting problem in the full context of the child's health and well-being and helps sort out the complex issues that neurologic difficulties may encompass.

What can be gained from an evaluation?  The information that might come from such an evaluation may include specific diagnosis, general and specific plans of intervention, long-term prognosis and long and short-term issues that will need attention. We work hard to give parents the knowledge base they need to be the best advocate for their child. Medical interventions such as further laboratory testing, neuroimaging, nutritional interventions, rehabilitation, or medications might be a part of the planning.

What kind of children do we see?  We focus on children who may have developmental disability. For example we evaluate infants with slow motor development, toddlers with delayed speech, communication problems or autistic symptoms. We also see preschoolers with immaturity of learning, and kindergarten school age children with learning difficulties are the common types of children seen and evaluated. Children born with birth defects, and medically fragile children, especially those with developmental disabilities are seen for help planning their complex pediatric care. We also evaluate children who are at risk for developmental differences due to prematurity, failure to thrive, health issues, genetic concerns, adoption or issues of problem caregiving. Our pediatric neurologist sees many children with the same issues and also children where some neurologic concern is present.