Behavior Clinic provides residents with the opportunity to work with families that need assistance in dealing with child behavior issues.
Children present with a wide variety of behavior problems, and a multidisciplinary team, (pediatrician, psychologist, and child life specialist) provides services for these families and education for the resident. Because behavior problems frequently represent a sensitive issue for families, assessment and management of these problems requires advanced skills in communication.
This clinic is therefore an opportunity for the resident to learn to assess problems and provide information in a sensitive, empathetic and effective manner. Residents will see the patients independently and present the information to the preceptors.
The resident should:
- Learn to evaluate children with behaviors such as hyperactivity, aggression, self-injurious behavior, disobedience, temper tantrums, problems with sharing, sleep problems, refusal to do homework, feeding problems, weaning problems, problems with toilet training, stool withholding, encopresis, enuresis, and problem habits such as thumb-sucking and trichotillomania.
- Learn to distinguish variations in normal behavior from pathologic problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, oppositional defiant disorder and pervasive developmental disorder.
- Learn to identify contributing psychosocial and home environmental factors such as marital difficulties, substance use, housing issues and exposure to violence that may play a crucial role in the development of behavior problems.
- Learn to understand the role of the medical and developmental problems in the formation of behavior problems.
- Learn the differential diagnosis of behavior problems and learn the therapeutic options for addressing behavior problems.
- Learn to develop collaborative treatment plans in which parents, family, school and child are partners, and the life circumstance of the family are taken into account.
Role of the Resident
The resident is expected to:
- Attend all sessions indicated on their individual schedule.
- Assess patients independently at first and be prepared to discuss the case, including a differential diagnosis and treatment plan for the problems presented.
- Complete any specific readings designated by the attending.
