What is a developmental behavioral pediatrician?

Let me introduce myself. I am Dr Paul Norton and I have started a practice in developmental behavioral pediatrics.

Basically, it is a physician with training in general pediatrics that has decided to devote time and energy to developmental, learning, and behavioral issues.

The kinds of conditions that a developmental behavioral pediatrician might see include autism and autism spectrum disorders, developmental and language delays, school problems, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety, depression, bipolar disease, OCD, and difficulties with family processes, including parent-child conflict. Much of the work I do involves medication management, behavioral therapies, and helping families with resources and coping skills.

I was a general pediatrician for 25 years. I became more involved and interested in developmental-behavioral health, since a greater percentage of my patients had such issues. I started to have longer visits and explored some of these issues in more depth. I also realized that to do it justice, it was best that I do this full time.

Also, I have done some chaplaincy work, meditation (including teaching stress reduction), and have become familiar with many of the models of psychotherapy.

The perspective of a generalist to these problems is unique. My experience as a day to day pediatrician has served me well. Over the years I have encountered challenging situations and have had to learn how to handle the psychosocial problems as well as the physical ones.

I also use meditation and stress reduction, and hope to lead groups for mindfulness based stress reduction. The target group for these sessions would be children with thought disorders, specifically ADHD, OCD, or anxiety-depression. I plan to add hypnotherapy to my practice.

I can provide medication management. I am comfortable with most of the present medications and work with a child psychiatrist in my office.

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