Behavioral Health

Within the Department of Pediatrics at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, the Division of Behavioral Health offers a wide array of clinical services for children and families. The Division of Behavioral Health is comprised of pediatric psychologists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, and a number of psychology trainees completing their clinical training, such as postdoctoral fellows, residents, and externs. The Division also provides training to medical residents and primary care sites. The psychology internship is highly regarded in the field of pediatric and clinical child psychology and is accredited by the American Psychological Association. The program receives over 150 applications for its six annual positions. Graduates go on to postdoctoral and faculty positions in children’s hospitals across the nation.

Services Available:

Services are provided to both hospital inpatients and outpatients referred from other ambulatory services of the hospital as well as the community.

• Outpatient diagnostic assessment
• Comprehensive cognitive, educational, and emotional evaluations of children and adolescents presenting with a broad range of developmental, medical, behavioral, and emotional concerns. Emphasis is placed on providing multidisciplinary recommendations to address individual patient needs in the home and school settings.
• Neurodevelopmental evaluations: neurodevelopmental assessment and consultation for children/adolescents with known or suspected CNS compromise.
• Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Evaluation: integrated diagnostic assessment, treatment, and consultation service for children presenting with attentional and behavioral concerns. Emphasis is placed on providing practical recommendations as indicated by the evaluation.

• Early Childhood Evaluations: evaluations focusing on children, ages infant to five years. Families present with a variety of concerns that may focus on development (social, cognitive, self-help) and/or behavioral issues (feeding disorders, disruptive behavior, anxiety). Evaluations may include formal testing, but also emphasize behavioral observations, developmental play and consultation with daycare/preschool caregivers. Frequently, evaluations involve coordinating care with other disciplines (e.g., physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language, developmental medicine) to ensure a comprehensive evaluation including an individualized treatment plan, ready to implement across settings
• Psychiatric evaluations: evaluations focusing on a broad range of learning, developmental, emotional, and mental disorders in children and adolescents. Evaluations routinely include assessment of the potential role of medication in the treatment of these disorders.
• Pediatric Psychology Outpatient Intervention Programs
  • Individual, family, and group therapies are provided for a broad range of psychological problems including medical adherence difficulties, pain management, weight management, adjustment to transplant, encopresis, and enuresis, ADHD, anxiety and mood disorders, family adjustment issues and early childhood issues.
  • Behavior Consultation Clinic: This clinic is designed to provide short-term services for parents and children ages birth to eight years for a wide range of behavioral and developmental concerns such as parent-child conflict, sleep problems, toileting concerns, daycare difficulties, noncompliance and sibling rivalry
  • Psychoeducational parent training groups are provided to help address common disruptive behaviors associated with ADHD, such as noncompliance and aggression. Child social skills groups provide help with poor peer relationships.
• Psychopharmacologic/Medication management: Psychopharmacologic therapies are provided for children and adolescents requiring medication treatment and management of a broad range of psychological and psychiatric disorders including ADHD, disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders, mood disorders, and the pervasive developmental disorders.
• Inpatient consultation. Psychologists and psychiatrists are consulted while children are hospitalized to help with concerns around mood, poor medical adherence, pain management, general coping issues, or psychiatric medication needs.
• Primary Care Consultation. Psychologists are present in our primary care satellite offices to ensure comprehensive and integrative care in the community.