Tell me about developmental pediatrics...

[Appellatelove]

I am drawn to understanding child development. I do not think I want to do psychiatry for a number of reasons so the path to child psychiatry is less appealing than the path to developmental peds. I know this is a relatively new field but it seems that the demand is high and that parents "get" the idea of seeing a pediatrician that specializes in developmental peds when their child has developmental delays… many of the parenting forums discuss wait times of over a year to get an appointment. I'm wondering why this field is not as popular given how it seems to allow for flexibility, a cash based practice (if desired), and has overlap with child psych (which is getting increasingly popular). What are the downsides? Lifestyle? etc.

Even if you are not in developmental pediatrics, I'd like to hear if you have referred your patients to these providers and their experiences.

TIA

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[applicant2016]

most developmental pediatricians see mainly 3 things: ADHD (which can also be managed by a general pediatrician or a child psychiatry), autism, and learning disabilities.

It is not popular because of mainly two reasons: low pay (I think lower than a general pediatrician), and really, not that much you can do to the patient. For autism and learning disabilities you just make sure that they are hooked up with service in school and community, Lifestyle is great, maximum 1-2 clinic a week, no calls, no inpatient consults.

 

[commenteitor]

Good points from the previous poster.
Another reason why the specialty is not so popular is length of training: 3 years of peds + 3 year DBP fellowship.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Some developmental pediatricians do in-patient consults e.g. in the NICU pre-discharge. Others find it a field in which they are able to work on developing community-based programs related for example to comprehensive autism treatment. Regardless, there is a shortage and the ones I know are very satisfied with their career choice because they see the value they have for those families who need them to help with the challenges of developmentally disabled children and creating systems to assist in their care.