Behavioral Pediatrics Treatment Service

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The CDRC Behavioral Pediatrics Treatment Service is a subspecialty clinic within the Psychology Program. The service is designed to respond to the needs of pediatricians and other pediatric health care workers to assist their patients with specific presenting concerns. Behavioral Pediatrics as a field involves the treatment of emotional and behavioral difficulties from the perspective of normalcy, by avoiding over-pathologizing presenting concerns. The goal of the CDRC Behavioral Pediatrics Treatment Service is to provide short-term, solution-focused intervention for specific problems identified by pediatric health care workers and/or care providers of children.

Patients/Problems Served

Appropriate referrals to the Behavioral Pediatrics Treatment Service include patients ages 2 to 18 with a variety of presenting concerns. Examples of issues addressed through the service include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Non-adherence with medical recommendations/medication regimens
• Behavior problems (e.g., tantrums, noncompliance, hitting)
• Toilet training
• Bedwetting
• Encopresis
• Mealtime behavior problems
• Feeding problems (e.g., food refusal or food selectivity)
• Bedtime refusal/resistance
• Sleep problems

Services Provided

Treatment Services: Time limited, solution-focused treatment is provided to address specific referral concerns. Our goal is to provide effective services within a few visits, with our target number of sessions often between 4 to 6. Intervention services include

• Parent training in specialized management strategies
• Assistance with developing self-monitoring and/or self-management strategies
• Development of motivation and consequence systems/programs
• Assistance with developing monitoring programs, to evaluate progress
• Focus on individual and family members, as appropriate

Consultation Services: To provide comprehensive and integrated health care, service providers will regularly consult with pediatricians, pediatric health care providers, and/or clinical staff from referral sources, as needed and appropriate.
Referral Services. Children and families requiring more intensive psychological assessment or treatment services will be provided with referral sources, either within the CDRC Psychology Program, or beyond.

Treatment Providers

Licensed Psychologist: Kurt Freeman, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Behavioral Pediatrics Treatment Service, is a pediatric psychologist who specializes in behavior management, parent training, medication/medical regimen non-adherence, bedwetting, encopresis, food selectivity and refusal, bedtime resistance and other sleep problems, and other related childhood behavior issues (e.g., whining, tantrums, hitting).

Advanced Trainees: Through models of co-therapy with and/or direct supervision by Dr. Freeman, advanced psychology trainees assist in providing treatment services.

• Post-doctoral fellow: Trainee receiving additional supervised experience after obtaining doctoral degree in psychology
• Pre-doctoral interns: Trainees completing their final year of supervised training prior to obtaining doctoral degrees in clinical, counseling, or related fields of psychology.