This handbook addresses treatment planning for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) using a medical home perspective. It examines the medical home model, which has been promoted as the standard of care by the American Academy of Pediatrics since 2002, emphasizing collaboration between patients, families, and providers to optimize care. The handbook addresses treatment planning, including the coordination of the care provided by multiple specialists with a clear, shared vision for maximizing each child’s potential. Key areas of coverage include: · Elements of treatment planning, history of the medical home model, documentation, and strategies to facilitate communication. · Goals of treatment from the perspectives of the family, person served, care providers, and fiscal and regulatory bodies. · Role of each specialist, highlighting the most common conditions experienced by children with ASD and other NDD with expectations for assessment and treatment. · Detailed recommendations for making referrals and assisting the child and family in preparing for appointments. The Handbook of Treatment Planning for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Neurodevelopmental Disabilities is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and other professionals across such interrelated disciplines as clinical child, school, and developmental psychology, child and adolescent psychiatry, social work, rehabilitation medicine/therapy, pediatrics, and special education.

Increasingly more and more children with developmental disabilities survive into adulthood. Pediatricians and other clinicians are called upon to care for an increasing number of children with developmental disabilities in their practice and thus there is a need for a practical guide specifically written for paediatricians and primary care clinicians that addresses major concepts of neurodevelopmental pediatrics. In the United States, the specialty training leading to a conjoint board certification by the American Board of Pediatrics and American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, requires a total of 6 years of training (2 years of pediatrics, 1 year of neurology, 18 months of child neurology, 18 months of neurodevelopmental disabilities). As of December 2006, in the US, there were 241 pediatricians and 55 child neurologists certified in the subspecialty of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. Thus most of the children with developmental disabilities are seen by pediatricians and therefore it is important for these pediatricians to be well informed of common issues in the field. The 60,000 or so pediatricians in the United States (and hundreds more in other countries) are the main target audience for a practical book on neurodevelopmental pediatrics.

This book examines the diagnostic overlap and frequent confusion between the newly named DSM-5 diagnostic categories of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), which include autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and trauma and stressor related disorders (TSRDs). These conditions are similar in that a) children with developmental disorders are particularly vulnerable to traumatic events and b) all have pervasive effects on the brain and development. Chapters provide a wealth of effective clinical, family, and school-based interventions, developed from established studies and important new findings. In addition, chapters use illustrative case studies to survey assessment challenges in today’s healthcare climate and consider alternative routes for improving correct diagnoses, identifying appropriate interventions, and referring proper targeted, evidence-based treatment and services. The book concludes with the editors’ recommendations for needs-based service access, including a more widespread use and acceptance of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework. Topics featured in this book include: The neurobiological contributors to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) and its diagnosis in children with a history of trauma. Interventions for trauma and stressor-related disorders in preschool-aged children. Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and care in a cultural context. Special population consideration in ASD identification and treatment. Challenges associated with the transition to adulthood. Trauma and neurodevelopmental disorders from a public health perspective. Trauma, Autism, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology, child and adolescent psychiatry, public health, social work, pediatrics, and special education.

Speech and language are central to the human experience; they are the vital means by which people convey and receive knowledge, thoughts, feelings, and other internal experiences. Acquisition of communication skills begins early in childhood and is foundational to the ability to gain access to culturally transmitted knowledge, organize and share thoughts and feelings, and participate in social interactions and relationships. Thus, speech disorders and language disorders-disruptions in communication development-can have wide-ranging and adverse impacts on the ability to communicate and also to acquire new knowledge and fully participate in society. Severe disruptions in speech or language acquisition have both direct and indirect consequences for child and adolescent development, not only in communication, but also in associated abilities such as reading and academic achievement that depend on speech and language skills. The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program for children provides financial assistance to children from low-income, resource-limited families who are determined to have conditions that meet the disability standard required under law. Between 2000 and 2010, there was an unprecedented rise in the number of applications and the number of children found to meet the disability criteria. The factors that contribute to these changes are a primary focus of this report. Speech and Language Disorders in Children provides an overview of the current status of the diagnosis and treatment of speech and language disorders and levels of impairment in the U.S. population under age 18. This study identifies past and current trends in the prevalence and persistence of speech disorders and language disorders for the general U.S. population under age 18 and compares those trends to trends in the SSI childhood disability population.