Keystone Block – Child Development

Child Development is a joint rotation between Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center, with a small number of residents also rotating through Tufts Medical Center Developmental Clinics. The rotation is designed to provide residents with a rigorous foundation in normal and abnormal infant and child development. Interns and Med-Peds PL-2 residents gain exposure to multi-disciplinary clinical programs providing assessment and follow-up for infants, children, and adolescents with developmental, behavioral and/or learning problems. Residents participate in testing with developmental-behavioral pediatricians, psychologists and educational specialists. Given its prevalence and social impact, there is a special focus on autism.

Interns practice milestones at the Boston Children’s Museum

 

Nonclinical experiences in child development provide wonderful adjunct opportunities and more complete appreciation for this important discipline. Residents participate in Early Intervention home encounters, visit the Children’s Hospital Childcare Center, and observe in classrooms, including special education settings and an elementary school in the Boston Public School system. Some also attend special education evaluation meetings and special school events. Also, one morning a month, each intern attends the Comprehensive Care Program at Boston Medical Center, a multidisciplinary primary care outpatient clinic for children with complex medical problems, including children with significant developmental delays, seizure disorders, autism, and former premature infants. Didactics at both Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center include topics such as developmental screening and surveillance in primary care, special education evaluations and services, mental health screening, failure to thrive, discipline, the child’s experience of grieving and loss, and the child’s experience of interpersonal violence.