Curriculum

Clinical experience and skills are acquired by participation in a variety of clinics and programs throughout Mayo Clinic over the three-year period of the fellowship, in addition to didactic experiences and research.

Clinical Training

Year 1
In your first year of training, the block rotations in developmental and behavioral pediatrics have goals to broadly introduce you to the basics of this subspecialty:

• Recognize child development as the basic science of pediatrics
• Differentiate typical from atypical development and behavior
• Effectively interview and counsel children and families in a developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive manner
• Manage common behavioral problems
• Recognize the importance of early intervention in addressing developmental and behavioral concerns
• Perform developmental and behavioral surveillance and screening
• Perform medical/neurodevelopmental assessments
• Formulate developmental and behavioral diagnoses within the spectrum and continuum of developmental disabilities and behavioral disorders
• Interpret Psychoeducational Testing Reports, Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSP) and Individualized Education Program (IEP) Plans
• Access social and community services for children with developmental disabilities and/or behavioral disorders and their families
• Provide psychopharmacologic management for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders

In addition, during your first year of training, you will complete block-month rotations in Behavioral Psychology, Child Neurology, Medical Genetics, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  You will also be provided with three research months during your first year of training.

Year 2
In the second year of your fellowship, the block rotations in developmental and behavioral pediatrics focus more specifically on the increasingly independent subspecialty-level management of the most common referrals to a sub-specialist in developmental and behavioral pediatrics. You will increasingly independently identify, manage, and advocate for children with:

• Disorders of motor development
• Disorders of cognitive development
• Disorders of speech and language development
• Disorders of social and emotional development
• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Learning disabilities
• Attention problems (AD/HD) and associated externalizing conditions (aggressive behavior, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder)
• Sensory impairments (hearing and vision)
• Anxiety and mood disorders and associated internalizing behaviors

In addition, during the second year of your training, you will complete block-month rotations in Child and Adolescent Psychology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.  Five months of your second year of training will be devoted to research.

Year 3
In the third and final year of the fellowship, the block rotations in developmental and behavioral pediatrics focus more specifically on issues related to the independent practice of developmental and behavioral pediatrics. You will:

• Evaluate and counsel families about complementary and alternative therapies for children with developmental disabilities or behavioral disorders
• Transition patients with developmental disabilities or behavioral disorders to adult medical care
• Appropriately bill and code for problems and procedures related to developmental and behavioral pediatrics
• Apply the principles of medical ethics in addressing the needs of children with developmental or behavioral disorders and their families
• Supervise pediatric residents in quality improvement activities related to developmental-behavioral pediatrics
• Assume administrative responsibilities in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Six months of your third year of training will be devoted to research.

Rotation Descriptions

Note: You will have a ½ day Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics "Continuity Clinic" when on other subspecialty elective or research rotations.

Didactic Training
Mayo Clinic's Pediatric Developmental-Behavioral Medicine Fellowship Program has an extensive didactic training program that includes:

• Core Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Conferences
• Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Case Conferences
• Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics System Errors and Improvement Conferences
• Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Journal Club
• Certificate Program in Clinical Research
• Fellowship Education Core Curriculum
• Evidence-based Medicine Course
• Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Grand Rounds
• Child Psychiatry and Psychology Grand Rounds
• Medical Genetics Conferences
• Child Neurology Conferences

In addition, you will attend one national pediatrics meeting for educational purposes during your program and any other national meeting for which you have an abstract accepted for presentation.

Research Training
A major goal of the fellowship program is to provide you with the skills necessary to conduct independent clinical research. To this end, you are expected to initiate a clinical research project under the direction of the faculty.

Prior and ongoing research efforts in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics have focused on the epidemiology and economic costs of learning disabilities, AD/HD, mental retardation and autism, elucidating factors affecting long-term outcome in individuals with AD/HD and learning disabilities, the evaluation of complementary and alternative treatments for children with autism, and the evaluation of developmental assessment instruments.