Child Mental Health for Pediatric Clinicians

Send us Fan Mail As pediatric practices incorporate  more telehealth, what tips and tricks can help us navigate the challenges of virtual healthcare? Pediatrician Dr. Rachel Schare joins us to share the Good, the Bad, and the Funny in the world of Pediatric Telehealth. We discuss: Practical strategies for how to incorporate telehealth into busy pediatric practice: Focus mainly on follow-up visits...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Season 2 of PsychEd4Peds!  To start this season, the Academy of PsychEd4Peds shares the winners of the 5 major PsychEd4Peds podcast awards from 2023. Featured Awards include: Best Ensemble - * the most popular episode featuring a group of hosts * Best Short Episode  - * most helpful content in  an episode ~10 minutes * Super Science Episode - * best episode about highly...

Send us Fan Mail Any conversations that involve *weight* can be really challenging and require a really thoughtful approach. This week, we chat with Dr. Peggy Greco, pediatric psychologist who specializes in eating disorders,  about how to talk with parents when  you're concerned about their child's health and weight OR  the parent is *overly* concerned about their child's weight. ...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Peggy Greco shares practical tips for navigating challenging conversation with teens who have eating disorders and/or obesity including: *  How to shift the conversation from WEIGHT to focus instead on HEALTH  * How to focus on non-weight metrics of health such as: ·       mood ·       energy levels ·       activity levels ·       healthy eating habits ·       clarity of think...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Elise Fallucco interviews Dr. Sarah Garwood, a professor of pediatrics who specializes in eating disorders, about screening and managing eating disorders in primary care. They discuss screening tools, medical workup, and practical steps that pediatric clinicians can take to support children with eating disorders. Practical tools to  identify kids who are struggling with eating...

Send us Fan Mail How can we identify kids at risk for eating disorders  in pediatrics? How can we promote healthy relationships with food and with eating?  Our guest, Dr. Jennifer Leah Goetz, a double board-certified psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders, discusses: ·      the variety of eating disorders in kids,  ·      the prevalence, and risk factors for developing an eating disorder · ...

Send us Fan Mail "Help! My preschooler has been kicked out of child-care and no one in our area can evaluate and treat young kids!" When and how should you prescribe medication for preschoolers with emotional and behavioral problems? Dr. Elise Fallucco shares her thoughts and suggestions on evaluating and treating these children. In cases where children have failed or are unable to acces...

Send us Fan Mail  Parenting young children with behavioral outbursts can be very challenging. Dr. Joyce Harrison, early childhood psychiatrist from Kennedy Krieger / Johns Hopkins shares practical parenting tips and referral resources for families of young children. **What parenting tips could pediatric clinicians share with parents of preschool-aged children? o   Stay calm o   Positive instructio...

Send us Fan Mail Temper tantrums can be so frustrating - for the child, the parent, the teacher, and everyone involved!  On episode 20 of PsychEd4Peds, Dr. Joyce Harrison, child and adolescent psychiatrist at Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins, shares with us an "8 S" framework for evaluating kids with temper tantrums.  Q: What is on the differential diagnosis for a 4 year old with...

Send us Fan Mail Can we use information from our DNA to predict which medication will work for each of us? In this episode, Dr. Elise Fallucco talks about the latest information about pharmacogenetic testing and personalized medicine, and how they can (or cannot) be useful for treating ADHD, anxiety, and depressive disorders. She shares when and how pharmacogenetic testing can be useful.  In addit...

Send us Fan Mail How can we address family concerns about ADHD medications? What can we do to minimize and/or manage potential side effects? Join me as we discuss:  1-  How to Address Common Parental concerns about meds for ADHD o   Will his turn my kid into a Zombie? Mood changes? – stop if you notice these o   Are they addictive? – No. o   Potential for diversion of meds  2 -    The risks of unt...

Send us Fan Mail Which med do you choose for ADHD? What do you do if the first med doesn't work? Join me as we review a step-wise approach for prescribing meds for ADHD. Key points: *Stimulants are first-line treatment for ADHD Step 1: Choose which “class/type” of stimulant to start Step 2: Decide whether short or long-acting Three types of stimulants in my order of preference: 1.     MPH – m...

Send us Fan Mail ADHD does not always present with only inattention or distractibility. In this episode, we review a clinical case of a 9 yo boy with behavior problems and anger. go through the differential diagnosis  share tools used in the evaluation  discuss how to talk to parents about a diagnosis of ADHD and how to explain to kids what it means to have ADHD Dr. Elise Fallucco is a child psych...

Send us Fan Mail How do you ask kids about suicidality in a way that helps them feel comfortable enough to talk about it? And how do you tell unsuspecting parents that their child is suicidal? We provide a framework and some tips for approaching these challenging and important conversations with families.   Along the way, we talk about the importance of ·      Normalizing ·      Doing “Vibe Checks...

Send us Fan Mail  The AAP/Bright Futures recommend screening all kids 12 years and older for suicide risk.  Realistically, how do you incorporate another screening tool into your practice? Join us as we learn from Dr. Alisa Minkin,  a primary care pediatrician  who has spearheaded an effort to integrate screening for suicide risk in her large network of  practices in the New York metropolitan area...

Send us Fan Mail Youth suicide is the second leading cause of death in children, teens, and young adults in the US.   Yet, there are so many things we can do to try to prevent morbidity and mortality.  Dr. Brian Kurtz, child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical educator extraordinaire at Cincinnati Children’s hospital, joins me to discuss how pediatricians can help prevent suicide. **What incre...

Send us Fan Mail Interviewing kids with traumatic stress can be very challenging .  Join me as I walk through a clinical case to review how to approach these challenging conversations with kids.    We will cover:  ** "red flags" indicating that a child might have traumatic stress  ** the differential diagnosis for a child with "temper tantrums" or "outbursts"   ** how...

Send us Fan Mail Did you know that 10% of kids in primary care are suffering from post-traumatic stress? We talk with Dr. Brooks Keeshin, child abuse pediatrician and child psychiatrist, about how to use the Pediatric Traumatic Stress Screening Tool to recognize the signs of PTSD, intervene and get kids the help they need. Key points include: 1. Some kids with PTSD can seem like they are doing fin...

Send us Fan Mail How do primary care pediatricians take care of the growing volume of mental health problems in the setting of a busy private practice? Drs. Wendy Sapolsky, Kim DalPorto and Chanley Dudley, pediatric mental health champions in their large pediatric primary care private practice, Carithers Pediatric Group, share Time-saving Tips for managing the challenges of limited time, and incre...

Send us Fan Mail How do you choose which SSRI to start for child/teen depression? Dr. Elise Fallucco and Dr. Michaela Denison discuss the 3 SSRIs w/ best evidence for depression treatment in kids and teens : o   Fluoxetine (Prozac)= FDA-approved for depression 8 yo+, activating, long half-life;  Good for kids with fatigue, low motivation o   Sertraline (Zoloft)=  Works quickly, dose at night to he...

Send us Fan Mail How can you tell if a teen has depression? Dr. Elise Fallucco and Dr. Michaela Denison discuss how depression is a hidden illness, and how you can use a 3-step approach to diagnose depression and suicide risk. o   What every pediatrician needs to know about depression  –     *** 1 in 7 teens have experienced depression    ***1 in 5 teens have seriously considered suicide o   The I...

Send us Fan Mail  What causes autism? Why are there so many more boys than girls with autism? And why is it so important to make sure that children with autism have genetic testing?   We discuss this with our guest, Dr. John N. Constantino, child and adolescent psychiatrist and international expert in Autism Spectrum Disorder. * Boys tend to be more sensitive than girls to genetic risk for autism....

Send us Fan Mail *What if you could identify and diagnose autism in primary care, without having to wait years for children to be seen by a specialty autism center?   We discuss this with our guest, Dr. John N. Constantino, a world-renowned child and adolescent psychiatrist who specializes in Autism Spectrum Disorder who has done pioneering work in helping pediatric primary care clinicians disting...

Send us Fan Mail We talked with pediatric psychologist extraordinaire, Peggy Greco, PhD about how to better understand and identify anxiety in kids. Signs of anxiety in kids How parents describe kids with anxiety, and why it is hard for parents to know what is ”normal”  How do you know when you cross-over from normal anxiety to an anxiety problem? ·      USPSTF recommends screening for anxiety in...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we continue our conversation with pediatric psychologist extraordinaire, Peggy Greco, PhD about practical Interventions to help kids with anxiety Ways to make the home environment more consistent, predictable  Strategies that kids, teens can practice to reduce their anxiety Online/Apps for anxiety that can be used with little kids, teens, and even parents Check ou...