Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics

Program Overview

Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) is the specialty within pediatrics that focuses on both the medical and psychosocial aspects of children’s development and behavior. Developmental-Behavioral Pediatricians are trained to identify and treat disorders of development behavior and throughout childhood and adolescence. They work closely in collaboration with other health care professionals and with parents and families as well as schools and other community agencies.

The Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship Program in Qatar was established at the Child Developmental Center (CDC) at Rumailah Hospital – Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in 2008. After the opening of Sidra Medicine in 2016, DBP fellows started rotating at Developmental- Behavioral Pediatrics clinics and other subspecialties at Sidra Medicine. In December 2019, Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship Program became one of the Pediatric Fellowship Programs under Graduate Medical Education at Sidra Medicine.

The Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics fellowship Program is a three-year program offered by the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at CDC-HMC and the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at Sidra Medicine. The program is designed to prepare young developmental-behavioral pediatricians who are competent in providing medical and clinical care both independently and within the context of interdisciplinary teams. These teams include psychologists, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists as well as a wide range of other medical specialists and with educational and community agencies. Research training is a focus of the three years of fellowship. Fellows also participate in the education of medical students and residents and in community outreach.  We expect that graduates of our fellowship program will lead future innovations in DBP and educate the next generation of clinicians and researchers in the field.

Goals and Objectives

  • To provide fellows with a theoretical and practical framework to assess child development, intellectual, social and behavioral functioning as well as working with families to optimize children’s development within family and community settings.
  • To provide fellows with a core knowledge of the broad array of clinical diagnoses seen in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, as well as the principles and scientific bases of etiology, intervention and research.
  • To provide fellows with clinical competency in the assessment, diagnosis, anticipatory guidance, different modalities of treatment and continuity of care of children with developmental-behavioral disorders.
  • To provide fellows with training and experience in research, quality improvement processes and opportunity to participate in quality improvement activities in our institution.
  • To prepare fellows for leadership careers by providing them with the essential skills to become effective clinicians, creative teachers, and knowledgeable and productive researchers.

Clinical Training and Key Rotations

The Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics fellowship Program is a three-year program.

During the first year of training, fellows are scheduled for observations with the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics faculty as well as the core faculty in Psychology and allied health professionals (PT, OT and SLP). The fellow is primarily engaged in the clinical evaluation and care of children with a wide range of developmental and behavioral delays/ disorders and with working with their families.

During the second year of training, the fellow’s clinical time is spent primarily in Fellow’s Clinic providing continuity of care to their established patients and continuing to refine their clinical skills by evaluating new patients more independently. The fellow will also have the opportunity to take part in more specialized clinics e.g. Autism MD clinic, High Risk Infant Follow Up clinics, pre-integration program and School clinic. Second year fellows will start the subspecialties rotation and will have dedicated time every week throughout the second and third year to actively pursue their research.

Third-year fellows will have reduced clinical activity to allow for supervisory/teaching roles of other fellows, completion of research projects, and completion of subspecialties rotation.

Assessment Skills

During the three years of the fellowship program, fellows will get the opportunity to become proficient in the administration of several different measures of child development such as:

  • Schedule of Growing Skills II
  • The Bayley Scales of Infant Development-3rd Edition
  • Griffith III Development Scale
  • The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2nd Edition (ADOS-2)
  • The Childhood Autism Rating Scale-2nd Edition (CARS)
  • Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ)
  • Social Responsive Scale-2nd Edition (SRS-2)
  • Conner’s 3 Rating Scale
Key Rotations
Pediatric neurology
Pediatric child and adolescent mental health, CAMHS
Pediatric Genetics and Metabolic
Pediatric Rehabilitation
High risk neonatal clinic
Audiology

Entry Requirements

  • Completion of an ACGME-I accredited or equivalent residency training program in Pediatrics.
  • Board certification in core specialty (Pediatrics).
  • Hold a valid Medical License or be eligible for licensure in Qatar (click here for more details).
  • Strong interest in Pediatric development, excellent communication skills with commitment to the specialty and keen interest to learn and shows interest in academic and scholarly activities.

Contact Information

  • Program Director: Dr. Lobna Hassan Dekair, HMC
  • Associate Program Director: Dr. Alia Satti, Sidra Medicine
  • GME Email: gme@sidra.org