Child Behavior and Management in Primary Care

 taught by

Willlam B. Carey, M.D. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

and Sean C.McDevitt, PhD, AZ Behavioral Health Specialists

Thursday, October 20, 9:00am-4:30pm

Center for Child and Family Well-Being

3903 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105

Center for Child and Family Well-Being is pleased to offer a free all day workshop for professionals and community members who are interested in the roles of temperament, adjustment and psychopathology in understanding behavior in everyday settings such as home, classroom and community.

About the Session 

Based upon a recent publication (2016) by the authors, this workshop will consider the roles of temperament, adjustment and psychopathology in understanding behavior in everyday settings such as home, classroom and community. Professionals who work with children in primary care medical settings, psychological settings and social settings are most likely to be oriented toward finding and diagnosing abnormal conditions requiring expert involvement.

The great majority of concerns expressed by caregivers about their children's behavior are of mild or moderate severity, not meeting any definition of a DSM-V disorder or requiring referral to a specialist. This orientation developed by two clinicians who have worked for many years in priimary care, rejects the notion that behavioral issues should be simply classified as normal or abnormal. Rather the authors suggest that primary care professionals should view children's behavior on a spectrum where annoying normal variations may shade into problems and then to disordered behavior requiring specialized care. A broader perspective is preferable to the limited approach of simply making categorical judgements about whether or not the concerns being presented by the caregiver are sever enough to diagnose and treat as an abnormal condition or declare tht there is not real problem. 

This workshop will discuss the ideas and observations that have led to the development of this point of view and discuss them with participants, who are encouaged to bring their own challenges and viewpoints to the meeting.

Continuing Education Credits

Registration includes a Certificate of Completion for 6.5 credit hours per session for licensed psychologists, marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and social workers  in Washington State.  Please sign-in at the beginning of the session and we will have a certificate ready for you at the end of the workshop.  

Workshop Schedule

Thursday, October 20, 9am - 4:30pm  at the Center for Child and Family Well-Being.

About the Instructors

William B. Carey, M.D. is a pediatrician, who graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1954 and did his specialty training at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Subsequently he spent thirty-one years in primary pediatrics care mostly in Media, Pennsylvania. While in solo practice, he began his studies of child development and behavior, in particular of children's temperament differences. With a team of psychologists he developed for ages 1 month through 12 years a series of five temperament questionnaires, which have been widely used throughout the world and translated into many languages. He is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching developmental-behavioral pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His numerous publications on temperament include Coping with Children's Temperament: A Guide for Professionals (Basic Books, 1995) andUnderstanding Your Child's Temperament(Macmillan, 1997). His principal honors are the Aldrich Award in Child Development from the American Academy of Pediatrics and election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Sean C. McDevitt, PhD is a child and adolescent psychologist in Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ, with over twnty five years of practical experience working with children and families in inpatient, residential and outpatient settings. His specialties are Behavioral and Emotional problems including mood and anxiety disorders, relationship issues, ADHD, Autistic Spectrum Disorders with Children and Adolescents, post-divorce, Adopted Children, Parenting 'Spirited' Children and Gifted Children. The modalities within which he works include individual psychotherapy, play therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, family therapy and parent consultation. He has authored four books, ten chapters and numerous articles on personality differences in children. He received his PhD & MA at Temple University, Philadelphia and his AB at the University of San Francisco.

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