Providing highly specialized care for the various medical needs of children with autism

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience other medical and psychiatric conditions. Common conditions associated with autism include:

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Epilepsy
• Feeding disorders
• GI disorders
• Mood disorders
• Sleep disorders

Because we care about the whole child, our dedicated team is here to help by monitoring the growth and development of each individual. We create customized treatment plans to meet each child’s unique needs.

Our providers also collaborate closely with treatment programs at our center and refer to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta specialists so children and families have access to the right resources.

Assessment

The developmental specialist team performs comprehensive medical assessments of children and adolescents who already have confirmed diagnoses of autism.

The assessment may include:

• Physical exam
• Baseline lab work (metabolic and genetic)
• Referrals to other departments for more testing

Care and treatment

Our team provides:

• Comprehensive medical consultation
• Medication mangagement
• Prescribing of medicines
• Ongoing follow-up care
• Monitoring of developmental progress
• Behavioral support
• Educational support
• Feeding support
• Sleep support

Our medical services team

Our medical team assesses and cares for the whole child in order to improve quality of life for our patients and their families.

The team includes:

• Child psychiatrists who specialize in assessing and treating children with autism and co-occurring psychiatric conditions, such as ADHD, anxiety, mood disorders and bipolar disorder. They provide comprehensive medication consultation and ongoing management for the control of behavior and mood symptoms related to autism and other associated conditions.
• Developmental pediatricians who specialize in the assessment, treatment and management of children with developmental and behavioral conditions, like autism. They provide comprehensive medical and developmental consultation and create individualized treatment plans.
• Pediatric nurse practitioners who specialize in assessing and treating children with autism including monitoring developmental progress and addressing their various behavioral, educational, and medical needs. They also prescribe medication when indicated to treat milder forms of psychiatric conditions such as ADHD, anxiety and mood symptoms.
• Pediatric gastroenterologists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the digestive tract or liver as well as nutritional problems in children.
• Pediatric sleep medicine physicians who specialize in the assessment and treatment of sleep disorders in children.

Referrals

If you’re interested in having your child evaluated by our team, you’ll need a doctor referral and to complete the steps to make a new patient appointment.