Behavior management in the child with developmental disabilities.

Pediatricians who serve children with developmental disabilities would be well advised to study and practice applied behavior analysis. Within a behavior analytic framework, the pediatrician views the child's aberrant performance as being a constellation of behavioral excesses and skill deficits that serve a functional purpose, rather than as being a symptom of some underlying illness or intrapsychic mechanism. The pediatrician can counsel the child, parents, and teachers to rearrange their environment, with an emphasis on how they can behave differently toward one another in specific situations, so as to alter the target behavior. When the child's problem behaviors are relatively severe or intractable, the pediatrician can refer the patient and family to a behavior specialist while continuing to support efforts to improve the child's overall health and adjustment.