One out of every fifteen children in Belize has a behavioral or developmental problem. Those problems include everything from attention deficit disorder to autism. The Special Education Unit of the Ministry of Education puts the figure at 2,121 children. But behind those statistics are tough questions, like when does a "bad pickni" or "haad earrs" child need professional help? Over the next four days parents will get the answers. This weekend, Friends of Pediatrics is hosting a developmental pediatrics conference and clinics. Today was clinic day and 7NEWS was there to find out about these profound disorders that often go un-diagnosed.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This afternoon 7NEWS got the opportunity to sit in on 7-year-old Theodore's first counseling session with a developmental pediatrician. Theodore attends Stella Maris School. Henry Jex is his foster father.
Henry Jex, Father
"Theodore was first diagnosed of hyperactivity and some form of autism. They could not really pin down exactly what it is because of the range so we just had to cope with that. He is a slow learner also and so I put him into Stella Maris School."
Dr. Maureen Samms-Vaughn from Jamaica might be able to help Theodore. She is a development pediatrician. Her specialty is in diagnosing children with developmental and behavioral problems. She does this through these intense and extended sessions.
Dr. Maureen Samms-Vaughn, Developmental Pediatrician
"It helps you to identify children who have problems with their development, whether it is there motor development, running and jumping, or fine motor, handling things, or whether it is their speech, delayed in speech, or whether it is with their behavior. It is very important to try to understand that when your child has a problem with behavior, that it may be related to some other problem and the advice is always to seek help. Don't get frustrated, the advice is always to try to seek help first."
Dr. Vaughn along with two other developmental pediatricians are in Belize at the invitation of Friends of Pediatrics. Both Dr. Egbert Grinage and Dr. Cecilio Eck are practicing pediatricians.
Dr. Cecilio Eck,
"It is something that has forgotten, one of the forgotten sub-specialty in pediatrics. Since coming back to Belize a year ago I realized that we were really deficient in assessing kids with developmental problems in Belize. So with the help of Dr. Grinage, Friends of Pediatrics, and the International Hospital for Children, we came up with an idea to bring in the sub-specialists."
Dr. Egbert Grinage,
"We don't have a developmentalist as it were and these children are being handled currently by the Special Ed Department, almost without the help of a doctor, and what this whole weekend is about, we are having this clinic today with children who haven't been diagnosed yet and then on Saturday and Sunday we will be having a symposium at the Princess Hotel to teach people who come in contact with children at a very early age so that these disorders can be detected because early detection leads to a better prognosis."
If you have a child who you suspect might have a behavioral or developmental problem, you can attend the symposium and workshops scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at the Radisson Hotel. On Saturday it will run from 7 am to 5 pm and on Sunday from 7:45 am to 4:40 pm. The clinic is limited to 30 children who were existing patients of participating pediatricians. Fifteen of those patients were seen today and the remaining 15 will be attended to on Monday.
