Comprehensive clinical training + hands-on fellowship experience at Tufts Medical Center
Fellows in our program gain extensive clinical experience across a variety of settings serving children with developmental and behavioral needs. You’ll rotate through interdisciplinary clinics such as the Early Childhood Clinic, LEAP Program and NICU Follow-Up, providing care for conditions like autism, ADHD, learning differences and developmental delays.
Our team-based care model allows close collaboration with specialists in psychiatry, psychology, genetics, physiatry, social work, speech and language therapy and more. This approach gives you a well-rounded view of complex cases and helps you develop tailored treatment plans for each child.
These clinical opportunities sharpen your skills in assessment, diagnosis and management while supporting family-centered care. You build expertise in diverse neurodevelopmental conditions and work with children across ages and developmental stages.
Core clinical experiences
Our core clinics provide hands-on training in key areas of developmental-behavioral pediatrics. You’ll work closely with interdisciplinary teams to assess and treat children from infancy through adolescence. These clinics offer a rich variety of cases and help you build essential skills in evaluation, diagnosis and family-centered care.
- Early Childhood Clinic (ECC): An interdisciplinary clinic co-directed by speech and language pathology and developmental-behavioral pediatrics. Fellows develop skills in history taking, developmental assessments, and communication with toddlers and preschool children and their families. Training includes standardized testing and compassionate delivery of diagnostic findings to guide treatment plans.
- Learning, Education and Attention Program (LEAP): Focused on school-age children, this clinic is co-directed by social work and developmental-behavioral pediatrics and includes rotations with neuropsychology and speech/language interns. Fellows enhance interview and assessment skills and learn to collaborate with schools, community services, and behavioral health providers.
- Fellows clinic: Provides continuity of care for patients diagnosed in ECC and LEAP clinics, allowing fellows to develop counseling, medication management, and decision-making skills. Fellows also mentor residents and other trainees in this setting.
Elective opportunities
Our elective rotations let you explore specialized areas based on your interests and career goals. These experiences deepen your knowledge and broaden your clinical skills by exposing you to subspecialties like genetics, psychiatry, rehabilitation and school-based care.
- Neonatal follow-up clinic: A multidisciplinary setting collaborating with Newborn Medicine, where fellows evaluate children who have experienced prematurity or early health challenges and learn early developmental assessment tools.
- Medical genetics: Combines clinical experience and independent study to build understanding of genetic conditions, testing, and counseling relevant to developmental-behavioral pediatrics.
- Child and adolescent psychiatry: Includes independent study, clinical rotations, and interdisciplinary conferences. Fellows gain exposure to psychiatric disorders and psychopharmacology through teaching clinics and inpatient consults.
- Pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation: Fellows learn to manage neuromuscular disorders, cerebral palsy, and sensory impairments through clinical rotations at specialized rehabilitation facilities.
- School rotation: Offers firsthand experience working with school systems, educational law, and consultation to support children’s learning and social-emotional development.
