Newswise — Over the past 25 years, the number of children diagnosed with developmental and behavioral disorders has risen dramatically. Yet access to specialized care has not kept pace—leaving many families waiting months for evaluation and support.
At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Douglas Vanderbilt, MD, MS, MBA, Chief of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and Co-Director of the Behavioral Health Institute, is leading efforts to meet this growing need. His multidisciplinary team provides comprehensive care for children with autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy, and developmental delays, while also advancing early diagnosis, fellowship training, and community partnerships.
Dr. Vanderbilt, who directs CHLA’s Newborn Follow-up Program and holds the inaugural Las Madrinas Chair in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, shares how CHLA is working to expand access and identify at-risk children earlier in life.
What drew you to developmental-behavioral pediatrics?
The story I like to tell is that when I was 5, I woke up early one morning to find my mother in labor on the bathroom floor. My father, a general surgeon, delivered my premature baby brother right there at home—and I cut the cord before he was rushed to the hospital.
That experience and the years that followed made me think about how early medical challenges can influence development over time. Neonatologists focus on how to stabilize babies so they can go home. I’ve always been interested in what happens next: How can we support that child’s healthy growth and learning? That’s what ultimately led me to this field.
How is the national shortage of developmental-behavioral pediatricians impacting care?
There are less than 800 Board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatricians nationwide, so it’s not unusual for families to wait months for an appointment. Our work is time-intensive, and there just aren’t enough of us.
That’s a huge problem because early diagnosis and intervention are critical to a child’s development. We want to make sure families get help as soon as possible.
How is CHLA working to expand access to care for children with developmental disorders?
One way is to train the next generation of specialists. CHLA’s Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship is among the largest in the Western U.S., and the Las Madrinas Endowed Chair supports training, recruitment, clinical care, and research.
But growing the field is not enough. Expanding access also means sharing our expertise with the community. Not every child needs an hour-and-a-half assessment. We’re exploring ways to better support community pediatric providers—such as developing real-time consultation models that would add developmental-behavioral expertise to existing child psychiatry access lines.
The goal is to help pediatric providers manage the patients they can and reserve specialty visits for more complex cases. That will be key to improving access across the system.
What emerging strategies show promise for identifying at-risk children earlier?
We’re seeing progress on several fronts. In autism, tools like EEG and eye tracking are showing potential as early biomarkers—ways to detect developmental differences before behavioral symptoms are apparent.
In cerebral palsy, my colleague Dr. Beth Smith recently presented data showing that wearable leg sensors may detect risk as early as 1 month of age. We’re also working with Dr. Stacey Dusing at USC to test early interventions that might reduce that risk—taking advantage of the brain’s greatest period of plasticity to improve outcomes.
And through CHLA’s Stein Tikun Olam Early Connections Program, we’re preparing to pilot universal mental health screening in our Newborn Follow-up Program and across the hospital. The goal is to ensure that every family—not just those already identified as high-risk—has early support for bonding and emotional well-being.
You’ve been at CHLA for nearly two decades. What is most exciting to you about how this program has evolved?
Developmental-behavioral pediatrics doesn’t operate in isolation—it’s woven into the larger mission of the hospital and the Behavioral Health Institute, integrating with neonatology, neurology, psychiatry, psychology, and rehabilitation services, including speech therapy and physical and occupational therapy.
That team-based integration allows us to provide comprehensive, coordinated care and support children and families every step of the way. Seeing how those collaborations translate into better outcomes—and watching our patients grow and thrive over time—is what makes this work truly meaningful.
Learn more about CHLA’s Behavioral Health Institute.