Developmental Disabilities: A Handbook for Interdisciplinary Practice

Successful interdisciplinary team practice for persons with developmental disabilities -evaluation, programming, and monitoring progress- requires that each team member understand and respect the contributions of the others. This handbook explains the professions most often represented on interdisciplinary teams: their natures, concerns, and roles within the interdisciplinary context. Represented in this volume are Administration; Audiology; Behavior Analysis; Pediatric Dentistry; Information/Instructional Technology; Neurology/Child Neurology/Developmental Pediatrics; Nursing; Nutrition; Occupational Therapy; Pediatric Medicine; Physical Therapy; Psychiatry; Psychology; Social Work; Special Education; and Speech-Language Pathology. Topics include the history, scope and focus of each discipline; its education and training requirements; licensure, certification, and continuing education; and contributions to interdisciplinary practice, featuring case examples of interventions where the specific profession played a critical role. A final chapter speaks to the changing nature of interdisciplinary practice, in light of changes in our health-care system and in our conceptions of "good" professional practice.