Webinars

Childhood Dementia - The Facts, Symptoms and Lived Experience

This presentation on Childhood Dementia will explore what childhood dementia is, the symptoms children and young people experience and statistics associated with it. This webinar was followed by a facilitated live question and answer session with attendees. 

Webinar: To Transition and Beyond - Healthcare of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disability

During the final webinar for 2022, "To Transition and Beyond - Healthcare of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disability" our guest presenter, Prof Nick Lennox and Assoc Prof Michael McDowell  drew on Prof Lennox's almost thirty years experience providing specialist healthcare to adults with intellectural, and some with developmental disability; especially autism.  Throughout the discussion they addressed the following questions. 

• Where do they access healthcare?
• What are the major health and wellbeing problems experience by this population?
• How can we address these problems?
• What could you do to improve their long-term health and wellbeing?

This was followed by a live Q&A

Webinar: Psychiatric Problems in Developmental Paediatric Practice: Managing the Boundaries

In this webinar, Perth pscyhiatrist Dr Roger Paterson and NBPSA President, Dr Jane Lesslie discussed recognition and response to mental health issues that present in the context of paediatric consultations.  the presentation was followed by an informative live Q&A..

Webinar: Genetic Testing for Neurodevelopmental Disorders

All individuals with a significant neurodevelopmental condition should be offered genetic testing to help families understand the cause of the condition. Families can then receive genetic counselling given they have a chance of further affected children. They can also link with other affected families and receive therapeutic or research information about the specific condition.

Dr Ben Kamien discusses detection rates with testing and explains the first line tests of chromosomal microarray, fragile X, and urine metabolic screening, as well as newer tests such as whole exome and whole genome sequencing.

Webinar: Medicinal Cannabis in Developmental and Behavioural Disorders

In this webinar guest presenter, Dr Daryl Efron discusses the latest information about the role of medicinal cannabis in developmental paediatric management. This includes findings from a recent survey exploring current parent and clinician attitudes and experience. Daryl's presentation will be followed by a facilitated live question and answer session with attendees.

Webinar: Auditory Processing Disorders

This talk will review the current definitions, diagnoses, and management plans of "Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)" as  published in current literature. The discussion will include the position statements of Audiology societies on this testing. Strong views are held by proponents of APD testing that differ over the contribution of cognition, memory and attention to a diagnosis of APD, these will be explored.

Guest Presenter: Andrea Kelly, PhD, Maud (Hons), MNZAS 

Webinar: The Twinned Rainbow: Gender Dysphoria (GD) & Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

There has been a rise in young people presenting with both ASD and GD and increasing interest in the co-occurrence of these conditions.

This webinar, using a case presentation, will discuss the rates and hypotheses relating to co-occurrence and existing practice guidelines for comorbid assessment and treatment.

Webinar: Assistive Technology - The Tools to Close the Gap

Today we have excellent tools available for students to use to close the gap in the classroom between where they are functioning academically and where they need to be for their year level. In this presentation, we will explore what tools are available, who should use them, what the schools are obligated to provide and the role of Paediatricians in the implementation of A.T. for their patients.

Webinar: Chemical Restraint: Primum non nocere

First, do no harm. When treating children and youth with psychotropic medications, could we be seen as restraining children? This question is in active discussion at the moment within the Disability Royal Commission.

This Webinar considers the question of chemical restraint. What differentiates good clinical prescribing practice (that demonstrably benefits the child) from chemical restraint? This question will be examined in a ‘fireside chat’ discussion format, based on complex clinical cases.

As background, in 2018, the NDIS published additional Rules that elaborate on Restrictive Practices. In these Rules, Chemical Restraint is defined as:

“the use of medication or chemical substance for the primary purpose of influencing a person’s behaviour. It does not include the use of medication prescribed by a medical practitioner for the treatment of, or to enable treatment of, a diagnosed mental disorder, a physical illness or a physical condition;”

In Developmental Paediatrics, we do not always ‘treat diagnosed mental disorders’ in the same manner as Psychiatry. We may use psychotropic medication to modify neurological control systems with the intention of improving function, quality of life (short term) and development (over time).

In this process, however, we often use behaviour as a clinical sign when making diagnoses,  and determining response to medication treatment outcomes. How do we know that we undertake good clinical practice?

Webinar: Cognitive Assessment of Children Part 2: The Role of Cognitive Testing in the Identification and Treatment of Specific Learning Disorders

This session will begin with an overview of key findings from a range of disciplines including genetics, neurobiology and the cognitive sciences regarding the known causes and correlates of developmental learning disorders. Emphasis will be given to a discussion of the various processing difficulties typically exhibited by children with literacy and numeracy difficulties, early identification and best practice assessment methods, common comorbidities and the role of cognitive testing in diagnosing SLD. Evidence based instructional programs and useful assistive technologies will be described together with a critique of some popular non-curriculum based therapies.

Webinar: Cognitive Assessment of Children Part 1: Foundations, Methods and Clinical Applications

Clinical management of children presenting with developmental difficulties typically includes referring them for a cognitive assessment. What this involves for the child and his/her parents, what the paediatrician can expect from the assessment, and the implications of the assessment findings in terms of treatment and support planning is the subject of this session. Discussion will include an overview of current theories of intelligence, assessment measures, interpretative guidelines and test limitations. Additional psychometric measures commonly given and required for differential diagnosis will also be discussed.

Webinar: NBPSA Trainee Research Project

Each presenter is from a different state across Australia, and in a different phase of project conduction (currently doing one, completed one, and supervising one) - and will be talking about their own experiences with this RACP training requirement.

From brainstorming ideas, approaching possible supervisors, the research and writing process - this webinar explores each person's experience and perspective to help inform where to from here. The 30 minute presentation was followed by a live question and answer session.

Learning Objectives

• How to start finding a topic or supervisor for a research project
• Understanding principles of starting a research project
• The role of the research project supervisor
• The research and writing process of the College research project.

Webinar: Prescribing Psychotropic Medications

"Why do we prescribe psychotropic medications to developing children and youth?" Prescribing and managing psychotropic medication is a large component of treatment practice in NB Paediatrics. Research and education that informs this competency focuses on questions of diagnosis, choice of medication and usage details, such as dosing. But are we clear on the fundamental question of why we prescribe? We believe that it is to help children. How do we think about purpose? How do we evaluate outcomes? How do we talk to each other, parents, agencies, and other professionals on this question? Sociological perspectives have challenged this innate belief (that it is good for children) that drives our prescribing. At an extreme end, medications have been characterised as pharmaceutical violence, chemical straight-jacketing. More moderate views criticise the assumption that individuals should be normalised into a model of what is and is not deemed acceptable.

Within the medical system, psychiatry has been using psychotropic medications before NBP. Their default model is the mental health disorder. Anxiety may be OK, but an anxiety disorder is harmful. Medication may reduce symptoms below the threshold that defines a disorder, so it is thereby a justifiable consideration. Is this way of thinking appropriate to presume in our NBP practice? Is this why we determine symptom response as the measure of treatment outcomes. This talk considers the purpose of psychotropic medication in a developmental paediatric context. We deal with change over time, not relatively static psychiatric disorders. How can we be sure that the drugs we prescribe actually help children?