Matching Level of Clinical Support to Patient Risk When Caring for Children With Behavioral Challenges.

Adaptive care plans (ACPs) are an innovative method to providing care for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities who have challenging behaviors during healthcare encounters. ACPs take a family-centered approach to ensure that children with developmental disabilities are able to receive safe and appropriate healthcare by increasing communication and collaboration between caregivers and healthcare team members. Differing healthcare professionals are strategically involved in order to appropriately match the level of support to the patient's behavioral risk through a review of two case examples from the pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation department. Specifically, case examples describe varying levels of accommodations and support provided to children with challenging behaviors, whose behaviors may have otherwise prevented them from receiving appropriate health interventions.