In our neuropsychology practice we see a large number of children with special health care needs (i.e., medical conditions) as well as children with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric conditions (autism, language impaiments, ADHD). Although the main goal of these evaluations is to identify their patterns of cognitive strengths and weaknesses to guide intervention, we always evaluate the current mental health functioning of these children. We do this because we often see that these children have high levels of anxiety and depression, which many times go unnoticed.  Although this is a very common clinical observation, and many studies have shown that specific chronic physical or developmental conditions are associated with internalizing mental health symptoms (depression and anxiety), less is know about the prevalence of mental health symptoms in this population and the factors that increase the risk for experiencing or developing internalizing symptoms. Read More