Psychology and Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics: Interprofessional Collaboration in Clinical Practice

Assuring access to appropriate services, including identification of NDDs, requires collaboration between health care providers across settings. However, integrated and comprehensive care is negatively impacted by the lack of interprofessional collaboration between health care providers. The Interprofessional collaborative practice between psychologists and DBP represents two such health care providers who can readily work together to promote positive outcomes for individuals with NDDs.Providing health care professionals with the opportunities to build skills and knowl-edge in interdisciplinary collaborative practice during their graduate training prepares emerging providers with the skills to effectively communicate and work together. Collaborative practice allows psychologists and DBPs the unique opportunity to learn from each other while reducing care silos and promoting integrated and high-quality services to autistic children and adolescents. Given the increased use of teleservices during the COVID-19 pandemic, collaborative practice between health care providers is more accessible than it has been in the past. As it is likely that telehealth will remain a staple of clinical care post-COVID-19, there is an increased opportunity for "face-to-face" collaboration between providers that may have previously been limited because of time constraints, access to video conference technology, or geographic location. As the incidence rates for NDD, particularly ASD, continue to increase, so does the need for integrated and comprehensive care for patients and their families.30