How will my child's doctor visits change when he reaches adolescence?
Adolescents have unique issues that are different from all other age groups. So, we try to focus on a whole range of areas that effect their lives during this time. And most doctors will do what's called a HEADS exam and that's an acronym that stands for: H is home where you ask adolescents about thier home life and make sure everything's going well, see how the other relationships are with their parents, their siblings, there's not excessive fighting or hitting or abuse. The E stands for education and talking about how they're doing at school, how their interactions are with peers, how their grades are, have they stayed steady, are they dropping off, are they working hard, are they getting help with their homework. The A stands for activities and just to see what extracurricular activities they're involved in. Are they playing sports, are they part of the drama team, and who are the people that they're hanging out with doing these activities, have they joined a gang. The D stands for drugs. And you want to ask all adolescents about any drug use that they may have done or been exposed to, as well as alcohol and cigarettes. And the S stands for two things. And one is suicidal thoughts or ideations. It's really something to bring up with all teenagers becuase there are a lot of stressors put on our teenagers today and you won't know unless you ask, so sort of get an idea of how they're feeling and if they've had any of those thoughts. And again, we said, S stands for sex--which is have they had any interest in the same sex, in the opposite sex. Have they had any sexual interactions. And you really want to be specific and talk about the differences between oral sex and vaginal sex, even anal sex, transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, using protection. So that you can talk to them about that, and make sure, that again, the parents are talking to these children about it, as well. It's really important and gaining the adolescents' trust is the most important thing. These are issues that are between you and them and we don't tell the parents, we don't tell their next door neighbor or their friends. It really is one on one so they really feel they can open up with us, and we can help curb any negative behaviors as we see them.
