1. Neurodisability and community child health – Second Edition
During the pandemic, experts across continents, whilst dealing with lockdowns and shifting demands on their clinical practice, came together to help me author this book. Hailing from the United States, Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom, they generously shared their insights and wisdom. Hence, this latest book Oxford Specialist Handbook in Neurodisability and Community Child Health, contains expertise from a huge number of disciplines – neurodevelopmental paediatrics, child development, child mental health, neurology, genetics, rehabilitation, and special education needs, to name just a few.
The first edition of this book, the Oxford Specialist Handbook of Community Paediatrics, published in 2012, filled a gaping hole in my area of clinical practice. No concise, easy-to-use, and updated resource on child neurodisability and community child health existed before this. Ten years on, I wanted to create a second edition – a successor updated with the latest clinical guidance and focused even more on neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD.
Practical, accessible, and focused on clinically relevant information, this book serves as an essential companion to anyone who manages children with special needs and disabilities in a clinic setting. Doctors in neurodisability, community paediatrics, general paediatric trainees, GPs, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists will all be able to use this book as a first point of reference to help them deliver clinically effective and child-and-family centred care.
Throughout my career, I have been relentlessly focused on making a positive difference in the lives of my patients and their families. This book contains my twenty plus years of clinical experience in child neurodisability and community child health gained by working at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford and previously at Royal Free Hospital and Royal London Hospital in London. During the past two decades, I have had the privilege to work in various professional capacities, such as consultant paediatrician, child development team lead, course director, hon senior clinical lecturer, educational supervisor, clinical governance lead, editor, and reviewer. Consequently, this book contains the clinical experience of me and other experts and is enriched with up-to-date summaries on hundreds of topics written by my fellow experts.
During the writing of this book, I lost both my parents. Not only did my parents make countless sacrifices for my education, but they also instilled in me the importance of making a meaningful contribution to the world. Through this book, which will enable professionals to deliver holistic and evidence-based care to children, I humbly hope that I would come some way towards achieving their wish.