Why even do a physical exam?

Many times, the only time we get to see your children is when they are sick, suffering or in pain. Obviously this does not give us the true picture of who your
child really is.

In order to give you sound advice about future development, personal temperament or even reassurance, we need to see more than a few brush strokes. We need to see the whole picture.

Numerous studies have shown that preventive care can reduce a child’s chance of disease, improve health and development, and lower the costs of health care. But if we don’t see your child for a healthy exam, we can’t give accurate advice.

Partners in Pediatrics follows the guidelines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for health care visits. For children and adolescents, that’s frequent during the first two

years of life and then annually thereafter. If you’d like to see a full copy of the recommendations, click here for the AAP guidelines.

Visiting our clinic annually helps us track your child’s growth and development. We can help you determine if height and weight are tracking along a healthy course. We can tell you if your child is achieving developmental milestones. We can screen for emotional development and through an examination make sure your child’s body is physically healthy.

Children must have a physical examination prior to entering kindergarten and need sports physicals to participate in school sports.

Summer is usually a heavy month for exams. We generally see a bottleneck of requests in August. So be proactive and schedule your children now.