The Developmental Pediatrics Unit was established in 1992 under the guidance and support of the late academic and professor N. Matsaniotis. Today, it operates in the Second Pediatric Clinic of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens at the “P&A Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital in a specially designed space, based on internationally established standards.

The Unit conducts diagnostic investigations and monitoring of children with developmental problems. Children of all ages are examined, from infancy to adulthood. In particular, children with developmental disorders in communication, speech, learning, cognition, movement, attention, and behavior are treated. School readiness is assessed, gifted, charismatic, and talented children are identified, and developmental deviations from the norm are detected in a timely manner.

To date, more than 15,000 children, aged 1 month to 18 years, have been assessed and are being monitored systematically in individual, multiple, and combined sessions, corresponding to an average of 2,500-3,000 examinations per year.

The Unit provides training on developmental pediatrics to medical school students, pediatric residents, and healthcare professionals, and periodically organizes continuing education workshops for pediatricians.

As part of the educational project, annual training seminars on special education are held for the continuous training of primary and secondary school teachers and special education staff. To date, eight annual seminars have been held and more than 500 teachers have been trained.

The Unit’s research activities include a large number of research projects concerning the adaptation to Greek of recognized international tests and educational programs, linguistic studies of rare specific disorders, pioneering applications of genetic methods in the investigation of mental retardation, the study of the cognitive and psychosocial development of children with HIV infection and the psychomotor development of children born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), etc.

At the same time, we have created and continue to create new standard developmental tests weighted to the Greek population, the most recent being the Communication Test “païs” for the early detection of autism spectrum disorders in young children in our country.

During its 24 years of operation, the Developmental Pediatrics Unit has become a national reference center for children with developmental problems. Numerous publications, participation in Greek and international conferences, and various honors are evidence of its intense research activity.

The head of the unit is Associate Professor of Developmental Pediatrics at the University of Athens and Greece’s representative to the European Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (EACD), Ms. Loretta Thomidou, with a staff of 25 that includes doctors, specialist therapists, nurses, and administrative staff.

For more information
www.developunit.gr
contact tel: +30 2132009186, +30 2132009198