ADHD and neurodevelopmental paediatrics

Chatwell is a paediatrician who assesses ADHD, autism and developmental presentations in children and young people from birth to 18 years. His clinical interests are neurodevelopmental disorders, developmental disabilities and paediatric physical rehabilitation.

That rehabilitation background matters for the assessments he takes on. Where a child’s difficulties involve physical or developmental disability alongside attention and behaviour, the picture is harder to separate, and Chatwell has spent two years working specifically in that territory with the Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service.

ADHD is rarely the whole picture. Autism, learning and intellectual difficulties, developmental delay and neurodisability either sit alongside it or account for the presentation outright. At Pandion these are screened as standard rather than treated as an optional extra, and where ADHD is not the right answer the family is told so clearly, with an explanation of what comes next.

Background and training

Chatwell holds an MBBChBAO from University College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Paediatrics and Child Health.

He began his paediatric training in Dublin at Temple Street Children’s Hospital and Crumlin Children’s Hospital, then continued in Australia at Westmead Children’s Hospital, Sydney Children’s Hospital and the Royal Children’s Hospital. He has also worked across a number of regional and rural paediatric settings in Australia, and spent two years with the Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service developing his work in paediatric physical rehabilitation and developmental disabilities.

He is a member of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, the international body for clinicians and researchers working in childhood-onset disability.

He works closely with families on health advocacy, and builds care around the particular needs of each child.

Outside the clinic

Chatwell enjoys bushwalking, off-road driving, painting and music. He is a devoted father to three young children, who keep him busy and inspired.