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Dr. Elise Fallucco, child psychiatrist and host of the ADHD Anxiety and More podcast, shares parent-focused tips for raising resilient, capable children.

She talks about 3 contrasting parenting styles—rescuer, laid-back, and coach— and talks about when each style makes sense.

The Rescuer Parent - wants to FIX problems FOR their child

The Laid-back Parent - lets their child sort things out on their own

The Coach Parent - Workings WITH the child to help them solve problems

She explains common age-based struggles (emotional regulation in preschool, frustration with academics and skills in early grades, and social dynamics in grades 3–5) and reframes disappointment and failure as normal developmental opportunities.

Using the “fail, try, succeed” cycle, she shows how rescuing can stunt growth, then offers coaching steps—validate feelings and ask how to support or guide with questions—through examples like not getting a desired role in a play, homework meltdowns, and forgetting water bottles.

00:00 Welcome and Goals

01:02 Parenting Styles Quiz

02:17 Why Kids Struggle

04:30 Fail Try Succeed Cycle

05:41 Stop Rescuing Start Coaching

07:26 Case Study School Play

10:08 Case Study Homework Meltdown

11:36 Case Study Forgotten Water Bottle

12:41 Final Takeaways and Wrap Up

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On-demand CME Course online at: Pediatric Mental Health CME Toolkit - Cracking the ADHD Code: Essentials for Pediatric Clinicians.

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Depression screening and suicide screening are not the same thing—and relying on the PHQ-9 alone can miss youth who are at risk for suicide.

In this episode, I break down a quick, practical approach to suicide screening and risk assessment in primary care —including what to do when a screening tool comes back positive.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• 🚨 Why the PHQ-9 isn’t enough — and how many at-risk youth can slip through the cracks when you rely on depression screening alone.
• 🔎 Who deserves extra attention — including youth with ADHD, anxiety, depression, substance use, trauma, self-harm, or a family history of suicide.
• 📝 The quick, free screening tool I recommend — the ASQ (Ask Suicide-Screening Questions), which can be used alongside your usual depression screener.
• 🧭 What to do when the suicide screen is positive — without automatically sending every child to the ER.
• 🚦 The 4-step framework for deciding: ER or outpatient?
  1. Ask about current suicidal thoughts
  2. Assess plan, intent, and previous attempts
  3. Check whether the child can be safe at home
  4. Decide whether they need emergency evaluation or outpatient management
• 🏠 The two home-safety questions you should always ask before sending a higher-risk child home.
• 💡 How to make suicide screening actually work in a busy pediatric practice without adding another impossible-to-manage task to your day.

The big takeaway:
Depression screening ≠ suicide screening. Adding a brief, validated suicide screening tool can help you identify kids who might otherwise be missed—and give you a structured way to decide what to do next.

Resources mentioned

• ASQ (Ask Suicide-Screening Questions) Toolkit, including the PHQ-9 + ASQ screening tool available at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/research-conducted-at-nimh/asq-toolkit-materials
• Brief Suicide Safety Assessment Worksheet
• https://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/research-conducted-at-nimh/asq-toolkit-materials/youth-asq-toolkit#outpatient

24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

En Español: 1-888-628-9454

24/7 Crisis Text Line: Text “HOME” to 741-741

References

Horowitz LM et al. Screening Pediatric Medical Patients for Suicide Risk: Is Depression Screening Enough? J Adolesc Health. 2021 Jun;68(6):1183-1188.

Kemper AR et al. Depression and Suicide-Risk Screening Results in Pediatric Primary Care. Pediatrics. 2021 Jul;148(1):e2021049999.

Kim Y, Krause TM, Lane SD. Trends and Seasonality of Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations for Suicidality Among Children and Adolescents in the US from 2016 to 2021. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Jul 3;6(7):e2324183.

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On-demand CME Course online at: Pediatric Mental Health CME Toolkit - Cracking the ADHD Code: Essentials for Pediatric Clinicians.

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Where are YOU on your pediatric mental health journey?

If you’ve ever felt nervous when a child’s mental health screen comes back positive, frustrated when straightforward ADHD treatment suddenly becomes complicated, or overwhelmed because you’ve become the “mental health person” in your practice—this episode is for you.

In this episode, Dr. Elise Fallucco introduces the 4 phases of the Pediatric Mental Health Champion Journey:

Phase 1: Running Scared →

Phase 2: Basic Treatment Frustration →

Phase 3: Mental Health Overload →

Phase 4: Champion Mode.

She walks through the signs and challenges of each phase and, most importantly, the practical steps you can take to move forward—from building confidence with ADHD evaluation and treatment, to managing anxiety and more complex comorbidities, to creating systems, boundaries, and workflows that prevent burnout.

The goal isn’t to become a child psychiatrist. It’s to become a confident, competent pediatric clinician who can recognize, evaluate, and treat the mental health problems you’re equipped to manage—and know where your boundaries are. Listen to discover which phase you’re in and your next step toward becoming a pediatric mental health champion.

00:00 Pediatric Champion Journey

01:34 Phase One Running Scared

04:25 Phase One Action Steps

07:13 Phase Two Frustration

08:46 Phase Two Level Up

12:20 Systems Templates Boundaries

16:19 Phase Four Champion Mode

17:18 Recap and Next Steps

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On-demand CME Course online at: Pediatric Mental Health CME Toolkit - Cracking the ADHD Code: Essentials for Pediatric Clinicians.

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Episode 85 of ADHD, Anxiety & More is for pediatric clinicians who want to know when to prescribe medication for children and teens with anxiety.

In this episode, you will learn about:

• Which treatment (therapy, medication, or combination of both) offers the highest response for child and teen anxiety
• Why it is important to treat anxiety to remission
• The 3 things to do when referring to CBT

She explains why remission matters, citing follow-up findings that remission is associated with better long-term outcomes including lower suicidal behavior and substance use problems.

She also advises clinicians to ensure therapy is true CBT, track symptoms over time with tools like the SCARED, and revisit treatment within 4–6 week intervals if improvement is not robust.

00:00 Anxiety Treatment Choices

03:01 CBT vs SSRI vs Both

03:35 Evidence From CAMS

04:26 Why Remission Matters

07:43 Option One CBT Done Right

12:20 Option Two SSRI When Therapy Is Hard

14:07 Option Three Combination Gold Standard

15:49 Take Home Points and Wrap Up

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On-demand CME Course online at: Pediatric Mental Health CME Toolkit - Cracking the ADHD Code: Essentials for Pediatric Clinicians.

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Anxiety is a normal human emotion. So, how do you know when it’s developmentally typical and when it has crossed the line into something that needs treatment?

In this episode, Dr. Fallucco walks through a practical approach pediatric clinicians can use to recognize clinically significant anxiety that requires treatment.

We talk about Screening, Taking a focused history of Anxiety, and determining whether the anxiety needs treatment.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Who to screen for anxiety—and when to keep anxiety on your radar during ADHD, depression, or unexplained physical/behavioral evaluations
• Why the SCARED-5 is a practical anxiety screening tool for pediatric primary care
• Simple questions you can ask after a positive screen to better understand what a child is worried about
• The four questions that can help you distinguish developmentally typical anxiety from clinically significant anxiety: Is it proportional? Is it developmentally expected? Is it causing distress? Is it impairing the child or family?
• How anxiety may look different in younger versus older children, including behavioral symptoms, physical complaints, irritability, and avoidance
• When to consider treatment—and why CBT is an important first-line intervention for many children with anxiety

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On-demand CME Course online at: Pediatric Mental Health CME Toolkit - Cracking the ADHD Code: Essentials for Pediatric Clinicians.

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Join us for the latest Mystery Case: A teen with ADHD + Epilepsy

Would you prescribe a stimulant?

How do you treat ADHD in people who have epilepsy?

In this episode, we unpack:
• The surprising relationship between ADHD and epilepsy
• Why ADHD is easy to miss in kids with epilepsy
• Where the concern about stimulants and seizures came from
• What newer research tells us about stimulant treatment in kids with epilepsy
• How I would approach treatment—and monitoring—in people with epilepsy

00:00 Welcome and Mystery Case

00:30 ADHD and Epilepsy Link

01:30 Bidirectional Risk Explained

02:58 Seizure History Details

04:00 Treatment Options Debate

06:03 Stimulants and Seizure Evidence

09:14 Best Answer and Monitoring Plan

10:28 Wrap Up and Thanks

Studies referenced in the episode:

Auvin S et al. Systematic review of the screening, diagnosis, and management of ADHD in children with epilepsy. Consensus paper of the Task Force on Comorbidities of the ILAE Pediatric Commission. Epilepsia. 2018

Brikell I et al. Medication treatment for ADHD and the risk of acute seizures in individuals with epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2019

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Stimulant and non-stimulant drug-therapy for people with ADHD and Epilepsy 2022.

Kwon CS et al. Psychiatric comorbidities in persons with epilepsy compared with persons without epilepsy. JAMA Neurology. 2025

Liu X et al. Stimulant do not increase the risk of seizure-related hospitalization in children with epilepsy. J Child Adol Psychopharm. 2018.

Wang S et al. Comorbidity of epilepsy and ADHD: a Systematic review and meta-analysis. J Neurology. 2023

Wiggs KK, Chang Z, Quinn PD, Hur K, Gibbons R, Dunn D, Brikell I, Larsson H, D'Onofrio BM. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medication and seizures. Neurology. 2018

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What ELSE helps ADHD symptoms (in addition to meds?) What does the evidence say about non-medication treatment options for ADHD? We talk about...

• behavioral therapy
• exercise - which is an under-prescribed intervention,
  • Think 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity 3 times weekly for 8–12 weeks
• What about Nutrition?
  • omega-3 fatty acids may help with emotional lability in ADHD
  • broad-spectrum micronutrients??

00:00 ADHD Treatmetn BEYOND MEDS Overview

02:16 Therapy Evidence Basics

03:47 Medication Hesitancy Case

04:53 Exercise As Treatment

06:34 How Exercise Works

08:14 Exercise Prescription Tips

08:59 Omega 3 For Mood

11:08 Micronutrients Caution

13:22 Recap And Next Steps

14:09 Wrap Up And Subscribe

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How can we support children and families who struggle with chronic abdominal pain? Dr. Fallucco shares an episode from The Pediatrician Next Door, an excellent podcast hosted by pediatrician Dr. Wendy Hunter. Dr. Hunter talks with Dr. Ali Navidi, a psychologist who specializes in disorders of gut-brain interaction.

• Dr. Navidi explains why some kids experience abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea in a way that makes sense to families
• Dr. Navidi talks about the role of psychological treatments—including clinical hypnosis—in helping kids retrain these brain-gut pathways.

For more helpful episodes for parents and families about

The Pediatrician Next Door with Dr. Wendy Hunter:

"I answer the questions you forgot or were too embarrassed to ask your doctor. I mix the science of medicine with the reality of parenting to give you satisfying answers to your parenting questions!"

Website: https://www.pediatriciannextdoorpodcast.com/

Dr. Ali Navidi, PsyD from GI Psychology

https://www.gipsychology.com/

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SOCIAL @psyched4peds

On-demand CME Course online at: Pediatric Mental Health CME Toolkit - Cracking the ADHD Code: Essentials for Pediatric Clinicians.