Children's National, Neuropsychology at Montgomery County

In a typical allergic reaction, your child’s body encounters an allergen (like pollen, dander, or pet hair) and sees it as a threat. Trying to protect itself, the immune system sends out a special protein called IgE antibodies to the mast cells in your child’s body. When your child comes in contact with the allergen again, those cells release chemicals (like histamines or eosinophils). The chemicals the antibodies release cause inflammation. That’s why your child’s nose gets stuffy and runny, or their skin breaks out in a rash when they come in contact with an allergen.

There are several types of allergies that children can have. Your child may experience one or more of these. While there are some rare ones out there, these are the most common types:

• Allergic Rhinitis: This is when your child has allergies to things like pollen, dust, or pet dander in the air.
• Food Allergies: Some children are allergic to certain foods like peanuts, milk, eggs, or fish. 
• Drug Allergies: Your child may be allergic to certain medicines. If they take a medicine they’re allergic to, they might get a rash, hives, or feel sick. 
• Insect Sting Allergies: If your child gets stung by a bee, wasp, or fire ant, they might have an allergic reaction. 
• Contact Allergies: Some people have a reaction when their skin touches certain things, like certain metals, latex, or plants (such as poison ivy). 
• Allergic Asthma: This is a specific subtype of asthma where asthma symptoms are triggered by things the person is allergic to, like pollen or pet dander. 

For more information on common allergies in children, check out our guide.

When you visit a neurologist, they’ll assess your child’s needs, run some tests (think imaging or EEG), and diagnose. From there, they’ll create a customized treatment plan. Medication, lifestyle tweaks, or maybe even a referral to another specialist could be on the table.

There unfortunately isn’t one test for all neurodevelopmental conditions. Most likely you will go into a visit to test one or two medical conditions. If you are looking for a comprehensive autism evaluation, developmental pediatricians, psychologists, or neuropsychologists are the preferred specialists who can diagnose autism.

No, neurologists focus mainly on non-surgical interventions. If your child needs surgery, neurologists might point you in the direction of a pediatric neurosurgeon.

A Pediatric Gastroenterologist manages digestive health in children. This field covers the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract including the hepatobiliary-pancreatic systems (think absorbing nutrients from our food, eliminating waste, etc.) and nutritional disorders (think obesity, malnutrition, etc.).