Developmental learning, communication, and motor problems affect children throughout development, influencing their lives and personalities. These disorders have long-term implications in a child's emotional and regulatory development and affect their move into adulthood. Some of these disorders, when detected and treated early, can be remediated successfully. Others are chronic, and compensatory skills must be taught. All children should be screened and treated early to prevent long-term sequelae. Many children referred for psychiatric assessment have language impairments, processing deficits, or problem with cognition that for some of them remains unsuspected unless the clinician is thinking about cognition as well as psychiatric symptoms.