The Child Psychiatry Clinical Research Center is an assembly of scientists engaged in comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and interactive research into the etiology, prevention and treatment of serious psychopathology in childhood. Diagnostic categories under study are early infantile autism, childhood onset pervasive disorder and attention deficit disorder (ADD). Epidemiological, genetic, neuropharmacological electrophysiological, neurobehavioral, linguistic, cognitive, and sociobehavioral studies are carried out in the Center. The Center also serves as an interdisciplinary research trainng resource for MD's and Phd's, and as a community resource for information and consultation for the above disorders. Research projects in 1984 include: 1. A multi-laboratory study of the neurobehavioral and electrophysiological correlates of information processing deficits in schizophrenic, schizotypal and ADD subjects. 2. A multilaboratory study of the longitudinal course of psychosis in children, with a particular focus on schizophrenia, and upon autistic children who later become schizophrenic. These studies include investigation of the incidence of mental illness in the families of the children, and of the effect of family social factors as predictors of outcome. 3. A study of the use of structured interviews for diagnosis of serious psychopathology in pre-school and school age children. 4. A group study of early language and cognitive development in children with infantile autism and childhood onset pervasive development disorder. 5. Numerous single laboratory studies including: study of hemispheric specialization for semantic memory; study of the prosodic and information processing capacities of autistic and schizophrenic children; development of a 'thought disorder index' for use with children; study of genetic and immuno-hematological factors in infantile autism; and study of the 'startle response' as a measure of brain-stem processing in autistic children. Among new projects under development at present is a multi-laboratory study of a new system of classification of serious psychopathology in children. It is intended that this project will become a particular focus of research during the renewal period.
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