Training-Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks funding for the Applied Developmental Psychology Training program (ADPT) at the University of Miami. This program focuses on the development of knowledge concerning the psychosocial risk factors associated with developmental disabilities, especially those risk factors endemic to children raised in poverty. While the ADPT provides opportunities for concentrated studies in major syndromes, such as autism, the main emphasis is on understanding lesser degrees of retardation or disability (e.g., learning disabilities, mild MR, language delay) that account for a large and growing proportion of people with significant developmental difficulties. Many of the ADPT research activities occur in hospitals, schools and private agencies within the community. These graduate training experiences equip students to function effectively in a wide variety of multi-ethnic and multicultural settings that are increasingly encountered in metropolitan areas of our country. The ADPT faculty is multidisciplinary, with members from Psychology, Pediatrics and Education. The focus of the training ranges from the use of epidemiological methodology to quantify risk and risk reduction to the development of new techniques for early identification of children with developmental disabilities and the development of new intervention approaches toward ameliorating the effects of multiple risk factors, biological and social insults to development, and the assessment of the effectiveness of early interventions for infants and children with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, and those at high risk for these developmental problems. The facilities available to ADPT are diverse and include the Mailman Center for Child Development, the Linda Ray Children's Center a community based facility dedicated to research and training with infants and toddlers who are at risk for DD through substance exposure and the allied effects of abuse and neglect, and the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, which provides opportunities for research and training on autism Asperger's syndrome, and other related disabilities.