CHILDHOOD MENTAL HEALTH

The Center for Children and Families (CCF) transforms how child and adolescent mental health disorders are treated through research and state-of-the-art clinical services. More than 3,000 families are helped each year, and researchers collaborate with local school systems to improve classroom outcomes for children.

News about major climate events, like hurricanes, on TV and social media can trigger post-traumatic stress in kids even thousands of miles away from where a disaster occurred, according to CCF research. Brain scans revealed simply watching news coverage can raise a child’s anxiety and trigger PTS responses in the brain.

Most physicians, parents and teachers have believed for decades stimulant medications help children with ADHD learn. However, the first study of its kind led by CCF Director William E. Pelham, Jr., found medication has no detectable impact on how much children with ADHD learn in the classroom

CCF researcher Daniel Bagner showed a telehealth-version of therapy for children with developmental delay led to fewer behavior problems, as well as improvements in the children’s ability to follow their caregivers’ directions and instructions — important for entrance into kindergarten.