More information Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies Search KU News releases Subscribe now to receive KU News by email

Contact: Karen Henry, The Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies (785) 864-0756

KU mental retardation research center receives $7 million grant to continue work

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas' Kansas Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Center has received a five-year $7 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to continue its internationally recognized research into the causes and treatment of mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.

Known as a core grant, the money allows KU to provide administrative, scientific and technical infrastructure to support the work of research scientists at the KU Medical Center, KU's Lawrence campus, and KU research sites in Parsons and Kansas City, Kan.

The grants are highly competitive. They can be renewed every five years based on a rigorous review by the NICHD. The KU center, which has been funded continuously for 35 years, is one of only 13 national mental retardation research centers designated and funded by the federal agency.

The NICHD reviewers noted the center's longevity and innovativeness: "Although a long-standing center with rich tradition, [it] has continued to evolve scientifically, and has continued to renew itself both in terms of its research foci and core services."

"Our successful renewal effort reflects the overall strength and relevance of our parent program as well as the agency's assessment that we are poised to make even greater contributions in the future," said Steve Warren, director of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies at KU.

The center currently provides core support services to 72 research projects that address a wide range of issues relevant to the causes and treatment of mental retardation.

Questions being addressed include:
 • Can developmental delay due to neglect and lack of stimulation be reversed if a child's environment becomes supportive and stimulating?
 • Can techniques such as brain imaging help develop more precise strategies to improve learning and development?
 • Do developmental disorders such as autism have unique "signatures" in terms of brain electrical signals and can these signals be used for very early detection?

Center research has led to real-world applications such as promising drug treatments for severe self-injurious behavior and the peer-to-peer and parent-to-parent programs that are widely used to enable learning and manage problem behavior in children.

Center scientists conduct research and train graduate and post-graduate students in a variety of settings including underserved urban and rural Kansas communities. Training programs include postdoctoral fellowships in mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

The Kansas Center for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities is the largest and oldest affiliated center of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies.

Research funding at KU reached $193 million in total research and training expenditures in the last fiscal year.