studying childhood-onset behavioral, psychiatric, and developmental disorders

Conditions: Neurological Disorder; Autism; Sleep

Summary: background: - many psychiatric, behavioral, and developmental disorders are genetic. this means that they tend to run in families. some begin in childhood, while others do not appear until adulthood. researchers want to look at people of all ages who have these disorders that started in childhood. they will also look at relatives of people with these disorders. this information will allow doctors to learn more about childhood behavioral problems and how they are inherited. it may also help doctors treat those disorders. objectives: - to study the onset and treatment of childhood behavioral, psychiatric, and developmental disorders. eligibility: * individuals of any age who have a psychiatric, autism spectrum, or developmental disorder, or other behavioral problems. * family members of individuals with the above disorders. this group may include parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles, cousins, and children. design: * participants will be screened with a medical history and physical exam. they will have a psychiatric history with tests of thinking, judgment, and behavior. blood and urine samples will be collected. brain imaging scans will be performed to look at brain function. they may have a spinal tap to collect cerebrospinal fluid. * relatives will have a medical history and physical exam. they will also have a psychiatric history with tests of thinking, judgment, and behavior. blood and urine samples will be collected. brain imaging scans will be performed to look at brain function. * a relative s exams may reveal a behavioral or other disorder. if so, he or she may re-enroll on the study as a person with the disorder.

this is a diagnostic protocol designed to provide opportunities for identifying new clinical syndromes and permitting longitudinal assessments of a variety of childhood behavioral, psychiatric and developmental disorders. disorders of particular interest are: autism, disorders of social cognition and other neurodevelopmental disorders; childhood psychiatric disorders and particularly those with acute symptom onset; and unique clinical presentations of pediatric behavioral syndromes, such as those associated with genetic disorders or those with a unique family history. objectives: the primary objective of this protocol is to evaluate a variety of behavioral, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental conditions. the protocol will allow ocd investigators to gain additional knowledge about the course of various childhood behavioral syndromes. the information obtained is expected to generate questions to be answered and hypotheses to be tested in future protocols. study population: the number of participants to be enrolled will be set up to 1,000 probands (children, adolescents and adults). design: this is a natural history protocol. the cross-sectional portion of this study may include in-depth medical, sleep and neurodevelopmental assessments to evaluate the relationship of biological abnormalities with neuropsychiatric symptomatology. standard therapeutic interventions may be utilized to evaluate their effects in well-characterized participants with unique clinical presentations. participants also may be asked to return to nih for periodic follow-up assessments, in order to facilitate the longitudinal assessment of natural and treated courses of illness as a means of better understanding their progression and pathophysiology. outcome measures: no formal outcomes will be measured; however, the clinical assessments of enrolled participants may be used to evaluate correlates of clinical symptomatology and response to standard therapeutic interventions.

Eligibility criteria:
* inclusion criteria: participants will be eligible if they: 1. are aged birth to 99 years 2. have a diagnosed or undiagnosed neuropsychiatric disorder, neurodevelopmental disability or abnormal behaviors. 3. have the ability to understand and sign an informed consent on behalf of themselves or their minor children, or have a legal guardian (or designated dpa). 4. are under the care of a primary physician. exclusion criteria: participants will not be eligible if they: * are unwilling or unable to be evaluated and followed as clinically indicated. examples might include children with severe behavioral problems who refuse physical examination. * the participant does not have a primary healthcare provider.

Keywords: natural history study mental illness autism developmental delay genetic disorder natural history