State-of-the-Art Resource for Orange County Parents of Preschoolers

For more than 20 years, specialists at UCI have participated in several key national studies looking at the diagnosis and treatment Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These include the six-site Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA study), the largest randomized clinical trial ever conducted to evaluate a childhood psychiatric disorder (with their findings published in many journals including the J. Am. Acad Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2001, 40(2): 168-179); and a pioneering study investigating the molecular genetics of ADHD with colleagues at the University of Toronto.

Traditionally, children with learning or attention problems had to wait until they reached school age to be diagnosed and treated for their condition. Yet recent research has shown that early identification and intervention of problems – even in the preschool years – benefits children later in life. This research, in part gathered from a multi-site study called the Preschool ADHD Treatment Study (PATS), continues to yield new findings. UCI and CHOC are now taking these research results and translating them into clinical service through the CUIDAR for Attention and Learning Program.

Our unique, yet empirically validated approach, involves intervening early with parents to aid them in the identification and management of their preschooler’s behavior problems.