Information for families

Learning that your child has an Autism Spectrum Disorder or another developmental disability can be confusing and challenging.  Among their many questions, parents often want to know what caused the disorder and how best to treat it. Our center strives to find evidence-based answers to those questions on a population-based scale, because in many instances, the exact causes of a disorder are still unknown.   

As an academic research center, we do not offer diagnosis or clinical services. Families looking for those services are better served by contacting the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.  However, true to the Wendy Klag Center's roots, we understand that families and their pressing concerns are at the heart of our mission: to find answers about the origins, detection, measurement and prevention of conditions that affect behavioral, socioemotional and/or cognitive development, as well as evaluation of services and policies that support optimal development of affected children and their families. 

Although our research deals with complex issues, we want to communicate clearly with families and to guide them to quality sources of information. 

And finally, some research studies at the Wendy Klag Center invite the participation of families, as we strive to find the causes and risk factors for autism and related disorders. We invite you to explore our studies and contact us if you have questions or want more information.