Factors Affecting the Development and Evaluation of Handicapped Children

Abstract

Part III of this volume presents two major intervention strategies for children with deviant development. Dr. Campbell has provided a lucid and organized summary of the current status of a range of biological agents that have been used in the treatment of psychotic children. The varied responses of patients with the same diagnosis tend to underscore the opinions that state that the types of childhood psychoses have yet to be clearly identified. The degree of responsiveness to specific medications can, in some degree, supply clues to biochemical imbalances that exist in such children. However, we are still unable to predict with certainty how such psychotic children will respond to a given pharmacological agent. Of necessity, drug-therapy research continues to be largely empirical, both in methodology and in our understanding of the effects of such drugs.