Welcome to the CHARGE Syndrome Lab

Children with CHARGE syndrome frequently engage in behavior that is challenging to those who work or live with them. The behavior is often described as obsessive compulsive, autistic-like, and stereotypical. The function of the lab is to investigate the genetic, biological, environmental and individual factors that may be implicated in the etiology of these behaviors, with the aim of better describing the behavior and developing appropriate strategies for intervention and prevention.

Projects currently under various stages of development include the following: adolescent development in CHARGE, sleep in CHARGE, stress in CHARGE, the experience of siblings of children with CHARGE, and case studies in CHARGE. Projects under consideration include research on pain, sense of well-being, obsessive-compulsive behavior, anesthesiology and its effects, and parenting.

We welcome undergraduate and (potential) graduate students with an interest in our work to apply to assist in the lab.

Tracy Olson, Tim Hartshorne and Kasee Stratton

NEWS

Tim Hartshorne is traveling to Vilnius, Lithuania, in July to present at paper “The Challenge of Parenting Children with Severe Disabilities” at the International Congress of Individual Psychology.  The Congress meets every three years to bring together Adlerians from all over the world.

Hartshorne, T. S., Heussler, H. S., Dailor, A. N., Williams, G. L., Papadopoulos, D., & Brandt, K. K. Sleep Disturbances in CHARGE Syndrome:  Types and Relationships with Behaviour and Caregiver Well-Being, has been accepted for publication in  Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology.  Nichole Dailor is a doctoral student and Kim Brandt a specialist student in school psychology at CMU.

Tim Hartshorne and Kasee Stratton have been invited as presenters at the Australasian CHARGE Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand, in October.