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Child Study Center

The Yale Child Study Center is an internationally recognized center of innovation in child and family mental health, dedicated to promoting healthy development and psychological well-being across the lifespan.

We care for children and adolescents whose families are concerned about their child’s development and behavior. Common concerns include developmental delays, behaviors or worries that interfere with their child’s life, isolation and fear of school, and defiant and difficult behavior.

Our first job is to listen. As we begin to understand the family and child, we will guide our patients through the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment process. We provide office and home-based interventions as well as telehealth services, and we work with as many people involved in your child’s growth as possible, including parents, teachers and pediatricians.

Above all, we care about your child’s development and your family’s well-being. We will use every means available—and maybe even invent some new ones—to help the child and their family.

Our Approach

We are committed to working with every family to help them understand and address their child’s and family’s needs. Our interdisciplinary teams use up-to-date science to evaluate and then work with the family to develop a comprehensive treatment recommendations.

Our treatment may include (one-on-one or group) therapy, family therapy, and parent-centered approaches and collaboration with schools. When appropriate, our providers will discuss the use of medication, providing detailed information so parents can make an informed decision. Many of our patients improve and thrive without medication, and for others it is a valuable part of their treatment.

Clinical Research

At the Yale Child Study Center, we are pioneering many treatments including approaches that help parents improve disruptive anger and aggression in children with autism and other developmental disorders. We are also developing new ways to help children overcome anxieties that may limit their daily lives, and treatment approaches designed to lessen the impact of an overwhelming event on the child and family. Finally, we work directly with parents around their own concerns about their roles as parents.