Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute

A whole new perspective on the evaluation & treatment of children with special developmental needs.

Learn about our clinical care

Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute Research

At ADMI, we want to learn more about your child’s special developmental needs. ADMI's innovative approach to patient care includes a robust research team investigating the causes of and treatment approaches to neurodevelopmental disorders.

The Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute (ADMI) integrates diagnosis of children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders with evidence-based interventions, research and training. In addition to its team of physicians, psychologists, genetic counselors, speech language pathologists, behavioral analysts and other staff, ADMI includes experienced researchers who aim to advance the understanding of causes and treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders.

Together, we can work toward improved outcomes for children with special developmental needs. As partners in your child’s developmental healthcare, we will be able to take the first steps in making improved care a reality.

Do you have questions about your child’s development?

Geisinger is a health system that fosters learning. At Geisinger’s Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute (ADMI), we want to learn more about your child’s developmental needs. For many families affected by neurodevelopmental disorders, current treatments are not optimal. We believe that fully understanding these disorders it the key to developing new and more effective treatments. ADMI’s innovative approach to comprehensive assessment, intervention, and family support is integrated with a robust research team investigating the underlying causes of neurodevelopmental disorders as well as behavioral and medical treatment approaches.

Our team isn’t complete without our families.

We have a team of specialists in many different fields ready to explore the questions we all still have about your child’s developmental needs, but we need input from the most valuable specialists of all – our families. Please consider joining forces with the ADMI team. At ADMI we understand the importance of establishing new facts and reaching new conclusions in order to make progress. We cannot do this without your help. We need to work together to generate the knowledge today that will lead to the treatments of tomorrow.

Why would I want to participate in a study?

We believe that each family has something valuable to contribute; our goal is 100% participating by our families. Families choose to participate in studies for many different reasons, including a desire to learn more about the developmental needs of your child, and in some cases, the chance to try new treatments or therapies. People gain satisfaction from knowing they have made a significant contribution to advancing scientific knowledge, even if there is no immediate benefit for their families.

The ADMI team wants to learn more about:

Typical and atypical child development
Human behavior
Genetics of autism and neurodevelopmental conditions
Advancing technology for diagnosing and treating disease
Developing the best education programs for our patients, families, educators and community

What types of studies are available at ADMI?

At ADMI, we are interested in finding out more about brain development. There are many factors that influence brain development, including age, individual experiences, and our genetic makeup. For this reason, every individual in a family can participate in our research! When the entire family participates in research, scientists and clinicians can better understand which parts of a disorder are related to genetic background and which parts are related to a stage of development.

How to get started:

Talk with your clinical care team to determine which studies are most appropriate for you and your child and discuss exactly what is involved.
Take the opportunity to ask your clinical care team any questions you might have.
Enroll in a study and help us investigate the underlying causes of neurodevelopmental conditions as well as treatment approaches.

You and your child can participate in as many studies as you like and ask questions at any time. If you decide you no longer want to participate, you can stop at any time—this will not affect your child’s care at ADMI.