Facebook Live: Transitions to Adulthood

Because the specialized circuits involved in vocal communication rely on the same basal ganglia circuitry that is affected in TS, this work allows the study of sensorimotor integration and processing within a natural behavior. Dr. Schmidt is also director of the Biological Basis of Behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Having an adult daughter with TS, Dr. Schmidt has been heavily involved in TS outreach. He founded Waffles for Tourette, which raises awareness of TS at local Farmers Markets, and runs a workshop twice a year in collaboration with the Integrative Health Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This workshop was funded by a TAA/CDC seed grant and consists of a one-day workshop for parents and teens blending education and advocacy with mindfulness and theater improvisation techniques to address TS.

Dr. Rostain received a B.A. from Yale University in 1972, graduating Cum Laude in Philosophy and Psychology. He then went on to receive a Masters in Science Education from Southern Connecticut State College in 1974. He received his MD in 1980 from New York University School of Medicine and a Masters in Sociology in 1985 from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar from 1983-85 at the University of Pennsylvania after which he completed residency in adult Psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. He was in charge of psychiatric services at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from 1988-91 and was a founder of the region’s first program for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in 1988.

Dr. Rostain’s clinical focus is “lifespan developmental neuropsychiatry” which includes patients of all ages with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome and High Functioning Autism, Tourette Syndrome, Learning Disabilities (verbal and nonverbal) and related social learning disorders. He treats patients at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University Of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Rostain is the Director of the Adult Development Disorders Unit at the University of Pennsylvania which includes the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program and the Adult Social Learning Disorders Program. He is also Co-Director of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Program.

Dr. Rostain’s research interests have focused on improving clinical outcomes for patients with neuropsychiatric disorders of all ages, and in creating effective service systems for these patients and their families. He recently completed a study of combined medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for adults with ADHD. He is currently involved in studies of differential therapeutic efficacy of medication and CBT, of neuropsychological functioning in ADHD patients (using behavioral measures and neuroimaging techniques), of developmental processes in young adults with ADHD, of predictors of treatment response, and of co-morbid conditions such as anxiety and substance abuse. He is also conducting research on clinical assessment and pharmacologic treatment of patients with Asperger’s Syndrome, High Functioning Autism and other Social Learning Disorders.