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Lifeline Online Life Span Newsletter
The Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies (LSI) was created in 1990 out of the 67-year-old Kansas Bureau of Child Research. Today it is one of the largest and most highly regarded human development and disabilities research centers in the country. The LSI brings together scientists of diverse disciplines including gerontololgy, psychology, psychiatry, speech pathology, sociology, education, biology, pharmacology, physiology and medicine to study human development from its genetic origins through the final stages of life. The LSI supports basic and applied research, treatment and assessment clinics, service coordination and delivery, consultation, and training—notably, training of the next generation of scientists. The Life Span Institute’s 13 centers and Peruvian affiliate have more than 150 programs and projects active at any one time in Kansas as well as other states and Peru. Many projects directly serve individuals, families, and communities and are located in underserved Kansas City neighborhoods and rural Kansas counties.
Mission
The mission of the Life Span Institute is to find research-based solutions for the challenges of human and community development, disabilities and aging.
Research
The LSI fosters a highly collaborative, enterprising environment for scientists, students and practitioners to conduct research on human and community development, disabilities, and aging.
Training
Besides offering graduate and post-graduate training, the LSI trains direct care providers, professionals, families, and individuals on issues ranging from classroom instruction and behavior management to health promotion and self-advocacy.
Direct services, consultation and technical assistance
LSI investigators provide assessment and treatment services to individuals and families and develop strategies for school systems, longterm care residences and other community groups and agencies.
Leadership
As leaders in the fields of human development, disabilities, and aging, LSI investigators participate in shaping public policy decisions and research priorities through community partnerships, public and private leadership forums and interdisciplinary research and publication.
Location
The LSI central office is in the Robert Dole Human Development Center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Components of the LSI in Lawrence are at the John T. Stewart Children’s Center and Malott Hall; in Kansas City at the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Kansas GE Sciences Innovation Center and the Center for Child Health and Development; in Kansas City at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project; and at the Life Span Institute in Parsons, Kansas.
Several projects are collaborators with universities and organizations from across the state, region and nation. LSI affiliate Centro Ann Sullivan del Perú is located in Limon Perú.
John Colombo
Director
John Colombo became director of the Life Span Institute on September 29, 2008. Prior to becoming director of Life Span, Colombo served as associate director for cognitive neuroscience at LSI, a position he continues to hold. He also is a professor of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Under Colombo’s leadership, Life Span continues to expand its research and training activities in human development and developmental disabilities, with heightened attention to the treatment of autism through a new multidisciplinary bi-campus Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training
