About Us

The Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies at Parsons has conducted research in the field of developmental disabilities for over 40 years and has acquired an international reputation for its pioneering work with persons with disabilities.

The Life Span Institute at Parsons is committed to optimizing the quality of life for individuals with disabilities and their families through research, training, technical assistance and public services.

Faculty and staff at the Life Span Institute at Parsons focus their efforts on research training and service programs that address the following issues and technologies:

• Procedures for treating challenging and dangerous behaviors in persons with mental retardation.
• Assistive technology to enhance the ability of individuals to live more independently.
• Finding causes and treatments for disruptive behavior disorders in school-aged children.
• Family supports to allow families and friends to support individuals with disabilities in their own homes.
• Effective and cost-efficient procedures to deliver early prevention and intervention services to Kansas families of infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
• Electronic media and information for developing and disseminating educational information for researchers and consumers.

Life Span Institute at Parsons Facts:

• University researchers at Parsons developed and disseminated the first procedures for reliably testing both hearing and vision of persons with mental retardation, whose hearing and vision impairments were typically neither diagnosed nor treated before these developments.
• University of Kansas programs at Parsons employ 40 research faculty and staff who generate over $5 million in grants annually.
• University of Kansas programs at Parsons have provided direct services, training, or technical assistance to more than 75,000 people in the past five years in over 450 communities in all 105 counties in Kansas.
• University of Kansas programs at Parsons have pioneered in the field of testing and treatment for disorders of speech, language, and communications.