BBTAD Program Description
Imagine attempting to understand a complex phenomenon by observing only its atypical constellation; for example, imagine attempting to understand normal weather patterns by studying only tornadoes. In contrast, imagine attempting to understand a complex phenomenon by observing only its modal constellation; for example, imagine attempting to understand global warming by observing only the moderate temperature variations of the past millennium and ignoring the more dramatic fluctuations of the last Ice Age. Neither approach would lead to a rich or integrated understanding of the phenomenon, but unfortunately, that is how we most often train developmental specialists at the doctoral level. We train developmental psychologists by focusing on typical development, and we train pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and communication disorders researchers by focusing on atypical development.
The goal of the Biological and Behavioral Approaches to Typical and Atypical Development (BBTAD) Postdoctoral Training Program is to develop a cadre of scientists with the requisite skills and knowledge to develop innovative research programs that integrate the study of typical and atypical development. Two Ph.D. postdoctoral fellows and two M.D. postdoctoral fellows are trained each year, in three-year traineeship cycles, using an innovative program that combines formal coursework and intensive research experiences.
The BBTAD Postdoctoral Training Program comprises two themes of conceptualization and implementation: the integration of the study of the typical with the study of the atypical, and the integration of approaches that are primarily biological with those that are primarily behavioral. Greater integration between biological and behavioral methods of inquiry is a mantra of the NIH and is a fundamental principle of cognitive and systems neuroscience - as is the value achieved by studying organisms in typical and atypical presentations. However, our understanding of biology-behavior links is incomplete, even rudimentary in many content areas, and the need to study atypical in the context of typical is not universally appreciated.
We recognize that the value of the BBTAD research training themes is relatively widely acknowledged, but acting on that acknowledgement in daily research training is the real challenge. The purpose of the BBTAD Postdoctoral Training Program is to meet that challenge.
The research training provided by the BBTAD Postdoctoral Training Program
bridges two divides: behavioral vs. biological approaches to typical vs.
atypical development. Consider a 2 x 2 matrix, with the cells filled by
pair-wise combinations (i.e., behavioral approaches to typical development;
biological approaches to typical development; behavioral approaches to atypical
development; biological approaches to atypical development). A trainee with
Ph.D. training in Developmental Psychology usually has initial expertise
in one cell of the matrix (i.e., the behavioral study of typical development),
while a trainee with Ph.D. training in Communicative Disorders or M.D. training
in Pediatrics usually has initial expertise in another cell of the matrix
(i.e., the behavioral study of atypical development). The BBTAD Postdoctoral
Training Program provides concentrated research training in at least one
new cell and a thorough scientific appreciation of all four cells and their
synergistic properties.
