The schizophrenic child characteristically presents a remarkable array of symptoms. Indeed, the breadth of symptomatology and the extreme degree of divergence from normality in virtually all regulative and coordinative activities are almost diagnostic signs in themselves. Widespread disturbances seemingly occur at all levels of integration and affect all psychic functions. A proper delineation of the disorder, therefore, will emerge eventually from investigation of all dimensions of behavior.
Receptor processes, however, are of special interest. Through these processes, the child attains an understanding of his internal and external worlds. They also form the foundation for responding to these worlds. For some time, it has appeared that one of the major trends contributing to the globally bizarre picture of the childhood schizophrenic is a deviant pattern of receptor activity. In the past two and one-half years at Ittleson Center, therefore, a systematic and focused clinical interest has been in the receptor behavior