Dean L. And Rosemarie Buntrock Give Rush NeuroBehavioral Center $2 Million To Serve The Needs Of Socially Impaired Children

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Also Included In: Autism;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 22 Oct 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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Dean L. and Rosemarie Buntrock recently gave nearly $2 million to the Rush NeuroBehavioral Center (RNBC) in support of its pioneering research and treatments in the emerging area of children social-emotional learning disorders. The gift from the longtime friends of Rush University Medical Center will help the center launch a new program, the Social-Emotional Learning Initiative, to benefit children with social-emotional learning disorders.

"We are pleased to support the Social-Emotional Learning Initiative, as well as the campaign for Rush University Medical Center," Dean Buntrock said. "We hope that our gift will provide Rush with the necessary resources to support educational health for Chicago's children with social-emotional learning disorders and to equip their parents and teachers with interventional strategies."

Children with social-emotional learning disorders--including autism spectrum disorders such as autism and Asperger's Syndrome as well as other nonverbal learning disorders--struggle with an inability to understand and act on social and emotional information. These neurologically based disorders interfere with children's ability to make and sustain friendships, engage in team-based learning and problem solve, among other important life skills that develop in a classroom setting.

"Children who can't make friends, garner acceptance from peers or navigate daily social exchanges often are misunderstood and stigmatized. Many young people who fail socially have social-emotional learning problems despite normal intellectual potential," says Meryl Lipton, MD, PhD, the center's executive director. "At RNBC, we have combined a focus on these children with social neuroscience, special education, neurology and neuropsychology to develop a way of better understanding this population.

The overall aim of the three-year program is to enhance affected children's sociability through two primary goals. The first is to develop an assessment tool in order to understand individual children's social-emotional learning strengths and weaknesses and how they contribute to social impairment and the second is to create interventions that demonstrably enhance children's capacity to engage in successful relationships.

"Then, systematic evaluation of the assessment and treatment initiatives will help us understand what works and what doesn't," Lipton says. "With that information, we will improve on successive generations of strategies."

The Rondout School in Lake Forest, Illinois is partnering with RNBC to develop social-emotional learning assessment tools. In the second phase of the project, Chicago's Ogden Elementary School will serve as a pilot site for the development of a social-emotional learning curriculum.

The Buntrocks' gift to the Rush NeuroBehavioral Center follows a $5 million gift the couple made to Rush University Medical Center's capital campaign in 2006. That gift supported Rush University Medical Center's Cancer Infusion Center, College of Nursing student scholarships, research and facilities. Dean Buntrock is the co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Waste Management, Inc., a leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. He and his wife Rosemarie live in Hinsdale, Illinois.

Background on the Rush Neurobehavioral Center (RNBC)

A section in Rush University Medical Center's Department of Pediatrics, RNBC opened at Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie, IL, in January 1997. The center provides comprehensive clinical care to children with a variety of learning and behavioral disorders. It is also committed to increasing the knowledge and awareness of neurobehavioral disorders through community outreach and education. In addition, the center trains young health care professionals and conducts ongoing research into the nature, assessment and treatment of social-emotional learning disorders. RNBC's outreach programs include educational partnerships with Chicago Public Schools and with the Chicago Public Library. The Center also offers a variety of educational activities for parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals, and its Resource Center provides critical information to families and professionals who wish to learn about neurobehavioral disorders.

Background on Rush's Fund Raising Campaign

The campaign supports Rush's plans for the most comprehensive construction and facilities renovation program in its history. Over the next seven years, Rush will build a new inpatient facility, an ambulatory care building devoted to orthopedics, and a new centralized power plant. Rush also will renovate several buildings, build and improve parking, and eventually remove some of the oldest structures on campus. More than $200 million has been pledged or given to Rush University Medical Center since the silent phase of the fund-raising campaign began in January 2004. The seven year campaign, "It's How the Future of Medicine Should Be," has a goal of $300 million.

http://www.rush.edu

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