The McGill Youth Study Team (MYST)聽is interested in promoting school success for all children and adolescents. We are interested in kids who are successful in school as well as those who are at risk for learning or academic difficulties.

In one aspect of our research, we focus on kids who have cognitive and/or attention difficulties that are linked to specific conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, or other syndromes. In another aspect of our research, we study predictors of academic success and social/emotional well-being in First Nations youth.

We believe that studying children who function well in the regular school setting is helpful for understanding kids who are having difficulty and vice versa. Accordingly, our research is characterized by the application of developmental theory, methodology, and interpretation to the study of a wide range of children and adolescents with different strengths and weaknesses.

MYST's Four Principles

1. Children's thinking and processing changes and matures in some systematic way over time.
2. Some types of thinking processes are universal and others are unique to specific groups.
3. Understanding the way typically developing children think informs us about the manner children with developmental disabilities process information.
4. The way that children with developmental disabilities think and attend to the world teaches us about the parameters of thinking.

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