The Clinic for Special Children (CSC) is a primary

pediatric Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

care and

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

research clinic located in

Strasburg, Pennsylvania Strasburg is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It developed as a linear village stretching about along the Great Conestoga Road, later known as the Strasburg Road.Susan M. Zacher, NRHP Nomination Form Strasburg/ref> The population w ...

. The facility specializes in genetic problems of the

plain sects Plain people are Christian groups characterized by separation from the world and by simple living, including plain dressing in modest clothing (including the headcovering for women). Many Plain people have an Anabaptist background. These denomi ...

, such as the

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...

and

Old Order Mennonites Old Order Mennonites ( Pennsylvania German: ) form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, who still ...

. It was founded in 1989. The most common genetic disorders treated by the Clinic are

glutaric acidemia type I Glutaric acidemia type 1 (GA1) is an inherited disorder in which the body is unable to completely break down the amino acids lysine, hydroxylysine and tryptophan. Excessive levels of their intermediate breakdown products (glutaric acid, glutaryl-C ...

(GA1), which is common in the Amish population and

maple syrup urine disease Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder affecting branched-chain amino acids. It is one type of organic acidemia. The condition gets its name from the distinctive sweet odor of affected infants' urine and ear ...

(MSUD), which has a high prevalence in the Old Order Mennonites.

Establishment

The Clinic for Special Children was founded by the Plain community with Dr. D. Holmes Morton and his wife, Caroline in 1989. The clinic building was raised by the Plain community and completed in 1990 while an addition was added in 2000. In addition to patient care facilities, the Clinic also houses its own laboratories, providing rapid

biochemical Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology an ...

and

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

genetic testing. The Clinic sees over 1,100 active patients and performs about 4,000 biochemical and genetic tests each year.

References

External links

Official site

Genomics in Amish Country

Amish in Pennsylvania {{med-org-stub