Examined thought disorder and communication patterns in children with
             schizophrenia spectrum disorders (schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorders) and their parents and in a comparison group of children with major depressive disorders and their parents. Children with schizophrenia spectrum disorders exhibited significantly more disturbed attention and thought disorder than did depressed children during a family interaction task. Although parents of children with schizophrenia spectrum disorders showed higher rates of communication deviance (CD) on the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)-CD index than parents of depressed children, the two groups of parents were similar in the communication patterns and levels of thought disorder they exhibited during the interaction task. These findings underscore the salience of thought disorder, communication disturbance, and attention problems in schizophrenic and schizotypal children.
             Despite earlier controversies regarding the diagnosis of schizophrenia in childhood, cumulative evidence indicates that, although childhood-onset schizophrenia is rare, schizophrenia diagnosed using the same criteria applied to adults does occur in children. The question of the similarities and/or continuities between child- and adult-onset schizophrenia, however, remains to be resolved.
             Early description of thought disorder as a fundamental symptom in schizophrenia, extensive research has examined thought disorder in adult schizophrenics. Data on thought disorder in children, however, are limited. Indeed, the only conclusion justified on the basis of current evidence is that thought disorder is more common in schizophrenic children than in "normal," nondisturbed children and in children with infantile autism as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Controlled studies with rigorously diagnosed samples with other major psychopathological conditio
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