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When the schizophrenic children are grossly subdivided into those who give these evidences of cerebral impairment (organic) and those who do not (nonorganic), a number of empirical findings distinguish the two sub-clusters. For example, the nonorganic children are superior to the organic children in most adaptive functions, including perceptual, conceptual, and psychomotor response. The nonorganic and organic children also differ in regard to family patterns of interaction, psychiatric status of the parents, and in maternal communication. Direct observations of families have tended to confirm that families of nonorganic children are virtually always deviant in psychosocial functioning, while organic children have families which are more heterogeneous in regard to adequacy of functioning and which include average as well as deviant families.

A higher proportion of the mothers of nonorganic children than of organic children are schizophrenic. The mothers of nonorganic children have poorer speech and are less clear in their communication. Finally the two groups of children differ in course of development, in response to day and residential treatment, and in changes in specific ego functions. The organic children include the most impaired and most unchanging children. On the other hand, while the organic children