For a number of years the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois maintained an in-patient service for physically sick children whose illness seemed to stem from psychologic difficulties. This ward for psychosomatic patients served children with bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, peptic ulcer and atopic eczema. The staff, made up chiefly of psychiatrists and psychologists included a pediatrician, an educator and an occupational therapist. From their experiences here the staff started research with ambulant patients who lived in their own homes, attended public schools, and who might have had periods of hospitalization previously but were not in-patients when studied intensively for the psychologic etiology of their illnesses.