A Day Treatment Program for Severely Disturbed Young Children

An Illinois mental health center operates a day treatment program for young children who have severe emotional disturbances, often accompanied by profound functional retardation or neurological impairment or both. The primary therapists are child-development specialists; most of the treatment is provided in a classroom setting, through small groups. The author reports on a study of 67 young children who had been treated and discharged, including their psychiatric diagnoses and psychological status at intake and discharge, family characteristics, and treatment outcome an average of two years and seven months after discharge. At that time all but four of the children were living at home. Fifty-two of them attended public school, most in regular classes, and the rest were in therapeutic day schools.