The
Gazette - Community News - Wednesday, May 3, 2000
Page A-1
Clementina Pope - Staff Writer
Lourie Center offers, care hope to
children, parents
Now boasts bigger facility in Rockville
Underneath
Montgomery County's prosperity lie heartbreaking
stories of child abuse and neglect.
There are also children who, for other reasons,
experience sluggish mental and emotional development.
Such little ones are welcomed and cared for at
the Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and
Young Children, which recently relocated to a
newly renovated facility on Academy Way in Rockville.
Due to higher enrollment figures the center needed
more room to carry out its day-to-day activities,
according to Executive Director Evelyn Kays-Battle.
The center was previously located in the Lehrman
building on Hunters Lane in Rockville.
The new building allows for more play space, smaller
class sizes and attached private rooms where parents
can sit and watch their children through one-way
mirrors.
Montgomery County and the State of Maryland chipped
in $3.1 million toward the renovation of the new
facility.
The private, nonprofit Lourie Center specializes
in the early assessment, treatment and prevention
of such emotional and developmental problems in
youngsters up to 8 years of age. Every child is
helped, regardless of the family's ability to
pay, say center officials.
The center was named after a Chevy Chase pediatrician
and child psychiatrist who co-founded it in 1983.
It uses an interdisciplinary team of mental health,
speech and language, occupational therapy and
special education professionals to provide integrated
assessment and intervention services, as well
as parent education and counseling.
Help
for the little ones
Families who come to the center do so voluntarily
or are referred by social agencies, schools and
doctors.
Scars of neglect and abuse can include stumped
emotional development, cognitive difficulties,
troubled relationships, fussiness, depression,
disruptive behavior, extreme sensitivity and shyness,
according to Lourie officials.
Contrary to popular opinion, babies do remember
traumatic experiences, said Tracye A. Polson,
manager of the Therapeutic Nursery Program, which
caters to children ages 3 and 4 who have emotional
and behavioral disorders.
"(Trauma) may not be articulated through
language, but they do remember," she said.
"For example, premature babies, or those
who required some kind of surgery shortly after
birth, these children may grow up and have a bad
time with relationships, forming trust and being
comfortable in their own bodies."
Additionally, abuse, neglect, the death of a parent,
exposure to domestic violence and any other kind
of disruption can leave marks, said Lynne List,
director of Parent-Child Clinical Services.
Children's experiences in the first months and
years of life shape the way they will learn, think
and behave for the rest of their lives, List said.
Being in a nurturing environment is crucial for
children whose foundation has been shaken or shattered,
she added.
"When children deal with emotional issues
they have no energy to put into learning,"
said Dr. Polly Harding Craft, the center's medical
director. "Many times they are assessed as
being low functioning, when in fact they are just
busy dealing with grownups and trying to determine
if they can be trusted."
The good thing is that most children can still
be molded and prepared to enter mainstream education.
"At this age there's no stigma about getting
special help," Polson said. "They look
at it as a positive experience, as getting more
attention from grownups."
Unless that happens, most children will become
entangled in the juvenile court system by acting
out against a society that rejected them.
"Before these children lose respect for property
and for others, they've lost something far more
… they've lost trust in adults," Craft
said.
Help
for parents, too
Usually the adults raising troubled children need
help themselves. Sometimes they are foster or
adopting parents who don't fully understand their
children. Many are just too young to be parents.
Barbara Nathanson, coordinator for Early Head
Start, said many of those who walk through her
doors are children who have had children.
"Most are teen-agers who are not yet developed
as people," she said. "Being a parent
is even more difficult for them. They, too, need
special attention."
In Montgomery County the numbers of investigated
child abuse cases has increased from 1,558 in
1994 to 2,547 in 1998, according to the latest
statistics from the county's Collaboration Council
for Children, Youth and Families.
"Parenting is a blueprint of how you were
parented," Craft said. "We'll work with
these parents and help them understand where their
difficulties come from."
Help
is available
The center serves about 1,500 children each year,
said Executive Director Kays-Battle. Most are
from Montgomery County, although some come from
Prince George's County, the District of Columbia
and Northern Virginia.
The center, which employs about 75 and operates
on a $2.3 million annual budget, offers eight
programs that include:
