Reginald S Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children

Mission

The Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children is a nonprofit agency dedicated to helping at-risk children and their families achieve a healthy emotional start in life through early intervention programs, consultation, research and training. The Center was founded in 1983 by the late Dr. Reginald S. Lourie, a world-wide leader in the fields of pediatric child psychiatry and infant mental health, and his colleagues, as an outgrowth of their six-year clinical research project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. In July 2006, the Center affiliated with Adventist HealthCare, Inc. Serving more than 3,000 children and caregivers in the Washington Metropolitan area, regardless of ability to pay, the Center is a pioneer and leader in the field of infant and child mental health.

Programs

1. The Therapeutic Nursery Program (TNP) is one of only two such programs licensed by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It provides comprehensive, classroom-based, mental health and early educational programming for pre-school children from Montgomery County with severe social-emotional and behavioral problems, which put them at risk for school failure. Most TNP children are able to go on to mainstream kindergarten settings because of the Lourie Center?s early intervention.2. The Early Head Start Program offers child and family development services for 109 children up to three years of age and pregnant women from low-income and minority families through parent-child socialization groups and weekly home visits, in Montgomery County and Prince George's County. Early Head Start also provides specialized programming for teenage mothers and their children.3. The Lourie Center School (LCS) is certified by the Maryland State Department for Education as a non-public day school that serves children from age four through fifth grade from Montgomery and Prince George?s Counties and the District of Columbia. These children require highly individualized, therapeutic services because their complex emotional and developmental problems have made it impossible for them to learn in a traditional school setting. LCS helps them work through their emotional and behavioral issues, so that they become available for learning.4. The Parent-Child Clinical Services Program provides outpatient assessment and treatment for children from birth through age eleven who have emotional/behavioral problems and/or developmental delays. Staff are also involved in several public-private partnerhsips, including the Mongtomery County Early Child Initiative, which provides daycare consultation services, as well as the mental health component of Montgomery County's Infants and Toddlers Program, which serves over 3,400 children each year.5. The Before and After School and Summer Camp Program, our newest program, is licensed by MSDE?s Office of Child Care. This program integrates our longstanding expertise in promoting the social-emotional development of young children with a childcare program emphasizing creative self- expression through the arts. The Program serves the needs of working parents by providing essential childcare for 30 local Rockville children during work hours.The Center also provides training for master's and doctorate level interns.