| Sumario: | The writer describes an outpatient treatment program for young children with pervasive developmental disorder. The treatment program has three components. The first part consists of a prolonged period of parent-child or adult-child interactions aimed at attracting the child's attention and assisting the child to develop imitations, interaction, and communication. The second part of the treatment program, intensive instruction, with the aid of an occupational therapist, is designed to teach the child basic life skills, such as eating, dressing and undressing, and toilet training. The third part of the treatment program exposes the child to normal social interactions with other children within a day-care or preschool facility to encourage the child to join in the usual childhood activities. The success of the program depends heavily on coordination among all the people involved, including parents, speech therapists, occupational therapists, teachers, child-care workers, and clinicians.
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