A CLINICAL AND ACADEMIC OUTCOME STUDY OF CHILDREN ATTENDING A DAY TREATMENT PROGRAM

Objective: To assess the behavioural and academic improvement of child ren who attended a day treatment program during a defined period of ti me. Method: Forty-six children admitted consecutively to the project w ere assessed on admission and discharge using behavioural and academic measures. They also had intelligence and language assessments. The su bjects attended the program for one academic year, on the average. The large majority presented with disruptive behaviour disorders and low academic achievement levels. Results: There was a significant improvem ent reported by the parents in externalizing (P < 0.001) and internali zing (P < 0.05) behaviour. The subjects also gained one academic year, but their levels continued to be low in terms of percentiles. Measure s of academic improvement showed significant associations with cogniti ve measures only (subscales of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Childre n-Revised [WISC-R] and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Re vised [CELF-R]). Conclusion: A day treatment and school program is an effective modality for treatment and remediation of children with seve re psychiatric disorders. The academic underachievement may be resista nt to remediation within the limited period of attendance in such a pr ogram.