Changing developmental trajectory in high-risk families: the effectiveness of an attachment-informed Therapeutic Nursery Program (TNP) for preschool children with complex emotional and behavioral problems

The article describes a "Therapeutic Nursery Program" (TNP) and presents a study that examined its effectiveness. This attachment-informed program serves preschoolers with severe emotional and behavioral problems. Efficacy was assessed based on: 1) children's success in transitioning from the TNP to typical schools; (2) improvement in children's outcomes as a function of specific intervention factors; (3) gains in social informational processing during the school year. The sample included 60 children from mostly low-income African American families (>60%). Nearly 80 percent of graduates attended typical educational settings after graduation. More classroom attendance and more individual child therapy sessions were associated with better social, academic, and cognitive child outcomes. Finally, TNP children with better attendanceclosed the gap with a comparison group in their social information processing. Our findings point to the TNP as a promising prevention approach with specific implications for the practice of attachment in the "real world."