[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 89 (Tuesday, July 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
TRIBUTE TO THE REGINALD S. LOURIE CENTER FOR INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
February 11, 1994, and June 10, 1994, the gentlewoman from Maryland 
[Mrs. Morella] is recognized during morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
honor the Reginald S. Lourie Center on the occasion of its 10th 
anniversary. The Lourie Center, located in Rockville, MD, is a national 
pioneer in developing and applying early intervention techniques to 
diagnose and treat emotional and developmental problems in young 
children from birth to 8 years of age.
  The center's emphasis on early intervention focuses on identifying 
and treating emotional and developmental problems in the earliest years 
of life, before such problems become entrenched, more difficult for the 
families, and more costly to treat. This approach is an important model 
to consider as we wrestle with health care reform legislation.
  This year, as the Lourie Center celebrates its 10th anniversary, it 
already has been recognized as a leader in its field. Tipper Gore has 
praised the center for its innovative role in the treatment of children 
with emotional and developmental difficulties. Mrs. Gore, who was the 
recipient of a special award from the center for her work on children's 
mental health issues, stated that the center ``has enormous import for 
the mental health of this Nation's children and families.'' In 
addition, distinguished opera star, Beverly Sills, a mother of two 
children with birth defects, has praised the Lourie Center for ``easing 
the burden of children and their families through early intervention in 
diagnosis and treatment.'' Ms. Sills was the featured speaker at the 
center's 10th anniversary dinner.
  The Lourie Center serves families from all income levels, and without 
regard to their ability to pay. The center's clients include young 
children who have withdrawn from the world around them; children in 
foster care who are insecure in their setting; children who have been 
abused and neglected; children who are angry, anxious or fearful, and 
who can't get along in day care or primary school. The center also 
serves as a link between such children and parents who are often 
depressed and despairing, parents who need support and education in 
order to be better parents.
  The center is named for the late Dr. Reginald Lourie, a distinguished 
child psychiatrist who cofounded the agency in the early 1980's. He and 
his colleagues won a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health 
to test the proposition that it is feasible to diagnose and to treat 
emotional and developmental problems in very young children, even 
infants.
  The Lourie Center evolved from that 6-year NIMH clinical research 
project, which demonstrated the value of early intervention services in 
helping young children and their families get an emotionally healthy 
start in life.
  Now, 10 years later, the center has an interdisciplinary staff of 40 
professionals and serves 400 Washington area children and their 
families every year.
  In addition, the center's staff engages in a wide variety of research 
activities and provides early intervention training for hundreds of 
health and mental health professionals.
  Last year, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University--and with 
funding from the U.S. Department of Education--the Lourie Center began 
offering one of the Nation's first graduate degree programs with a 
concentration in the field of infant mental health.
  This is just the latest example of the pioneering role of Montgomery 
County's Lourie Center in efforts which are vitally important to our 
children, and our communities.

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