Making a successful transition: effects of a treatment-based and school-based program on emotionally troubled children and their adjustment to new placements.

This study compares the outcomes of two groups of 12-to-13 year olds who were in their last year at a day or five-day residential treatment center for seriously emotionally troubled children. One group was enrolled in a treatment-based program; the second group participated in a school-based program designed to ease the transition to new placements. Each group was evaluated when discharged from the center and 6 weeks after entering their new placements. Interviews with parents and teachers indicated that the school-based children scored significantly higher on six of eight indicators of adjustment than did children in the treatment-based program.