Olivier Douliery/The Gazette A child plays at the Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children in Rockville, which recently moved to a renovated facility on Academy Way in Rockville.

Underneath Montgomery County's prosperity lie heartbreaking stories of child abuse and neglect.

There also are children who, for other reasons, experience sluggish mental and emotional development.

Such little ones are welcomed and cared for at the Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children, which recently relocated to a newly renovated facility on Academy Way in Rockville.

Due to higher enrollment figures the center needed more room to carry out its day-to-day activities, according to Executive Director Evelyn Kay-Battle.

The center was previously located in the Lehrman building on Hunters Lane in Rockville.

The new building allows for more play space, smaller class sizes and attached private rooms where parents can sit and watch their children through one-way mirrors.

Montgomery County and the state of Maryland chipped in $3.1 million toward the renovation of the new facility.

The private, nonprofit Lourie Center specializes in the early assessment, treatment and prevention of such emotional and developmental problems in youngsters up to 8. Every child is helped, regardless of the family's ability to pay, center officials said.

The center was named after a Chevy Chase pediatrician and child psychiatrist who co-founded it in 1983. It uses an interdisciplinary team of mental health, speech and language, occupational therapy and special education professionals to provide integrated early assessment and intervention services. It also provides parent education and counseling.

Help for the little ones

Families who come to the center do so voluntarily or are referred by social agencies, schools and doctors.

Scars of neglect and abuse can include stumped emotional development, cognitive difficulties, troubled relationships, fussiness, depression, disruptive behavior, extreme sensitivity and shyness, Lourie officials said.

Contrary to popular opinion, babies do remember traumatic experiences, said Tracye A. Polson, manager of the therapeutic nursery program, which caters to children 3 and 4 who have emotional and behavioral disorders.

"[Trauma] may not be articulated through language, but they do remember," she said. "For example, premature babies, or those who required some kind of surgery shortly after birth, ... may grow up and have a bad time with relationships, forming trust and being comfortable in their own bodies."

Additionally, abuse, neglect, the death of a parent, exposure to domestic violence and any other kind of disruption can leave marks, said Lynne List, director of Parent-Child Clinical Services.

Children's experiences in the first months and years of life shape the way they will learn, think and behave for the rest of their lives, List said. Being in a nurturing environment is crucial for children whose foundations have been shaken or shattered, she added.

"When children deal with emotional issues they have no energy to put into learning," said Dr. Polly Harding Craft, the center's medical director. "Many times they are assessed as being low functioning, when in fact they are just busy dealing with grownups and trying to determine if they can be trusted."

The youngsters are wary of adults, Polson added.

"These children learned at a very young age that the world is not a safe place," she said. "Now they are busy scanning their environment."

The good thing is that most children can still be molded and prepared to enter mainstream education.

"At this age there's no stigma about getting special help," Polson said. "They look at is as a positive experience, as getting more attention from grownups."

Unless that happens, most children will became entangled in the juvenile court system by acting out against a society that rejected them.

"Before these children lose respect for property and for others, they've lost something far more ... they've lost trust in adults," Craft said.

Help for parents, too

Usually the adults raising troubled children need help themselves. Sometimes they are foster or adopting parents who don't fully understand their children. Many are just too young to be parents.

Barbara Nathanson, program coordinator for Early Head Start, said many of those who walk through her doors are children who have had children.

"Most are teen-agers who are not yet developed as people," Nathanson said. "Being a parent is even more difficult for them. They, too, need special attention."

In the worst cases, some parents rationalize or don't recognize their abusive ways, she said.

In Montgomery County the number of investigated child abuse cases has increased from 1,558 in 1994 to 2,547 in 1998, according to the latest statistics from the county's Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families.

"Parenting is a blueprint of how you were parented," Craft said. "We'll work with these parents and help them understand where their difficulties come from. Also, you cannot parent to your fullest potential while you're using drugs and alcohol. Often we also battle substance abuse."

Help available

The center serves about 1,500 children each year in the Washington metropolitan area, said Executive Director Kay-Battle. Most children are from Montgomery County, although some come from Prince George's County, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia.

The center, which employs about 75 employees and operates on a $2.3 million annual budget, offers eight programs that include:

*Outpatient Clinical Services -- family-centered, early intervention for young children, up to 8, with emotional/behavioral problems, speech, language and motor delays.

*Parent-Child Program -- counseling, support and education for families with children who are at risk of abuse and neglect.

*Therapeutic School Program -- a special learning environment for children 3 to 8 with emotional problems and developmental delays.

*Early Head Start Program -- child development and family support services for low-income families with children up to 3.

*Fussy Baby Services -- assessment and treatment of infants whose problems include irritability, inability to self-calm, sleep and feeding problems, hypersensitivity to sensory stimulation and difficulty adapting to change.

For more information on the Lourie Center and its services, call 301-984-4444.