Begun in 1974 by Children's Hospital of Boston, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, the Community Therapeutic Day School serves children with severe emotional and neurological difficulties, whose educational need s cannot be met in less specialized ways. CTDS provides a space in which these children and their families can learn about their strengths and disabilities, and understand their physical and emotional worlds. It teaches them how to have relationships, how to cope with their environment, how to express themselves and engage with their own families, and how to progress toward healthy development. The core program treats 30 children, ages 3-12, and their families, providing a caring, understanding, "holding environment," bridging the gap between "things as they are and things as they might someday be." This is special education at its most intense and best. You can help.