ABSTRACT
The following is an outline of the successive treatment programs designed specifically for a five-year-old autistic child. Jim was referred to the Center by an agency outside the preferred 50-mile geographical perimeter that we considered the maximum distance which parents could conveniently travel for the required increasing schedule of family-child visits. The insistence of both parents and referring agency made it clear that the former were willing to make the required journeys to the Center because no other program for young psychotic children was available. Jim's referral was an example of the unfair circumstances confronting parents who are desperate for a residential program, regardless of their agreement with the techniques used, simply because no other program is available. Perhaps parental cooperation under such circumstances is virtually coerced.
