A Two-Year-Old Goes to Nursery School

The subtitle of this book reveals its scope and limitation. The case study is of normal, highly verbal child?the youngest of three girls in a professional middle-class fatf"^ From the age of two years and three months she attended a well-run nursery school, parents were welcomed, for two mornings a week. The writer, as a friend of the fa^r' had exceptional opportunities for direct observation of the child, and for collect"^. observations from the parents and the nursery school staff. The study was undertaken ^ part of a Masters' programme in a New York college of education, and its presents^ bears the marks of this, though the style of writing is simple?at times naively so. '^ informed people will need persuading that two years is too early for a child to attellit nursery school, but in this study one suspects that more factors were at work in produce-stress in this child than the mere fact of attending a nursery school at such an early ^ , The writer admits this in her conclusions, where she raises points for further study suggeS by this case, including the variety of defence mechanism manifestations that even a young child may show in dealing with stress. Readers anxious to get the gist of' research may be impatient with the amount of detailed observation and verbatim repoft'" in the body of the book, and find it more rewarding to read first the chapter describing purpose and plan of the book and that entitled "Discussion and Conclusions," before others.