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A four-and-a-half-year-old boy was entered at the Council of Child Development Centre's Therapeutic Nursery in company with his mother for observation of severe anxiety states which made it impossible for him to separate and which seemed connected with traumatic events in his third year. Closer observation revealed severe early impairment of ego functioning characteristic of atypical children. He was given an exclusive relationship with a teacher through which he was enabled to relive correctively steps in object formation. The educational treatment included persistent stimulation to prevent withdrawal and regression. As independent functioning developed group contacts were tolerated and extended. Experiments with guided regression to early fixations following cues given by the child became a productive later feature. 'Continual infusions of borrowed ego strength' have resulted in a mitigation of the demand for symbiotic union, some growth in independent activity, and the development of new defences. Work with both parents went on simultaneously and psycho-analytic treatment of the child is now envisaged. The psychopathology reveals many of the features, both extrinsic and intrinsic, typical or early autistic disturbances.