The authors describe the case of a psychotic boy whose treatment began in their therapeutic nursery when the child was twenty-eight months old. Mahler's theory of separation-individuation was utilized as the basis for their therapeutic intervention. They depict the boy's progress into and through a symbiotic phase and into a practicing phase of relatedness to the therapist, at which time he was transferred to a program for older children. They also discuss his use of transitional objects, the possible meaning that different transitional objects may have, and, with particular reference to babbling, they offer some ideas about how vocalization may be used as a transitional object itself.