New York Center for Child Development (NYCCD) is a not-for-profit early childhood organization founded in 1995 which offers a continuum of educational and therapeutic services for preschool children designed to promote their optimal development. NYCCD is committed to excellence in the education and treatment of young children with special needs and their families and to promote the expansion and improvement of early childhood mental health services. Our mission is to provide each child with the individual care and attention required to foster his or her maximum potential.
A major focus of the educational and therapeutic services provided by NYCCD is on children with significant social-emotional and/or developmental delays. With NYCCD’s exceptional staff of dedicated educators and clinicians, and state-of-the art educational and therapeutic services, NYCCD works closely with graduate academic programs in child development, special education, mental health, and related health and education services. NYCCD’s Advisory Board is comprised of leading academics and clinicians in the areas of Education, Speech and Language Pathology, Psychology and Occupational Therapy. The Professional Advisory Board members advise, direct, and shape the ongoing delivery of services in all NYCCD’s programs. They advise the agency about significant developments in research and professional and academic thinking, and play an active role in NYCCD’s professional development program for staff and outside professionals. These relationships enable NYCCD to integrate clinical practice with the best current academic thinking. As a crossroads between graduate academic programs and clinical practice, NYCCD serves as a training and externship site and partner in research initiatives to evaluate modes of effective practice. For NYCCD’s staff and community partners, ongoing opportunities for professional growth and development are offered.
NYCCD provides services to children in many venues including its center-based special education pre-school, in children’s homes, in many community child serving educational institutions such as head starts, day cares, and regular education preschools, and in community satellite clinical offices established by NYCCD in low income neighborhoods. NYCCD currently serves approximately 3700 children a year and has an affiliate agency which provides Early Intervention services for children under 3 years of age and which serves approximately 1500 additional children a year.
NYCCD was selected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to be the NYC Citywide Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) where we partnered with NYU McSilver’s Institute for Poverty, Policy and Research. TTAC provides training and technical assistance to mental health professionals serving children 0-5 and their families in the (DOHMH) funded as well as professionals working in New York City outpatient mental health clinics, Early Intervention, Universal Pre-K and ACS Early Learn sites and other child serving systems. Knowledge and capacity building opportunities include specialized trainings, technical assistance, quality improvement activities, and learning forums. TTAC provides training to the DOE, ACS and other community agencies and child serving systems.
In addition, NYCCD provides ongoing training through numerous grants on a wider range of topics including working with children with special needs, behavior management, trauma, early childhood mental health, typical and atypical development and other related topics.
To learn
more about the programs at NYCCD, visit its website: www.nyccd.org.
