About Us
The Child & Family Development Center (CFDC) is an interdisciplinary
public service and research Center located on the campus of
the University of Illinois-Chicago. The primary goal of CFDC
is to improve developmental outcomes for young children with
and without disabilities and their families at the local, state,
and national level. We address this goal by working concurrently
in the areas of public service, research, and training to:
- Develop and demonstrate an evidence-based model of early
intervention (EI) services that can serve as a catalyst for
changing practices at the local, state, and national level;
- Conduct studies to address issues affecting the early education,
care, and development of young children;
- Apply research findings to the development of innovative,
evidence-based practices; and
- Disseminate information to parents, practitioners, administrators,
and policy makers involved in the education, care, and development
of young children with and without disabilities.
CFDC's Public Service component houses an early intervention
program for infants/toddlers with disabilities and their families.
Services are provided for Chicago area families in homes, childcare
settings, and community playgroups. Read
more about our Public Service...
CFDC's Research component supports on-going applied research
projects that seek to improve the quality of services provided
to young children and their families, and the organizations
that serve them. Researchers at CFDC also contribute new knowledge
to the field that helps us better understand how to promote
the development of young children and the knowledge and skills
of families and early care providers. Read
more about our Research...
CFDC's Training and Technical Assistance component provides
training experiences for practicing professionals, graduate
students from a variety of disciplines, early care and education
practitioners, and family members. Training and technical assistance
is designed to build competence and knowledge that ultimately
improves the quality of services provided to young children
and their families. Read more about our
Training and Technical Assistance...
We are located at 1640 W. Roosevelt Rd., 3rd
floor, and our offices are open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Monday - Friday.
For more information, please call
312-413-1567.
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Public Service
CFDC's Public Service component is designed to help Chicago
area children and families by bringing together evidence-based
information, highly skilled professionals, and model service
delivery approaches that are effective in challenging urban
environments.
The core of CFDC's Public Service component is our early intervention
program that serves young children with identified disabilities
between the ages of birth and 3 years of age and their families.
Staff at CFDC provide a variety of therapy services to the child
while working concurrently with the child's caregivers or childcare
workers. Our approach to early intervention teaches caregivers
and early education staff how to promote the child's growth
and development using learning opportunities that occur naturally
in childcare, home, and community settings. This approach, referred
to as family-guided, routines-based intervention, is one of
several innovative activities we have adopted to improve developmental
outcomes of young children and the well-being of their families
in the Chicago area.
Read about the Program Overview...
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Research
The Research component of CFDC brings together researchers
from a variety of disciplines to study ways to address issues
that affect young children with and without disabilities, their
families and teachers, and the service delivery systems that
support them. For over 30 years, researchers at CFDC have made
significant contributions that have influenced:
- what we know about how child, caregiver, and context variables
affect the development of young children;
- how we intervene with infants/toddlers with a variety of
disabilities and their families;
- what we know and how we design effective early education,
care, and intervention programs for vulnerable children and
their families living in complex urban neighborhoods;
- what we know about the effects of different service delivery
approaches in early intervention, preschool, and early elementary
school settings; and
- the knowledge and skills of aspiring and practicing professionals
from a variety of disciplines who are involved with young
children with identified disabilities and their families.
Our researchers work in partnership with scholars from around
the country, parents, educators, administrators, and community
practitioners to study ways to improve the lives of children
and families. Read about their work on this website. You can
download some of their products, presentations, and papers,
or contact them via email to learn more about their work.
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UIC Child & Family Development Center Projects
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Training/Technical Assistance
The Training and Technical Assistance component of CFDC provides
valuable learning opportunities for graduate students from UIC
and other colleges and universities. Graduate students from
these institutions of higher education are provided opportunities
to learn about service delivery and intervention approaches
for working with young children and their families. Participants
receive information and training in recommended pediatric/intervention
practices as practicum students, observers, interns, and research
assistants. Beyond direct involvement with graduate students,
CFDC supports units on campus and organizations outside of UIC
to educate practicing professionals about high quality early
education, care, and development, service delivery approaches,
evidence-based practices, and the impact that recent research
findings have on current practices. The Center also participates
in or coordinates training/technical assistance activities to
over 500 students, faculty, and staff, and 600 non-UIC community
practitioners, parents, and professionals annually.
Click on the Training/Technical Assistance
link to see what workshops and opportunities are coming
up at CFDC or with their community training partners.
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Visitors are welcome at the Child & Family Development
Center!
Visitors are welcome at our Center. So that your needs are
best met, we ask that you call ahead to schedule your visit.
Drop-in visitors will be accommodated only if we have staff
available to escort you through the Center. All visitors are
expected to sign-in at Room 336 and wear a visitor identification
badge. This policy ensures both the safety of everyone in the
building and the confidentiality of families and their records.
Visitors include University faculty, staff, and students, advocates,
prospective consumers, personnel from other agencies, advisory
board members, former employees, employees' family members/friends,
and the general community.
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