The Children's Center

Services for Children of All Abilities

At The Children's Center at UCP, the Early Intervention, Preschool and School Age Programs are tailored to meet the physical, cognitive and emotional needs of children with disabilities from birth to 21 years of age.

Year-round programs, screenings, evaluations, therapies, home and/or center-based instruction, family and support groups, and assistive technology are offered at The Children's Center or provided at the homes of the children served. In conjunction with local school districts and the County Department of Health, staff at The Children's Center assess the individual needs of each child and recommends the most appropriate education services.

• We believe the environment should be aesthetically pleasing and stimulating. It should be planned in a manner to provide choices, quiet and active spaces and should respond to the developmental and individual needs of children.
  
• We believe that parents need to be kept informed and have opportunities for involvement in classroom activities.
  
• We believe that there should be an atmosphere of mutual support between parents and staff in order to create an effective learning environment.
  
• We believe that children are active learners, and unique individuals. They learn according to a developmental sequence, progressing at their own pace.
  
• We see the teacher and clinician as facilitators of the learning process who are sensitive to developmental and individual needs. The teacher/clinician is respectful and flexible in dealing with children.
  
• We believe that the appropriate curriculum will address the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs of each child.
  
• As a professional team, our purpose is to provide quality programs, community support and an opportunity for parents to share experience and mutual support .

Early Intervention Program

Home Based Programming provides visits by special education teachers and certified/licensed therapists to a child and family at home, or in another natural setting, addressing education and therapeutic needs. The Early Intervention Program provides a wide array of services to eligible infants and toddlers with disabilities or special needs and their families. Services provided are designed to focus on a child's needs and overall development.

The Preschool Program

This program services children from three to five years old who have an obvious or suspected disability in speech, intellectual, motor, social or emotional development. They receive excellent growth experiences, which assist them in developing cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, social, self-help and sensory skills.

Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT) and therapeutic services (Related Services) are provided in classrooms, day care centers or in home settings.

School Age Program

Children from age five to 21 with multiple disabilities attend the School Age Program. This curriculum provides individualized education, activities, therapies and medical services to maximize the child's progress.

Therapy Services

Therapists develop and carry out a plan of treatment to improve mobility, gross and fine motor skills, oral-motor/feeding skills, sensory processing and integration, and self-help skills. Therapists also recommend and provide a variety of adaptive equipment. A diagnostic evaluation team in the center or at home provides specialized evaluations.

Through family-centered planning, which involves the child's parents or guardians and professionals at The Children's Center, a personalized plan is designed to ensure that the most appropriate supports and services are given to the child and his/her family. These services include physical and occupational therapies, speech/language and augmentative communication, vision, nursing, mental health, audiology and adaptive physical education. Special classes are offered in massage therapy, yoga and pet therapy.

Active participation by the parent/caregiver is emphasized in all aspects of The Children's Center and the services offered are respectful of parental/caregiver's choice and sensitive to the family's background and culture.

The Children's Center offers innovative programs and the latest in technology. To nurture an understanding and acceptance of all human beings, UCP has integrated classroom settings that provide the opportunity for interaction between non-disabled preschoolers and children with developmental disabilities. A multi-sensory Snoezelen Room encourages exploration through sound, smell, lighting, vibration and touch. Adaptive toys are available to families and members of the community from the Toy Lending Library.

We have several Listening Rooms, which are acoustically controlled where the noise is reduced and a frequency-modulated sound-field system amplifies the teacher's voice. This system assists students with auditory attention deficits to maximize their attention and concentration levels.

The Children's Center at UCP Suffolk has been designated the only Northeast Charter Model Site for Mobility Opportunities via Education (MOVE), an internationally recognized program designed to develop the skills needed for sitting, standing and walking.

The Children's Center now has its own website exclusively for parents which gives them access to important postings and school and agency announcements so they can stay current with their children's lives and play an active role in enhancing their success. Please visit our site at www.thechildrenscenter-ucp.org.

The Children’s Center is committed to continuously improving our service delivery. Data are collected and information used to manage and improve service delivery. The Children’s Center strives to achieve the outcomes for all the families and children we serve.

Age Comparison 2004-2005-2006 Gender Comparison 2004-2005-2006 Ethnic Comparison 2004-2005- 2006 Achievement of Short Term Objective Comparison by discipline 2004-2005-2006

PARENT QUESTIONNAIRES- PROGRAM SATISFACTION The results of the questionnaire dated July 2006 were as follows; 75% of the questionnaires sent home were returned, this represents a 9% increase of returns in comparison to the 2005-year. Overall the responses indicated high satisfaction in all areas. The questions were presented as positive statements and respondents rated their agreement with the statements on a scale of one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree). Parents appear to understand their role as a team member (50% completely clear (rating of 5), 40% clear (rating of 4) and 10% clear (rating less than 4) on some things and confused on others), Parents feel that they are extremely important in their child’s education program (88% extremely important {rating of 5} and 12% important{rating of 4}), The majority of parents expressed that they believed that during the school year 2006 the education program evolved in the improvement of the delivery of services (72% totally agreed {rating of 5}, 13% agreed{rating of 4} and 15% somewhat agreed{rating less than 4}), The majority of parents who returned the questionnaires feel positive about The Children’s Center (80% completely positive rating of 5}, 16% positive {rating of 4}, and 4% positive at least half the time{rating of less than 4}), It is evident that parents are active team members as represented by their responses (60% are involved all of the time {rating of 5}, 25% are involved almost all the time {rating of 4} and 15% are involved some of the time {rating of less than 4}), The majority of parents feel comfortable in communicating both negative and positive feelings with their child’s program supervisor (72% totally comfortable {rating of 5} and 28% comfortable {rating of 4}), It was apparent by responses that parents do always feel that they participate in program policy and decision making (82% feel that they have the  opportunity to participate {rating of 5}, 6% feel that they somewhat have the opportunity to participate {rating of 4} and 12% feel that sometimes that they participate in decision making {rating of less than 4}), Parents agree that their child’s treatment team, support their efforts (76% always feel that they are supported {rating of 5} 20% feel that they are supported almost all the time {rating of 4} and 4% feel that they are supported sometimes {rating of less than 4}). Almost 95%{rating of 5} of the parents whose children attend the Education program would refer a family member and/or friend to The Children’s Center, More than 81% (rating of 5)of the parent’s feel that the program responds to their families needs 19% (rating of 4) almost always feel that their needs are met), SUMMARY RESULTS: When asked to identify strengths of the Education Program the following responses were identified; caring manner with children, the MOVE Model Site-dedicated to the philosophy of MOVE, full day programming, caring and wonderful staff, wonderful special activities, great personnel, availability of equipment is outstanding, everyone works together, they include the parents in decision making, administration is always positive and is looking for new ideas and input from staff and parents, staff always meet the abilities of each child, personalized dedication to each individuals needs and abilities, unconditional love and excellent team approach. Overall, our families are please with the services that we provide. Their responses have exceeded (rating scale of 4) the satisfaction rate that was defined for program outcomes.

The Children's Center
Smiths Lane Campus
Azealia Court
Commack, New York
(631) 543-2338

Programs and services are available at no cost to families and funded through the County of Suffolk and the State of New York, Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities New York State Education Department. Transportation is available for all programs.