Programs and Services at Early Childhood Development and Education Center

For Parents and Families

At the Early Childhood Development and Education Center, we strongly believe that parents, families and caregivers should play an integral role in their children’s treatment and care. We are committed to working closely with you and other caregivers to provide you with information and training on how you can best foster your child’s early education and developmental progress. We are also aware that many parents are struggling with the multiple challenges of raising children with special needs while, at the same time, meeting the needs of other family members. All of our programs offer counseling, information and assistance in obtaining services for you and your child and assistance in helping your child transition to other programs when they leave the Early Childhood Development and Education Center.

Philosophy of Care

The Early Childhood Development and Education Center is committed to providing high-quality, state-of-the-art services and early childhood education for the young children and families we serve each year through our programs: Early Head Start, World of Care and the Early Learning Classrooms. Through ongoing staff training and continuous interactions with other providers, the Early Childhood Development and Education Center keeps abreast of the latest techniques for helping all children get a good start in life.

Early Childhood Development and Education Center Programs

World of Care is a specialized childcare center designed to meet the needs of children with and without medical conditions and/or developmental disabilities. Our multidisciplinary team of early care and education teachers, nurses, early intervention therapists, and family support staff use a family-centered, play-based approach to early care and education. In addition to the skilled and nurturing team, the center has an array of adaptive materials and equipment to ensure each child explores and learns alongside classroom friends.  

The Early Learning Classrooms at Kennedy Krieger Institute (ELC): A unique learning center that provides a comprehensive and family-centered education to children ages 3 to 5. Our classrooms offer an inclusion environment where both typically developing children and children who are neurodiverse can learn together. The goal of our curriculum is to improve the social, emotional, functional and behavioral outcomes of the students while also closing the achievement gaps experienced by young children from disadvantaged communities or with developmental disabilities.

Southeast Early Head Start (SEEHS): Our team of Early Childhood Educators, Infant Mental Health Specialists, Family Advocates and Early Interventionists use an attachment-based, trauma-informed model of care designed to support very young children whose families are experiencing a variety of high-risk factors such as community trauma, interpersonal violence, housing instability, recovery from addiction, as well as challenges faced by families where English is a second language. Our inclusive programing occurs within a high-quality Early Childhood Educational setting.  In addition, Southeast Early Head Start provides extensive training and coaching in several evidenced based models of care, routed in attachment theory, to build statewide workforce skill development for early childhood providers and support for families.