East River Child Development Center

ERCDC students are educated in a school community where everyone belongs and is accepted. We promote a safe, nurturing, caring, and supportive learning environment to nearly one hundred children with special needs between the ages of 3 and 5 and provide monolingual and bilingual special education and therapeutic services. Each student's self-esteem is fostered by positive relationships. We actively involve our parents, teachers, and the community in our students' learning with the common goal of integrating our students into general education classes. our students achieve their highest potential academically while at the same time improve upon their social, emotional and physical development. our students become responsive, productive and contributing members of society. At ERcDC we recognize that each child is an individual, that all children are creative, and that all children can succeed.

At ERCDC the evaluation program requires the efforts of our parents, clinicians and educators. It is based upon a multi-disciplinary team approach that ensures that a child suspected of having a disability receives timely evaluations at our SED approved evaluation site (at no cost to the parent). Evaluations establish the childs functional levels, determine eligibility for services (including the need for any bilingual services) and are used to develop an IEP for any student in need of special education programs and/or services. The evaluation reports describe the language(s) of assessment, including the childs proficiency in both the childs native language and English, the present levels of performance and learning characteristics of the child. They identify levels of cognition, language and communication, social/emotional development, self-help skills, motor development and management needs which may affect the preschool students ability to learn. When assessing children and interviewing families from multicultural/multilingual backgrounds, social/cultural determinants are considered. Each childs environment and cultural norms are of particular importance as part of the process to determine the need for a special education program and/or services.

Our special education itinerant service (SEIT) program serves students in new York city who have individualized education plans (IEP) through the child's school district's committee on preschool special education. itinerant education support helps our students achieve the mandated goals outlined in their iep. seit services are provided by a certified special education teacher. seit services are individualized to the needs of each child and include: implementation of the child's iep; implementation, coordination, and monitoring of the child's behavior management program; collaboration with preschool directors and teachers; coordination of the child's educational programs with teachers, therapists and parents and parent trainings, observations and home visits.