The Florida Center for Early Childhood

Healthy families:healthy families is an award-winning evidence based program that promotes healthy child development, family stability, and self-sufficiency. This program prevents child abuse and neglect among high-risk families. Healthy families serves over 700 families annually in charlotte, desoto, hardee and sarasota counties, of which more than 95% of children in The program have no verified findings of abuse or neglect during The program or within 12 months of program completion.

Mental health/behavioral health therapies are available as both outpatient and school-based. The children receive therapies for a variety of issues that include aggression, grief of loss, exposure to a traumatic event, fear of anxiety and hyperactivity. Outpatient therapy is available at our sarasota and north port offices. The school-based component has therapists housed at 25 elementary schools in sarasota county. The mental health program serves over 2,000 children annually. In addition, our teams are recognized nationally as experts in their field and train over 1,000 professionals across The united states annually.

Early intervention services:early intervention services are provided by trained professionals that work hard to ensure children are reaching their goals for growth and development. Services include: developmental therapies (speech-language and occupational therapy) and our award-winning Early Childhood court program, which uses a specialized, team-based approach to help infants and toddlers in The child welfare system, with The goal of reducing The trauma they experience and ensure that they have a stable, permanent home more quickly than in traditional court proceedings. Early intervention services are provided to over 480 children, birth through age ten, and their families annually.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (fasd):the Florida Center is home to The state's first and only fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (fasd) clinic. The purpose of The clinic is to diagnose issues related to prenatal alcohol exposure, as well as to provide education and training statewide on fasd. The clinic evaluates individuals of all ages. Problems related to pre-natal alcohol exposure can include language, motor and cognitive delays. The clinic completes over 72 diagnostic assessments and trains more than 500 professionals annually.

Starfish academy is a nationally accredited, inclusion preschool program serving children 6 weeks to 5 years old, including voluntary prekindergarten. Our highly trained, nurturing educators focus on teaching important skills to prepare children for success in kindergarten and beyond. The starfish academy incorporates music, art, and drama into our Early Childhood education to encourage growth for The "whole child." Teachers work in tandem with therapists to provide a full range of service on-site, which helps children progress more quickly toward developmental goals. The academy has 2 locations serving north and south sarasota county and enrolls over 110 children annually.