Centro de Niños - Quick Facts

Q: When was Centro de Niños y Padres established?

A: Established in 1974, by Dr. Annette Tessier, Centro de Niños y Padres (Center for Young Children and their Families) was founded as part of a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, office of Special Education Programs. In time, it was also established as a professional training and development site for students enrolled in graduate education credential and Masters Degree programs in Early childhood Special Education.

Q: How does Centro de Niños y Padres serve the local communities?

A: Is a bilingual/bicultural (Spanish) early intervention program serving infants and toddlers (age birth to three) who have disabilities or are at risk for disabilities and their families. It also serves as a primary fieldwork/student teaching site for credential and M.A. students in the field of Early Childhood Special Education. The program is housed in the California State University Los Angeles, Division of Special Education and Counseling.

Q: What is an Early Intervention Program?

A: Early intervention in this context refers to the provision of a wide array of services (e.g. educational, therapeutic, social emotional) to support the development of infants from birth to age three, who are at risk (e.g. very low birthweight premies) or who have disabilities (e.g. cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, cognitive delay, sensory disabilities such as hearing loss or blindness).

Q: Is Centro de Niños y Padres part of the California State University, Los Angeles?

A: Centro was started through federal funding obtained by CSULA faculty in special education. It has been housed since it’s beginning on the campus of CSULA. Centro serves as a primary fieldwork site for credential and MA students in Early Childhood Special Education. It has also served as an observation site for students in Nursing and Child Development.

Q: Does the program have an educational accreditation?

A: In the State of California, early intervention programs are not accredited, but are typically vendored to provide services by the California Regional Center System. Individuals who provide early intervention services should be accredited or licensed by their appropriate professional organization. Lead Teachers at Centro de Niños hold credentials in the field of Early Childhood Special Education.

Q: What’s the difference between Centro de Niños and other Early Intervention Programs?

A: Centro requires lead teachers to have experience and a credential or degree in early childhood special education.

Centro is a family participation program in both center-based and in-home interventions, focusing on the whole child across all developmental domains. Family members learn to embed teaching and learning opportunities throughout daily routines, helping them realize they can be their children’s best teachers. Our Spanish bilingual and multicultural program serves as a model of early intervention for the State.

Centro also helps prepare children and families for entry into formal schooling at age 3, and empowers parents to both collaborate and advocate, within the educational system, on their children’s behalf.

Centro serves as a primary fieldwork and training site for the ECSE credential and M.A program at CSULA and, an observation site for USC medical students in their community medicine course rotation.

Q: You prepare and cook meals for the children?

A: We instruct families on nutrition and the nutritional needs of their children on the premises. Our staff prepares and cooks every lunch-time meal for the children. We help and instruct family members as they participate during mealtime to support their children’s self help skills.

Q: How many children does the program serve, year to year?

A: We currently serve approximately 45-65 children per year. We don’t have an exact number of children since the inception of the program in 1974, but we’ve served nearly 2,000 special needs and at-risk infants and their families.

Q: What qualifies these children for an early intervention program like Centro’s?

A: Currently there are two major categories of eligibility:

"Established Risk" (usually, but not always identified at birth), e.g. chromosomal (e.g. Down syndrome) and genetic congenital disorders, severe sensory disorders (hearing and vision), severe congenital infection, exposure to toxic substances, e.g. FAS and drug exposure, and, in some cases social-emotional issues, e.g. severe attachment disorder.

"Developmental Delay" is the second category. Typically this eligibility requires either a 33% delay in at least two developmental areas, or 50% delay in one (Developmental areas: cognitive, physical, communication, social-emotional, adaptive).

Q: How is Centro de Niños funded?

A: It is funded with both state and federal tax dollars, which are administered through the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS).

Q: Why does the program only service children until 3 years of age?

A: Once children reach the age of three, their educational needs are provided for by their local school district. Parents work with educators to develop an educational plan for each individual child entering the public school system. Services required but not provided for by the school district are funded by their local Regional Center.

Q: What are Regional Centers?

A: Regional centers are nonprofit private corporations that contract with the Department of Developmental Services to provide or coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. They have offices throughout California to provide a local resource to help find and access the many services available to individuals and their families.

Q: What kind of challenges has Centro de Niños faced?

A: Due to diminishing referrals and client funding from the Regional Center over the last five years, we’ve felt the cuts pretty dramatically. For a time, we had to close down one of our three classrooms that has been in operation for over 20 years. Several years ago, support for transportation for children and families to the center was discontinued, making it difficult if not impossible for families to access our services. Currently, our staff has had furlough days in effect for close to two years now. It has proven to be a real challenge to find financial support for our program that can offset the new state budget realities.

Q: Why has Centro de Niños received less Regional Center support over the last few years?

A: We understand that Regional Centers have suffered a tremendous blow economically over the last few years with heavy cuts to their budgets. Those in turn have impacted every special needs provider in the area. Some more than others, but overall the damage that state-level budget cuts have had, particularly in the lower-income areas where services are already at a scarcity, has been crippling. To get needed services to those kids who are already underserved, coupled with the challenge of the multi-cultural, multi-lingual nature of our local communities is our mission.

We hope that this document helped you gain a better understanding of Centro de Niños y Padres. If you need further assistance, please feel free to contact Maria Andrade Moberg, Executive Director, by phone at 323-343-4420, or by email, media@centrodeninos.org.