Child Development Center

The Alabama A&M University Child Development Center (CDC) established in 1947 serves as a Laboratory Center, in what is now Family and Consumer Sciences.  The program serves children ages two to four years old. The Center serves children of diverse backgrounds, cultures and socio-economic levels and is a valuable resource for faculty, staff, students, and the community. The Center also supports, the University’s mission of teaching, research, and service.

About this program

The purpose of the Alabama A&M University Child Development Center in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences is six-fold:

• To provide a high quality, safe environment that meets the needs of young children in the areas of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development.
• To care for the children who are enrolled in the center in a loving, responsive manner.
• To serve as a laboratory setting for training programs for undergraduate and graduate students at Alabama A&M University.
• To promote parental involvement through the Parent Council among families whose children attend the center.
• To initiate, coordinate, and encourage multidisciplinary research within the natural setting of the Center for the purpose of studying the ecology of the child.
• To provide work experience for qualified students at Alabama A&M University in order to maintain low adult-to-child ratios.

 

• CDC Application
• CDC Parent Handbook

 

Curriculum

The curriculum consists of such learning areas as language arts, mathematics, social and emotional development, creativity, music and movement, science/nature, and social studies. Every attempt is made to provide the proper match between the capabilities of the children and the new materials and concepts that are introduced. 

There is a balance between structured and unstructured activities, with large blocks of time allotted to child-selected free-play in centers which include but are not limited to painting, role-play, clay modeling, puzzles, other fine-motor manipulatives, block building, and sand and water play. Speech and hearing screenings are available at no cost to children attending the Child Development Center.  Screening will be done by the Alabama A&M Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic upon request.

Mode of Operation

The Child Development Center operates on a twelve-month year and observes holidays and breaks as specified in the Parent Handbook.  The Center is open Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m

Tuition and fees

Tuition is due on Monday of each week at the rate of $110/week for Toddlers, $95.00/week for Pre-school and $85.00/Week for Pre-K. A registration fee of $150.00 is payable at the time of enrollment.  If the child attends during the summer program, $150.00 will be assessed for summer registration.