Our Mission

Our mission is to provide exceptional early child education services while facilitating the emotional, physical, psychological and intellectual development of children in a safe, caring, and nurturing environment. 

Our History

Covina Development Center (CDC) was originally established in 1957 by parents who were unable to find programs for their children with Developmental Disabilities.  CDC was one of six programs, sponsored by the ARC of San Gabriel Valley until 1997 when ARC discontinued operations.  At that time a new California Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation was formed and CDC became an independent school to serve young children with and without special needs.

We are a California nonprofit public-benefit corporation, licensed with Community Care Licensing, and vendored with the Regional Center system.  In addition, CDC provides childcare services to a number of community agencies, the child development division of the State Department of Education, and private clients.

CDC is a nondiscriminatory organization that provides each student and family programs, privileges, rights and activities, regardless of a child's race, color, religion, sex or national origin.



How We Are Different

CDC is much more than your typical Preschool Program. We are unique in a number of ways for the wide variety of services for young children, their families, and to the community that we provide.  Both the programs and the staff have received many awards and praise for excellence and effectiveness of their programs.  Our curriculum has been recognized for its excellence by various state agencies and also nationally.  It has been used as a model to develop curricula for programs throughout the United States which serve young children and those with special needs.

CDC is different in five significant ways:

1. We believe that each child, whether or not they have special needs, is a unique individual and needs his or her educational experiences tailored to their strengths and individuality.   A Child's greatest capacity for growth is from birth to five years.
2. We believe that all children need and deserve teachers who are sensitive to them as a person.  The thoughtful teacher sees the child through family, culture, and personal history.  Theses teachers must have training and experience to adapt any curriculum to the child in order to help that child reach their maximum potential
3. We believe that a child's developmental level is more important than the child's chronological age when designing the curriculum for that child.
4. We believe that fully inclusive classrooms, with a mixture of children with and without special needs benefit all of the children in the program.  It provides opportunities for children with special needs to be surrounded by children with typical development in speech, gross and fine motor skills, cognitive development, language, social, and play skills from whom to learn.  The children without special needs learn that good friends may be found with a variety of sizes, shapes, and situations.  They also learn lessons of kindness, empathy, and sensitivity that will serve them well their whole lives.
5. We also believe that children learn through a wide variety of activities; they learn through opportunities to explore a wide variety of activities.  They learn music, art, science, and nature.  They learn through the experience of exploration with their teachers and peers.
   

Our SAVANT Program

 Savant, or "Scholar," program is a new and exciting fully inclusive early intervention program for children ages birth to Kindergarten on the Autism Spectrum.   Covina Development Center is a Fully Inclusive Preschool Program which has its Early Intervention Component embedded within the regular curriculum.   We believe that the very best place for a child on the Autism Spectrum is in a small class with trained teachers and surrounded by typically developing peers.   

Each child will have a program that is unique to the child, and  is based  on their individual needs and builds upon their strengths. This program includes an enriched early childhood program curriculum with special processes and techniques that are appropriate for children who are experiencing symptoms found on the Autism Spectrum.

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