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Center on Human Development and Disability Overview| Two Major Programs | Map | Organization Chart Overview CHDD is one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive interdisciplinary research and training centers focusing on a wide array of developmental disabilities. More than 600 University of Washington faculty and staff members, as well as numerous doctoral and post-doctoral students, provide clinical services, interdisciplinary clinical and research training, and technical assistance and outreach training to community practitioners and community agencies. CHDD scientists and clinicians also conduct basic and applied research to generate new knowledge and disseminate information widely.

Developmental and related disabilities affect people's lives in profound ways throughout the lifespan. A developmental disability may interfere with an individual's self care, language, learning, mobility, capacity for independent living, and ability to work. Despite these challenges, people with disabilities make important contributions to family and community. A central mission of the CHDD is to support individuals with disabilities to achieve the goals they and their families have established. Center on Human Development and Disability works for the inclusion of all Article in University Week (April 2007)

Two Major Programs

CHDD is one of the few centers in the country that encompasses two major programs, one focusing on research and the other on clinical services, training, and community outreach. This structure encourages strong connections between researchers and clinicians, and creates an important bridge between basic research and state-of-the-art clinical programs.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) studies underlying causes of mental retardation and other developmental disabilities, and develops behavioral and biomedical techniques to prevent disabilities or minimize their impact. University of Washington faculty members from a wide variety of scientific disciplines are appointed as CHDD Research Affiliates. Supported by Scientific Core Facilities, they work in interdisciplinary collaborations to address developmental disabilities from a broad range of perspectives, including genetic factors, neurobiological processes, and behavior.

University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) is part of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), established in every state to train professionals within an interdisciplinary framework to meet the needs of people with disabilities, provide clinical services and model projects, reach out to the community with technical assistance and training, conduct applied research, and disseminate information widely.