Since its founding in 1956, the Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine has provided a broad spectrum of services for infants, children, adolescents and, despite its name adults, with conditions that include autism, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities. One of the largest facilities of its kind in the United States, CERC is a voluntary, nonsectarian center whose services are essential components of the care available to individuals in the Bronx and New York metropolitan area who have a wide array of developmental disabilities. Every year, CERC’s professional staff provides more than 55,000 diagnostic, therapeutic and related visits to approximately 7,500 individuals and their families. Included in this individual population are some 1,000 individuals seen each year who have autism (a condition that appears to be occurring in epidemic proportions), as well as a large number of children, adolescents and adults with learning disabilities. As part of our mission, we also provide training to nearly 1,000 professionals each year.

CERC is the major clinical component of the Rose F. Kennedy University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service (RFK UCEDD). One of only 67 designated regional centers in the Unitied States funded by the federal government. RFK UCEDD conducts training, provides exemplary clinical services, furnish technical assistance, carries out research in the field of developmental disabilities, and creates a bridge between the University and the community through various outreach and dissemination activities and by direct consumer involvement.