Dramatic Progress in the Past, Hopes for the Future
Dr Margaret Shodell, First Executive director, and a lap full of her children
Our first Psychologist Milton Kaufman establishes simple contact with Darell Hummel by playing pat-a-cake
The Dream: Dr. Edward Goldsmith, Dr. Shodell and Jack Brover admire the model of the new building
Groundbreaking for main building in Woodbury. Frank Murphy, Freida Rosen and State Senator Ed Spano.
Pearl Wilans worked hard on early dinner dances, which featured stars like Debbie Reynolds.
Alan King, on one of many visits to the center, couldn't get a smile from Michael Murphy.
Irving and Betty Rockoff have served the Center for more than three decades.
Ann Klotz, one of the Center's first teachers
First name and logo: The figure of a child opening a door and stepping from darkness into light.
1975 Teacher and Child - Woodbury
Our Very Young - 1973 - Woodbury
Preschool Friends - 1973 - Woodbury
Preschool Child and his Teacher - 1973 - Woodbury
Child and Teacher - 1972 Woodbury
December 1979 - Woodbury
Carol Whittman and Student - 1983
Woodbury - 1987
Estell Bloom with some of her students - 1980 - Woodbury.
Johna and friend - Woodbury - 1982
For some families, parents and children alike, life was very strained. The children required constant care - all day and sometimes all night. Their behavior, occasionally destructive, upset their sisters and brothers.
The children had a mysterious disorder for which there was no known cause, no cure and nowhere else to turn. The problems brought parents together for mutual support, and they brought their children together. A few of the youngsters were virtual hermits who had no previous contact with their peers.
TRIBUTE TO PARENTS
From a gathering of six children in a Levittown basement in 1958, the Center for Developmental Disabilities has grown to the largest agency of its kind in metropolitan New York. The current staff of 450 serves 400 children and adults in 12 facilities.
Its phenomenal expansion is due in large part to parents - to the small but dynamic group who set the process in motion 42 years ago and to the hard working mothers and fathers who succeeded them and continue to follow their inspiring example. Parents fighting for their kids open doors quicker than professionals.
Because they spent more time doing the hard work of building the center than in keeping detailed records of who deserved credit, some names have disappeared from memory. but their accomplishments live on, not only in brick and mortar but in the hearts and souls of thousands of children and adults and their families.
In 1958 Freida and jack Rosen, Ruth Silvefine and other determined parents began a summer day camp for 15 children in a nursery in North Bellmore. Each family contributed a small sum to rent the quarters and buy simple supplies. Ella Linker and Anne Rizzardi of the east Meadow school district were the first teachers, working without pay.
The youngsters improved in small ways, but each was a giant step forward. The relief for parents was immeasurable; the few hours respite girded them with patients for the children's arrival home.
But what would happen when Autumn came? A tiny school was established in West Hempstead with five higher function children and a flexible program designed to each one's specific needs. Despite a fire which destroyed everything (arson) and caused a move to Oceanside, there was again success to report. With carefully kept academic records, the proof was definite. the pupils could and did improve in a school designed for them. A leading state official praised the founders "for recognizing an important need and creating a valuable facility."
In 1959, the parents rented an old farmhouse in Levittown and lovingly cleaned, repaired and painted it. They raised money by ringing doorbells and alerting the community to their needs. Enrollment expanded to 25 and professionals were hired to work with them.
Margaret Joan Shodell was the first administrative director. When she arrived, the frustrations of dealing with autism were compounded by the under financing, understaffing, and under organization at the Center. "Teachers heroically trying to teach without even a crayon available," dr. Shodell recalled.
She was ready to quit when she saw "The Miracle worker" on Broadway. Inspired by Anne Bancroft's portrayal of the magnificent strides Annie Sullivan made with Helen Keller, Dr. Shodell bought crayons with her own money, stayed for 18.5 years and made magnificent strides on her own.
A mother and grandmother, idealist and realist, teacher and public speaker, author and recognized expert in the field, this warm, wise and unpretentious healer was the guiding force in moving the Center into the mainstream of service to the developmentally disabled and earning it the recognition it deserved.
By 1960, the center's staff included eight assistant teachers, plus a psychiatric social worker and a consulting psychiatrist, both part time. There was an astronomy club and a games club for the children, who ranged from four to 15. There were able learners who could not cope with the unprotected environment of a regular school, and nonverbal youngsters whose capabilities could not be judged until months of exhaustive observations and tests. Nevertheless, the children learned - and the staff learned from them.
Several people were drawn to the Center by a Newsday story (April 8, 1958) by Bernie Bookbinder, a reporter who was so impressed that he bonded with the parents and gave freely of his time and talents to the cause. Many were moved by Newsday's photo of a handicapped child at the window of a washing machine, as if it were a TV. The agency drew its first national attention from a five page picture story in the Saturday Evening Post entitled "The Attic Children Go to School" Before the Center started it explained, some confused and ashamed parents used to hide disabled children in the attic.
In the early days, before there was even a penny of public support for the center, much of the fund raising was done by a group of Auxiliaries. These consisted primarily of generous women who were not related to the children but who took up their cause with great energy and creativity.
They not only raised money but they raised the consciousness level of the public and of public officials. they initiated activities from their homes and community contacts that made friends, acquaintances and eventually the State Legislature aware of the needs and rights of the youngsters. In those early days, The Auxiliaries performed an educational service, They were called the backbone of the Center.
Another main source of income, then as now, was the annual dinner dance, formally called the Children's fund ball. Pearl Williams was the driving force behind the early dances. And Alan king was often there, in shirtsleeves setting up tables, and then in a tux entertaining and introducing other big names like Harry Belafonte, Jack Benny, Joan Crawford, Robert Goulet, Gary Moore, Edie Gorme and Steve Lawrence.
THE WOODBURY CAMPUS
In the early 60s, Jack Brover and Rabbi Irving J. Rockoff began their unsurpassed years of service to the Center. With Pearl Williams and Jack Murphy, they were the driving force behind the dinner-dances for many years. In addition, the two friends made many influential contacts in business and government.
With others, they search for a substantial piece of land as a permanent home for the fast-growing center. Its approval as an accredited agency by the State Department of Mental Hygiene and the Nassau County Mental health Board made it eligible for some government financial assistance. Additional funds raised by parents and friends made possible the purchase of a property at 72 South Woods Rd in Woodbury. By 1963, the educational community had become aware of the great work going on in Woodbury. Students began coming to the Center to do field work in their chosen professions as teachers, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists. A major breakthrough occurred in 1964. The pleas of Center parents were heard in Albany. Senator ed Spano and Assemblymen Frank McCloskey, with the significant support of assembly Speaker Joseph Carlino, led the fight to amend the state Education Law and permit school districts to fund education for the emotionally disturbed children.
A new dream was born in 1965, when the Center submitted a proposal to the federal government for construction of a combined day and residential facility. Dr Rockoff chaired a committee which studied similar agencies across the country and developed a plan for construction of a combined day care and residential facility. By 1966, a federal grant was approved to pay 1/3 of the cost of a two-story building that included a 25 bed wing. The first inpatient community center for children in the country.
THE HICKSVILLE CAMPUS
As the agency grew out of its childhood years, so did the boys and girls it was established to serve. They were becoming adults and needed more than programs designed for children. Again the creative energies of the parents, staff and board of directors were up to the task. The Day Program for Adults began in Woodbury in 1974 and 11 years later moved to a large and adequate campus at 101 New South Road in Hicksville, New York.
The Center opened the States first group home for autistic adults in 1981. There are now 11 adult residences in operation, and the first group apartment opened in October, 1993 in Suffolk County.
For 35 years, the Center has been on the cutting edge in trying new therapies to help people with developmental disabilities. There is still no cure for autism, but many program participants continue to improve in small ways. And some to take giant steps. Hope springs eternal.
When the Center started in 1958, our children were alone. There were no protecting legislation affording them public education, no schools devoted to their needs, no organization to care for them. In fact there was nothing. 42 years later, that blank sheet has been filled in. And there is a well developed blueprint for the future.
12/18/03 09:39:49 PM