History of FPG Disability Research and Outreach

Since its inception in 1966, investigators at the FPG Child Development Institute have had a significant focus on children with disabilities and their families. Some major events in the history of disability research and services at FPG include:

1966	FPG played a central role in a successful UNC-CH application to establish a Mental Retardation Research Center, funded by the NICHD. This grant, now housed in the medical school, has been continuously funded since that time, and FPG investigators still play an important role in the center’s work.
1972	The Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (now the Office of Special Education Programs) funded TADS at FPG, a technical assistance program to help support model demonstration programs for children with disabilities. Now known as NECTAC, this project has been continuously funded since this time, and now works with all states to help implement early childhood components of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
1974	The Abecedarian Project was initiated. This study randomly assigned children from low-income families to receive high quality early intervention in a child care setting from infancy through age five, to promote school success and minimize the need for special education services. Follow-up studies have clearly demonstrated that children who received the intervention had higher test scores and were less likely to need special education. Investigators are now concluding the age-30 follow-up of this sample.
1977	FPG was awarded the first in a series of early childhood research center grants from the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. The first center grant (1977-1982) developed curriculum materials and studied various aspects of inclusion and families, as well as special education policy. The second center grant (1982-1987) focused on families of children with disabilities, developing a model of working with families and studying parent-child interaction. The third center grant (1987-1992) focused on issues in preparing personnel to work with infants with disabilities and their families.
1984	The FPG Childcare Program, for the first time, admitted 8 children with disabilities and began to develop and demonstrate ways to include children with disabilities in childcare. The inclusion of children with disabilities has remained a major focus of the Family and Childcare Program since this time. A series of investigators have studied the effects of inclusion on families, developed guidelines for individualizing inclusion, field-tested curriculum materials, studied communication patterns, developed a model for including young children with autism, and studied the nature and effects of inclusion.
1985	A small grant from the North Carolina Developmental Disabilities Project established the Infant Care Project, designed to help childcare programs integrate children with disabilities. The project’s success led to a partnership with several state agencies that quickly grew into what is now known as Partners for Inclusion. This project, funded by several state agencies, engages in a variety of activities to support the inclusion of young children with disabilities across North Carolina, and has regional offices across the state.
1987	FPG received its first major grant to help support faculty at other colleges and universities prepare professionals to serve young children with disabilities. Since then a series of important projects have been funded to help build state-based faculty teams and to support interdisciplinary training efforts in institutions of higher education, including community colleges. Also institute investigators have developed materials to assist with professional development, as exemplified by a current project developing materials to help faculty teach students about young children with vision impairments.
1993	FPG received its first grant to study children with fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of mental retardation. This grant formed the basis of a longitudinal study that is still underway, and has led to numerous other grants focusing on topics such as communication development, family adaptation, ethical issues, and newborn screening.
2001	FPG investigators developed a strategic plan for the institute. The document recognized the continued need for research and outreach that would support the earlier identification of children with disabilities so that they could receive appropriate services as early as possible, with the ultimate goal of maximizing long-term outcomes for children and families.

Today the institute has more than 25 funded projects engaged in research, training, outreach, and technical assistance related to children with disabilities. These projects reflect a diverse array of activities consistent with the themes that have driven our work over the past 40 years.