Baylor and McLane Children's Scott & White partner to open Center for Developmental Disabilities

In an effort to provide expanded assessment and therapy services for Central Texas children with developmental disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders, Baylor University and McLane Children’s Scott & White has launched the Baylor University Center for Developmental Disabilities (BCDD) at Hillcrest MacArthur Center, 2201 MacArthur Dr., in Waco. An April 1 ceremony coincided with the first day of National Autism Awareness Month.

Baylor President and Chancellor Ken Starr; Drayton McLane Jr., BBA ’58, chair of the board of trustees for Scott & White Healthcare and Baylor Regent Emeritus; and Dr. John Boyd III, chief executive officer and chief medical officer at McLane Children’s Scott & White, commended the collaborative effort that made the BCDD a reality.

“The Center represents and embodies collaboration,” Starr said. “For families with children with developmental disabilities, it’s just a challenge, and it’s an everyday, almost every moment challenge. So what a blessing this is. This is great science and great humanity, all rolled into one, and we call it collaboration.”

McLane and Boyd both noted the collaboration between Baylor and McLane Children’s Scott & White is about improving the quality of life for children with developmental disabilities.

“If we looked at this a year ago, Temple was Scott & White, Waco was Baylor University and Dallas was Baylor Health Care, all separate institutions, and we had a children’s hospital that was just coming out of the ground,” McLane said. “And then we are here today on the first of April 2014, and we have super teamwork. They say all of politics is local. This is local. This is fitting in to Central Texas and bringing development to youngsters and families that need it. I’ve been overwhelmed by what I’ve seen today. It’s going to make a huge difference in Central Texas.”

“This Center is just an example of once again us partnering with Baylor University to make a resource for our children and families in the community,” Boyd said. “Children with developmental disabilities have been ignored for many, many years, and we can make a dent in the future so these children and their families will have better lives. On behalf of McLane Children’s Hospital and Clinics, I thank my colleagues at Baylor University and look forward to the success of the Center.”

The BCDD combines the support of a major healthcare system in Scott & White with Baylor University’s educational and health services and programs to serve children with development disabilities and their families in Waco and the Central Texas region. The Center combines service providers in one central location to synchronize services and provide better coordination and communication for children and families.

“This project was motivated by the goal of providing coordinated health and educational services for children with developmental and behavioral disabilities and their families,” said Dr. Jon Engelhardt, dean of Baylor’s School of Education. “One of its main purposes is to help parents have easy access to relevant services without having to discover where such services are located, among a myriad of agencies and locations spread across the community.”

The Center concentrates on addressing complex issues of children with developmental disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), through its cooperative research, educational and service programs. The Center also serves as a training venue for Baylor students, who are preparing for related professional careers, also to provide services for children.

The Center currently is composed of three clinics within two divisions: The Behavioral and Educational Services Division contains the Baylor Autism Resource Clinic (BARC) and the Clinic for Assessment, Research and Education (CARE), while the Speech Language Pathology Division houses the Speech and Language Clinic.

BARC services include various disability assessments, social skills groups, autism summer day camp, resource and material library, special education consultation and advocacy services. CARE provides functional behavior evaluations, behavioral therapy, parent and educational consultation, and educational assessments.

The Speech and Language Clinic mirrors the services it provides on the Baylor campus by providing comprehensive evaluation and treatment for patients with difficulties in communication processes or swallowing. The range of services includes: screenings, consultation regarding communication delays and disorders, comprehensive evaluations and treatment for speech language, and hearing habilitation and rehabilitation.

The BCDD intends to provide opportunities for interdisciplinary research by combining expertise in medicine, education, psychology, speech and language, among other disciplines.