Variety Child Learning Center Opens Second Location

Variety Child Learning Center, a Long Island school for children with special needs, recently opened a second location. The new location, in Levittown, offers a school-age special education program and plans to open an integrated preschool class, as well as a child care center.

Variety Child Learning Center students spend some time with a therapy dog.

Variety Child Learning Center has been working with students with special needs and their families since 1966. The school, which was founded on the premise that early intervention and parent involvement will impact the child's development, offers half-day and full-day programs for children ages 2-8 with learning, language, social, and behavioral disabilities, including autism. Originally located in Syosset, the center opened its second location in Levittown last month.

While the Syosset location offers early intervention and preschool special education classes, the Levittown location offers the center's school-age special education program. The new location will also host the center's integrated preschool class, which is scheduled to open in January 2015, and a licensed child care center for ages 6 weeks to 5 years, which is scheduled to open within the next few months. VCLC also offers support services and education workshops for parents, and provides special education, instruction, and related therapies on-site and in homes, child care, and preschool settings.

Variety Child Learning Center is also an evaluation center approved by the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Education Department. If a parent suspects their child may have a special need, they should contact their county's Department of Health for children younger than 3 or their school district for children older than 3 to get a referral for an evaluation.