Our Programs

Dan L. Duncan Children's Neurodevelopmental Clinic
The Dan L. Duncan Children's Neurodevelopmental Clinic's mission is to enhance children's opportunities for successful living by providing them with individualized research-based clinical services. A highly unique aspect is our focus on continuing to find the most effective approaches for correcting child developmental and learning problems through a Clinic structure that allows our research to inform the our practices.

CIRCLE Professional Development
The nationally recognized CIRCLE (Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education) framework, which includes teacher resources and mentoring, was created by CLI. The CIRCLE Professional Development program offers a research-proven, effective curriculum; places mentors in classrooms to help train and guide teachers through the curriculum; gives teachers access to the Web-based Professional Development program; and provides teachers with the ability to monitor the progress of each child.

Play and Learning Strategies (PALS)
The PALS curriculum, developed by faculty at CLI, teaches parents specific skills for interacting with their infants and toddlers that lead to better child outcomes, particularly in children from high-risk families. The program is designed to be facilitated by a trained parent educator who presents each session to the parent(s) and coaches the parent(s) in utilizing the specific techniques.

Reach Out and Read Texas (ROR-TX)
ROR is a national pediatric literacy program dedicated to making early literacy a standard part of pediatric primary healthcare. ROR's mission is to make early literacy a standard part of pediatric primary healthcare in Texas. Pediatricians encourage parents to read aloud to their young children and distribute books to their patients at all wellness check-ups from six months to five years of age. There are 1,200 pediatricians participating across Texas.

Research and Data Analysis Work Group
Research is the foundation of the Children's Learning Institute. A large research database on early childhood has been developed from numerous competitive research grants supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), private foundations, and UT-Houston. The Data Analysis Work Group (DAWG) is instrumental in the management and analysis of data.  The faculty and staff of DAWG are experts in the design of research studies, development and evaluation of assessment instruments, and statistical analyses including general linear and nonlinear mixed models, structural equation models, and generalized linear models.

Texas Head Start State Collaboration Office
Head Start is a Federal-State partnership begun in 1965 to promote healthy development in young children. In 1990, the Texas Head Start State Collaboration Office was created and funded to improve collaboration among Texas schools, social service agencies and other community programs related to or involved with early childhood education. There are seven priorities: education, family literacy, children with disabilities, health, childcare, community service, and welfare.

Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI)
TPRI is a scientifically proven effective assessment tool developed by faculty at CLI. The TPRI provides a comprehensive picture of a student's reading and language arts development from kindergarten through third grade as well as a balanced and reliable approach to reading instruction.

Texas Reading First Initiative
The Texas Reading First Initiative (TRFI) is part of the federal Reading First Initiative established through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This federal initiative is designed to provide professional development for teachers to implement scientifically-based reading programs, and to ensure accountability through ongoing, valid and reliable screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments. The overall goal is to help all students achieve reading mastery by the end of third grade.

Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development and the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM)
The State Center directs the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM) initiative. TEEM encourages shared resources among government-funded public and private child-care programs including non-profit and for-profit childcare centers, public school districts and Head Start. Key ingredients include: a partnership among childcare and early education programs, implementing a teacher training program (CIRCLE Professional Development), using research-based, state approved curriculum, and implementing a quality rating system to certify early childhood education programs as getting children ready for formal schooling.