The Devereux Early Childhood Regional Training Center

Children, Inc. partners with the Devereux Foundation’s Early Childhood Initiative to provide nationally certified Devereux training, technical assistance, product development, and program evaluation on the Devereux model. The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) Program is a strength-based system designed to promote resilience in children two-five. The DECA-IT (Infant-Toddler) Program serves children birth through three.

Through the program, early childhood professionals and families learn specific strategies to promote young children’s social and emotional development. Because it is strength-based, the DECA program is beneficial for all children and should be used to build the child’s protective factors, specifically attachment, initiative and self-control. The DECA program provides a nationally-normed standardized instrument to assess these protective factors and interventions at the group and individual level to increase these factors. The DECA Program encourages strong family involvement and continuous quality improvement.