Children’s Learning and Research Center

The Children’s Learning and Research Center (CLRC) is a teacher training and research center at Old Dominion University (ODU) that provides childcare for children from 8 weeks to 5 years old. The center consists of two buildings, CLRC 1, located on 47th Street between Monarch Way and Killam Avenue, is dedicated to infants and toddlers while CLRC 2, located at the corner of 45th Street and Hampton Boulevard in the Lions Club Child Study Center, is dedicated to preschool children and contains the Speech and Hearing Clinic as well as the Department of Communication Disorders and Special Education.

History

Big Blue at the Child Study Center, 1990s

In 1955, the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary established a pilot project to see if a speech and hearing center would be justified on campus. Dr. Reuben Cooper, head of the speech department, oversaw the program, which included both diagnosis and therapy to those referred by the Norfolk Division as well as the community. Funding was initially supported by the Ward’s Corner Lions Club to the sum of $500 a year for three years. In September 1958, funding for the center was incorporated into the Norfolk Division’s budget, becoming a permanent clinic. Although referred to as the Speech Center from 1955 to 1958, during this time, there were services both both speech and hearing impairments. Originally sharing a room with the speech department in the Old Larchmont School building, in 1958, the clinic moved into a cottage given by the City of Norfolk at 4904 Bluestone Avenue.

With funding from the Kiwanis and Lions Clubs, ODU created the Lions Club Child Study Center in 1967 to offer hearing and speech clinics as well as training for teachers of visually handicapped children. In 1993, an addition to the Child Study Center was completed giving much needed space to the expanding program. In 2018, a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility, CLRC 1, was completed on 47th Street.

Resources

  1. Old Dominion University Photographic and Multimedia Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Perry Library, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, 23529.
  2. ODU Photographic Collection, Old Dominion University Libraries Digital Collections, Old Dominion University Libraries.
  3. Building the University, Old Dominion University Libraries Digital Exhibit, 2005.

References

  1. Bookman, Steven and Jessica Ritchie. Old Dominion University: A Campus History Series.  Arcadia Publishing. Charleston, South Carolina, 2017.
  2. Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary and Old Dominion College Collection Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

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