To mark the renovation of an on-campus playground for children with special needs, the Institute for Child Development held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Tuesday.

Founded in 1974, the institute cares for children with developmental disabilities, offering educational and diagnostic programs like the Children’s Unit for Treatment and Evaluation, a state approved education school for children with autism, and the Child and Adolescent Diagnostic & Consultation Clinic, which provides diagnostic evaluations for young children and adolescents.

Opened in 2008, the Social Learning Center is an outdoor space built to help children “learn recreational skills and support motor development in a community-like setting,” according to its website.

The ceremony, held at the playground, was dedicated to Timothy Myers, a University Foundation board member who helped create the Social Learning Center and who passed away in July 2021. Funded by the Myers family and community donations, the playground aims to provide a safe and inclusive space for children on the autism spectrum. President Harvey Stenger, staff at the institute and friends and family of patrons came to support the ceremony.

Stenger said the playground environment provides young children a space to learn valuable skills like sharing, competition and making friends. He encouraged workers and staff to keep using the space to support children’s learning.

“To point out those learning moments to our young people is such a great feeling,” Stenger said. “Look at one of them and say, ‘That was really nice, that was really skillful how you did that.’ And also there’s that learning of, ‘Well, maybe you shouldn’t have done it that way, and maybe you should have tried a little different approach.’”

“So we now have this beautiful outdoor classroom, learning center, that we can celebrate Tim, celebrate the Myers family,” he continued.

The renovated center offers new play and enrichment opportunities, including a miniature golf course and new “merry-go-round playground equipment for children of all abilities” (8). Around 70 children aged 3 to 12 play at the facility during the school year.

The institute’s co-directors, Jennifer Gillis Mattson ’99, MA ’02, Ph.D. ’06 and Raymond Romanczyk, its original founder, attended the ceremony.

Kim Myers, a Broome County legislator member of the University Foundation board and wife of Tim Myers, recalled a conversation Tim had about children at the institute who lacked access to a playground with special equipment, which he said was an “injustice.”

The institute also operates the Binghamton Regional Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, which conducts research and provides training and support to families, helping the community “learn more about autism and how best to support autistic children and adolescents,” per its website. BU hosts one of six similar regional sites in the New York statewide system.

“It’s always been a cornerstone of what the University is all about, in terms of helping the underprivileged,” said Sheila Doyle, executive director of the Binghamton University Foundation and Stenger’s deputy chief of staff. “The Autism Program is significant and well-known throughout the state.”

Doyle added that Tim Myers, one of her friends, “made it his job” to ensure that children with autism could play and enjoy common childhood activities.

Stenger said the University will direct $20,000 from its discretionary endowment for playground maintenance and will match up to “another $10,000 to anyone who wants to contribute.”

“There’s no feeling better than waking up in the morning and [you] can’t wait to get to work, to be part of programs, to helping kids, teaching undergraduates, graduate students, working with great community partners,” Romanczyk said. “It’s just fantastic.”