title: CDC Kerala--The Untold Story.
abstract: This article is our life time experience in conceptualizing and systematically developing Child Development Centre (CDC) Kerala in the last 25 years, from a research project to a national training centre in child and adolescent development and premarital counseling. CDC Kerala's major contribution was in creating a 'conceptual framework' of a valid link between childhood disability, low birth weight, adolescent girls' nutrition and fetal onset adult lifestyle diseases. It all started with a randomized controlled trial (RCT) proving beyond doubt that early stimulation is effective in improving the neurodevelopmental status of high risk babies at one and two years and the same cohort was followed-up in detail at 5, 13, 16, 19 and 24 completed years. The process of establishing CDC Kerala is being presented under (i) clinical child development, (ii) adolescent care counseling, (iii) young adults and premarital counseling and (iv) institution building.
authors.affiliation: Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India. cdcmkc@gmail.com.|Child Development Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. cdcmkc@gmail.com.
authors.forename: M K C
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India.|Child Development Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Leena Mundapalliyil
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Leela
authors.affiliation: Child Development Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Babu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: Child Development Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Deepa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhaskaran
authors.affiliation: Child Development Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Asokan Nataraja
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Pillai
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiodiagnosis, Govt. TD Medical College, Alappuzha, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Harikumaran Nair Gopinathan Nair
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Sarasamma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002657:Child Development; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013663:Teaching; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent care counselling; Child Development Centre; Early stimulation; High risk baby