Haring Center

1. Our Founders

Much like parents instill values in their children, Dr. Norris Haring and Dr. Alice Hayden imprinted the behavior and ideals in the Experimental Education Unit (EEU) that permeate our hallways today. The two pillars of the Haring Center were each directors of the EEU, where they focused on their passions for early intervention studies as a crucial force in the outcome of every child.

In the early 1980s, children with Down syndrome who participated in an early intervention program developed by UW researchers became the first students to enter an inclusive program with typically developing students in Seattle Public Schools.

Dr. Haring was committed to ensuring that all children have the best chance to succeed in school. In order to accomplish this goal, children had to remain in school. As the first director of the EEU, Dr. Haring helped create the first pathways for children with disabilities to become self-sufficient and successful. A University of Washington faculty for nearly 40 years, Dr. Haring spend his career proving that early interventions can have drastic impacts in school retention, not just in knowledge acquisition but in social aspects of school as well. Inclusion is imperative to making sure that children remained in the least restricted classroom, where they could receive the interventions they needed while learning a curriculum that did not leave them behind.

These ideas were on the forefront of the time, as many children were being expelled from schools for a variety of reasons – some of which did not include academic performance or disciplinary issues. Under Norris’ leadership, the EEU was one of the first programs in the country that worked to meet the needs of children with learning and developmental disabilities.

Dr. Alice Hayden founded the Alice H. Hayden Preschool Program at the EEU that emphasized inclusion. Detecting disability at birth and advocating for intervention thereafter were what drove her career. In 1967, Dr. Hayden, Dr. Haring, and others including Patricia Oelwein and Val Dmitriv collaborated on research about the education of children with Down syndrome, ultimately publishing the groundbreaking discovery that children with Down syndrome can read and learn.

In the early 1980s, children with Down syndrome who participated in an early intervention program developed by U.W. researchers became the first students to enter an inclusive program with typically developing students in Seattle Public Schools.

The legacy of both of our founders lives on in the Haring Center and the field of special education across the country. Dr. Haring served as the founding president of TASH, the first international organization devoted to addressing the needs of people with severe disabilities. Dr. Hayden was also a founder and former director of TASH. Each year a graduate student is presented with the Alice H. Hayden Emerging Leader Award for demonstration of potential leadership in teaching and service. Recently, Dr. Haring and his wife, Dorothy, endowed a fellowship to support graduate students in special education who work and study at the Haring Center.

Although Drs. Haring and Hayden are not still roaming the halls of the Haring Center, their leadership and inspiration is felt here everyday. We are certainly standing on the shoulders of giants who helped to demonstrate that all children, regardless of their ability, have the right to a free, appropriate, and inclusive education.