The Child Development Specialist evaluates children's developmental needs and provides therapy and consultation services to families and educators. They also develop individualized plans of care and collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to support children's development.
Requirements summary
A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is required, with a Master’s degree preferred. Candidates must have at least two years of experience, including one year working with infants or toddlers with special needs.
If you are a current Staff, Faculty or Temporary employee at the University of Miami, please click here to log in to Workday to use the internal application process. To learn how to apply for a faculty or staff position, please review this tip sheet. The University of Miami Health System, "UHealth", Department of Pediatrics-Early Steps has an exciting opportunity for a Full-Time Child Development Specialist to work in Miami. The Child Development Specialist works with children, their parents, and educators in assessing a child’s development needs, deficiencies, and goals. Moreover, this position offers parents and caretakers advice on how to best overcome the challenges presented by developmental issues.
Core
Responsibilities: Provides evaluations, reports, goals, direct therapy, and consultation services. Implements services and activities for children with a variety of developmental and diagnostic indicators. Delivers consultation services to parents, caregivers, teachers, and community specialists and professionals regarding client progress and recommendations. Assists children with physical, social, and behavioral needs. Maintains effective communications with parents. Preserves confidentiality while communicating with parents and other departments about individual children and family needs and progress. Ensures all licensing regulations are complied with at all times. Inputs patient data into appropriate computer systems in a timely manner. Adheres to University and unit-level policies and procedures and safeguards University assets.
Department
Specific
Functions: Participates as a team member in the evaluation and ongoing assessment of children’s developmental functioning using formal and informal testing measures and tools to examine the cognitive, gross/fine motor development, language, social-emotional, and self-help skills of infants and toddlers at risk for or presenting with developmental delays. Assessment focuses on use of standardized psychological measures of development. Provides services in natural environment, i.e. in the home and community, to play a pivotal role in providing and/or coordinating early intervention services to the family within the community. Provides direct instruction to families and other caregivers on strategies to meet identified individualized needs and outcomes as written on the IFSP. Works in a leadership role to assess, plan, provide, coordinate, and evaluate early intervention services and strategies in a natural environment using a consultative approach. Interprets developmental/medical assessment and evaluation results for families as part of a team. Interpret results of assessments under the supervision of a Ph.D. Psychologist. Develops an individualized plan of care including natural environments based on child and family assessments and the Individualized Family Support Plan (IFSP) as part of a team. Implement individualized developmental plans with infants and children 0-3 and/or their parents via individualized intervention sessions. Participates in updating and implementing the IFSP. Provide direct instruction to families and other caregivers on strategies to meet identified individualized needs and outcomes as written on the IFSP. Collaborates with multidisciplinary team to determine the best available service for the child/parent within the community. Educates parents about the child’s strengths and weaknesses and developmental needs by participating in the Family Support Planning Process. Evaluates developmental progress as necessary to determine efficiency of interventions.
Benefits
Medical
Dental
Tuition Remission
CORE
QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor’s degree in early childhood or early childhood/special education, child and family development, family life specialist, communication sciences, psychology, or social work is required or Master’s degree preferred. Certification in relevant specialty or field Bilingual Spanish or Creole preferred. Minimum 2 years of experience; At least one year of experience working with infants and/or toddlers with special needs and/or developmental delays and their families is required. Ability to maintain effective interpersonal relationships. Ability to communicate effectively in both oral and written form. Ability to process and handle confidential information with discretion. Commitment to the University’s core values. Any appropriate combination of relevant education, experience and/or certifications may be considered. #LI-AS1 The University of Miami offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, tuition remission and more. UHealth-University of Miami Health System, South Florida's only university-based health system, provides leading-edge patient care powered by the ground breaking research and medical education at the Miller School of Medicine. As an academic medical center, we are proud to serve South Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean. Our physicians represent more than 100 specialties and sub-specialties, and have more than one million patient encounters each year. Our tradition of excellence has earned worldwide recognition for outstanding teaching, research and patient care. We're the challenge you've been looking for. The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination based on certain categories protected by Federal law.
Job Status
Full time Employee Type: Staff The mission of the University of Miami is to transform lives through education, research, innovation, and service. A vibrant and diverse academic and healthcare community, the University of Miami and the University of Miami Health System ("UHealth") have rapidly progressed to become one of the nation’s top research universities and academic medical centers in the nation. The University comprises 12 schools and colleges serving undergraduate and graduate students in more than 350 majors and programs. Visit welcome.miami.edu/about-um to learn more about our points of pride. The University ranks No. 55 on U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Colleges list and ranked No. 49 in the 2022 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is ranked the #1 eye hospital in the USA and offers some of the nation's premiere eye doctors to treat every eye condition for adults. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer, part of the Miller School of Medicine, received the prestigious National Cancer Institute designation in 2019. The University of Miami and UHealth have also ranked among the Forbes Best Employers and Best Employers for Women on several occasions, most recently in 2022. With more than 17,000 faculty and staff, the University strives for excellence, and is driven by a powerful mission to transform and impact the lives of its students, patients, members of the community, and people across the globe. The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination based on certain categories protected by Federal law.
Market context
Florida child development roles stay selective
In Florida, Child Development Specialist roles typically see steady demand in early intervention, childcare, and pediatric support settings, especially for candidates with infant or toddler special-needs experience. These positions are competitive because employers often want a bachelor’s degree, prefer a master’s, and value at least two years of experience. Review the AI-summarized requirements and benefits here to save research time, then tailor your application to highlight hands-on work with young children and special needs.
