Over 50 years of the Children's Centre

Sociopaediatrics has been looking into the subjects of child health and sickness for years, attempting to understand the inner and outer influences on the health and development of children and young people and to apply these factors to promoting and supporting child development.

Sociopaediatrics plays a crucial role in the treatment and preventive health care of children and young people. One of its most important tasks is the careful assessment of the physical, motor, speech, cognitive and social development of children and the determination of precise indications for support measures and therapy based on age and development tasks. All parents are familiar with this preventive health care through the U1 to U9 child health care examinations.

The scientific work carried out by Munich paediatrician Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. mult. Theodor Hellbrügge (1919 – 2014) on aftercare models for extremely premature children and on the treatment of children with genetic syndromes or chronic illnesses was pioneering in this respect. In 1968, he founded the world's first sociopaediatric centre in Munich, which was a milestone in the German health care system in terms of the treatment of children with developmental disorders and multiple disabilities.

Many more sociopaediatric centres were established in Germany in the years that followed, based on the model of the Children's Centre.

In these times of interdisciplinary cooperation, specialists in medicine, psychology, therapy and educational theory work closely, hand in hand, to treat children and young people with developmental disorders and disabilities and to develop good prospects for the future for them and their families.

After its foundation in 1968 the various facilities (clinic, SPZ, school) were initially spread across the entire city.

In 1989, Theodor Hellbrügge's vision of bringing together all the facilities under one roof became reality with the dedication of today's Children's Centre in Heiglhofstraße in Munich-Großhadern.

Since 01.01.2007, the Children's Centre has been run under the trusteeship of the kbo (Clinics of Upper Bavaria), and since 01.01.2009 it has been a non-profit limited liability company under the umbrella of kbo-Kommunalunternehmen (kbo municipal enterprises).