The original group of UCEDDs was limited in number and no new UCEDDs were added through the 1970s. In 1977 DDO issued a call for proposals for feasibility studies to create five new UCEDDs, each of which would be tied to an existing UCEDD. They would be called UAF Satellite Centers. Dr. Davidson approached Allen C. Crocker, MD, director of the Developmental Evaluation Clinic, the UCEDD at Boston Children's Hospital, to discuss an application for a UAF Satellite Center in Rochester. Drs. Smith and Crocker knew each other well and had been research collaborators at Harvard. With Dr. Smith's encouragement, Drs. Crocker and Davidson applied for a UAF Satellite Feasibility Study that was funded in 1977. The Feasibility Study included a regionwide needs assessment that built the foundation for a strong link between the Medical Center and the Community. It also enabled collaborations between the Department of Pediatrics, otherMedical Centers, other units of the University of Rochester, or other local university departments to create an interdisciplinary team. In 1978, DDO funded Rochester and four other applicants as Satellite Centers, including programs in Vermont, Montana, Hawaii, and the Navaho Nation. All these programs had the missions of developing training and exemplary services in IDD for their regions, to provide technical assistance to their communities and to disseminate evidence-based information pertaining to best practices. (In later iterations of federal mandates, the requirement for dissemination was expanded to include applied research designed to improve the delivery of services and supports). No new Feasibility Study grants were made until 1984 (Davidson & Fifield, 1985); so, Rochester’s timing was fortuitous.

The DCDD was renamed the University Affiliated DCDD or UADCDD in 1978. Dr. Davidson was the Principal Investigator and the primary psychologist. The original group was comprised of a combination of DCDD faculty members William G. Kenney. MD (Pediatrics), and Ms. Jansma (Education), with School Health Programs personnel Ruth J. Rockowitz (now Messinger), ACSW (Social Work), and Christine M. Burns, EdM, MBA (Education).