NEW YORK—The McCarton Foundation, a center for children with autism, held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday to launch its new expanded center in Chelsea.
Cardinal Edward Egan, and McCarton School Founder and Executive Director Ceccelia McCarton M.D. joined teachers, students, parents, and community leaders for the ceremony.
“After an intensive and lengthy search, we are delighted to have found an ideal new home that will enable us to serve more children, while also expanding our training and research efforts,” stated Dr. McCarton in a press release.
Children diagnosed with autism in 1993 numbered 1 in 1,000. In 2009, 1 in 91 American children are diagnosed with the disorder, including 1 in 58 boys.
To place in context the number of autism cases, only 1 in 1,200 children are diagnosed with Leukemia, 1 in 100,000 are diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy, 1 in 300 with AIDS and 1 in 500 are diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes.
The new school will feature 14 classrooms, an auditorium, occupational therapy gymnasium, library, office space, cafeteria, and an outdoor play area in the former St. Columbia Catholic School. The new school is housed in a historic building with 30,000 square feet of space, which is more than triple the amount in their previous space.
It is now the largest school in the New York metropolitan area that provides a one-to-one model of therapy that combines speech and language therapy, motor skills training, and peer interaction.
To meet this rising demand for autism education the McCarton Foundation has increased its enrollment over the past seven years from 12 to 32, and aims to eventually provide 50 students aged 3-18 with individualized education in the new facility. To maintain its ratio of one-to-one student to teacher ratio the schools has increased its staff to more than 50 full time employees and hired additional therapists for afternoon classes and groups.
Cardinal Edward Egan, and McCarton School Founder and Executive Director Ceccelia McCarton M.D. joined teachers, students, parents, and community leaders for the ceremony.
“After an intensive and lengthy search, we are delighted to have found an ideal new home that will enable us to serve more children, while also expanding our training and research efforts,” stated Dr. McCarton in a press release.
Children diagnosed with autism in 1993 numbered 1 in 1,000. In 2009, 1 in 91 American children are diagnosed with the disorder, including 1 in 58 boys.
To place in context the number of autism cases, only 1 in 1,200 children are diagnosed with Leukemia, 1 in 100,000 are diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy, 1 in 300 with AIDS and 1 in 500 are diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes.
The new school will feature 14 classrooms, an auditorium, occupational therapy gymnasium, library, office space, cafeteria, and an outdoor play area in the former St. Columbia Catholic School. The new school is housed in a historic building with 30,000 square feet of space, which is more than triple the amount in their previous space.
It is now the largest school in the New York metropolitan area that provides a one-to-one model of therapy that combines speech and language therapy, motor skills training, and peer interaction.
To meet this rising demand for autism education the McCarton Foundation has increased its enrollment over the past seven years from 12 to 32, and aims to eventually provide 50 students aged 3-18 with individualized education in the new facility. To maintain its ratio of one-to-one student to teacher ratio the schools has increased its staff to more than 50 full time employees and hired additional therapists for afternoon classes and groups.
