The Start Of Something Big!

I am thrilled to announce that I am the Co-Head, and Clinical Director of a spectacular new school, Shrub Oak International School! It is a co-educational, boarding and day school located in the town of Shrub Oak in Westchester County, NY, on 127 acres of beautiful rolling fields and woods. For me, it is a dream come true!

I have traveled in this country and internationally over the last many years, and I have looked at all kinds of developmental programs for students with autism spectrum disorders, and I have seen what makes them work, and what makes them not work so well. I have noticed, again and again, that if all other things are equal, one of the factors that makes a program successful is ROOM, and lots of it! When a program does not have enough room, and students do not have access to nature, things do not go well. Shrub Oak has those things in abundance. Not that space is the only advantage, but if you don’t have space, if your students are crammed into small classrooms and you cannot get them outside to play in nature, you are in big trouble!

I am so excited to be able to take the beautiful campus, with it’s fields and forests, its Equestrian Center, its pool, and especially its organic farm (with my son Glenn as its steward) and use these spaces to supply sensible, effective developmental clinical programs, in the way I have always dreamed to supply them.

There are, of course, a million other things to say, like the ages of the students (middle school and high school), the number of students (390 boarding and day), the number of staff (about 600) and details about the amazing programs and curriculums. But, all of that will have to wait, and as you can imagine, I will be talking here a lot about the school’s development from now to opening in September, 2018.

For now, I just want to say how proud I am to be a part of this project, and how thrilled I am at being able to make my dream school a reality!