Mission & History
The McCarton Foundation is dedicated to increasing the educational opportunities for children with autism and making a better life for them and their families.
The McCarton Foundation was founded in 2002 by Cecelia McCarton, M.D., who is internationally recognized for her research on children with developmental disabilities, as well as her success in treating these children. While working with families of children with autism spectrum disorders, Dr. McCarton became keenly aware of the frustration families experienced in trying to obtain appropriate educational services for their loved ones. She also noted that the crisis in childhood autism education was worsening.
The number of children diagnosed with autism grew from 1 in 1,000 in 1993 to 1 in 150 today, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Faced with this crisis, Dr. McCarton established the McCarton Foundation to reach more of those many children with autism who are deprived of appropriate treatment and educational instruction. Since 2002, Dr. McCarton and her staff have helped hundreds of children make gains by use of an integrated model of speech, behavioral, and occupational therapies.
The McCarton Foundation has actively supported the development of three key initiatives: The McCarton School, which provides a model program for educating children with autism and has more than doubled its enrollment since 2002; The McCarton Center for Research, which partners with the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University to create, implement, and report on applied research studies in autism education; and The McCarton Training Institute, which is a training and consultation source for practitioners, caregivers, and families.