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Dr. Matthew Israel, Founder of Judge Rotenberg Center, Announces Retirement
JRC is a residential educational program in Canton, MA for special needs children and adults many of whom suffer from life-threatening behavior disorders. Under Dr. Israel’s direction, JRC has grown to a program that serves 225 clients with a staff of over 850 full-time employees. Many JRC clients were considered untreatable before their admission to JRC. These children and young adults have received life saving behavioral treatment from Dr. Israel and JRC staff, essentially eliminating the use of psychotropic drugs. Thousands of patients have benefited from JRC’s services and hundreds have credited Dr. Israel with saving their child’s life.
“I am now almost 78 years old, and it is time for me to move over and let others take the reins,” Dr. Israel wrote in a letter to the JRC Board of Directors. Dr. Israel received a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University and trained as a behavioral psychologist under world-renowned Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner. Under Dr. Israel’s leadership, JRC has treated the most difficult behaviors in the nation, often children and young adults who had been confined to psychiatric hospitals because their behavior disorders could not be effectively treated. “Matthew Israel is not only one of the most important figures in behavioral psychology, but he is a heroic figure to the thousands of families who walked through these doors with JRC as their last thread of hope,” said JRC board member Margaret Vaughan, a recently retired professor of psychology at Salem State College. “He had the conviction and courage to develop and perfect intensive behavioral therapies because he knew he could save lives and restore hope to these families. He will be greatly missed, but his life’s work will continue to flourish as will these clients who had nowhere else to go but to JRC.” Among the achievements at JRC of which he was proud, Dr. Israel often remarked on the center’s “near-zero rejection/expulsion policy” where even the most violent and unmanageable behaviors were welcomed and treated. Family Testimonials News that Dr. Israel was retiring from JRC was greeted with a mixture of sadness and admiration from many longtime - and even more recent – JRC parents who credit Dr. Israel and JRC for saving their child’s life. Longtime school parent Louisa Goldberg of Newton recalled how her son Andrew was expelled from a treatment program in New Hampshire 11 years ago and was then delivered to her in the parking lot of the Newton Wellesley Hospital. “I didn’t know what to do or where to go. We were desperate and my child was in trouble,” she recalled. “Dr. Israel’s pioneering efforts have given our child back his life and we are extremely grateful for all that he has done for the school and for our family.” When the Emmick family arrived at JRC three years ago from Boxford, MA with their daughter Lian, then 17, they were at their wit’s end with no other program willing to take Lian because of her often violent outbursts toward others. “We weren’t sure that JRC was the right place for Lian,” says her mother Lauren Emmick. Within seven months, said Lauren, Lian’s therapy began to pay dividends and “finally this happy child emerged. We had never seen her happy before and we have Dr. Israel and JRC to thank for that,” Said Lauren. The Casoria family from Whitestone, NY is among the many families with a long affiliation with JRC. Carlo A. Casoria said that without JRC to turn to in 1981, his daughter Janine, now 40, “may not be with us today, or perhaps if she had miraculously survived she would be in the back wards of a urine-infested state facility.” Janine came to JRC a week shy of her 11th birthday and had been pulling out her own hair, slapping and punching her own face and exhibiting severe head banging. She now smiles constantly, says her father, and “has progressed to the point where she frequently goes out with staff to restaurants, politely orders her own meals and at times cannot be recognized as an individual with special needs.” Poughkeepsie, NY parents Arthur and Michele Perazzo said their son Michael, 26, was 17 years old when he entered JRC with Autism after failing at two out-of-state residential programs. Today, says Arthur, his son has “become a young man who attends college classes and visits home for the holidays.” NOTE: For direct interviews with JRC parents, please contact Ernie Corrigan at 617-399-6017 (office) or 617-875-1229. |
Canton, MA (May 2, 2011) - Forty
years ago, Dr. Matthew Israel founded the Judge Rotenberg Educational
Center (JRC). Today, he announced his retirement as Executive Director of
JRC, effective June 1, 2011.
Dr. Israel, 77, informed the JRC
Board of Directors last week that he will step down on June 1, 2011 and move
to California where he will join his wife Judy. The JRC Board of Directors
voted to accept his resignation, with regret, and then voted to appoint
longtime Assistant Executive Director Glenda Crookes as the Interim
Executive Director. The Board also authorized a national search process to
identify a permanent successor to Dr. Israel.