Helena Maguire, MS, BCBA
Rita Gardner, MPH, BCBA
Frank Bird, MEd, BCBA
Meet Melmark
Throughout 2026, Melmark will celebrate its 60th anniversary. For six decades, families, educators, clinicians, and supporters have helped build an organization grounded in a simple but powerful belief: every individual deserves the opportunity to learn, grow, and live a meaningful life. While Melmark’s impact begins with one individual who receives world-class, evidence-based services, that’s just the beginning of a ripple effect. There’s a parent who can return to work full-time, a sibling who can pursue their education, and a family whose entire quality of life has changed because of Melmark. For the families, knowing that their loved one is supported by Melmark, has caused extraordinary ripple effects, as evidenced by Melmark families who have gone on to cure diseases, create world-renowned art, and become community, civic, and business leaders in the state and around the world.
Paul and Mildred Krentel established Melmark in Pennsylvania as a home for children with developmental disabilities. Today, Melmark is widely regarded as one of the nation’s premier human services providers for children and adults diagnosed with autism, developmental and intellectual disabilities, acquired brain injuries, medical complexities, and other neurological and genetic disorders.
Melmark is a multi-state nonprofit organization with a combined staff of over 1,300 mission‑first educators, clinicians, therapists, and providers across its service divisions in Pennsylvania, New England, and the Carolinas. It serves over 600 individuals in 13 states across more than 60 program sites.
Melmark is committed to enhancing the lives of individuals within diverse communities with autism, as well as intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families by providing exceptional evidence-based and applied analytic services to every individual, every day. With state-of-the-art private special education schools, professional development, training, and research centers, Melmark’s vision is to enhance the quality of service delivery systems nationwide by disseminating and replicating the Melmark Model of Program Development and Clinical Treatment.
Six core commitments guide and inform all aspects of our mission in programming, services, and culture at Melmark:
- Compassionate Care
- Integrity in Everything We Do
- Highly Skilled Workforce
- Evidence-Based Practices
- Unified Culture
- Best Outcomes
Melmark recognizes the unique challenges that families and caregivers face in support of a child or adult diagnosed with autism or an intellectual or developmental disability. Melmark provides clinical and special educational services based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA), the leading research-based methodology proven to bring about positive, meaningful change in the development of socially significant skills for children and adults.
Melmark is committed to providing premier educational resources for every student to access creative and hands-on learning. Every student receives an individualized educational program (IEP) that is developed through a collaborative process involving Melmark’s team of highly-skilled educators and clinicians, parents or guardians, and the student. An IEP includes an individualized assessment, an implementation plan, and consistent progress monitoring and reviews, all of which help each student build their pre-requisite skills and the development of new skills to promote generalization. Melmark utilizes proactive accommodations, modifications, and visuals to support the diverse needs of students to access their highest potential for independence. Melmark’s interdisciplinary teams of board-certified behavior analysts, special education teachers, related service providers, and ancillary specialists are committed to providing evidence-based practices that incorporate clinical expertise to achieve the best outcomes.
Additionally, to meet the needs of the individuals we serve across their lifespan, Melmark’s health services professionals collaborate with educators and other professional staff to provide children, adolescents, and adults a comprehensive range of health-related services, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and healthcare services, all of which follow evidence-based intervention guidelines.
All interventions are empirically supported and incorporated into a comprehensive plan designed by a collaborative team across disciplines. Melmark emphasizes the value of personalized, data-driven approaches that balance behavioral, academic, and skill-building strategies, which promote student and adult success and support the facilitations of transitions to less restrictive settings. Progress is monitored through the collection and analysis of detailed data across all aspects of the treatment plan. These data points drive all decisions regarding the continuation or modification of treatment plans to ensure the best outcomes for every individual served.
Melmark Pennsylvania (MPA)
Melmark Pennsylvania, set on a 55-acre campus in Berwyn, provides residential, educational, and rehabilitative services for children, adolescents, and adults diagnosed with autism, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. MPA currently serves 121 students and 182 adults.
Over the last decade, MPA has made significant investments in its facilities to better serve individuals across their lifespan, including the opening of a new state-of-the-art special education school building, the creation of a student cafeteria, an expanded healthcare and wellness center, a fully renovated aquatics center, a new activities center, and a fully accessible playground.
Additionally, the Anne and Brutus Kenan Adult Day Center that serves adults with more significant cognitive and physical support needs has been fully renovated to support an aging population, with expanded spaces for group activities and rehabilitative services, upgraded transportation and safety features, and new furniture designed to fit the needs of the individuals we serve.
Melmark New England (MNE)
Melmark New England programs provide residential, educational, and rehabilitative services for children, adolescents, and adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disabilities, and developmental disabilities.
MNE includes two state-of-the-art, Massachusetts-approved, private special education schools in Andover and Stoughton, both of which are approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
In addition to children’s day schools, MNE’s services include an IEP-based residential program for children, a residential program for adults, an adult day program, family outreach services, vocational services, public school consultation, and early intervention.
To address an ever-growing need in the state of Massachusetts for adult services that are evidence-based and instructional for individuals with autism, intellectual, and developmental disabilities, Melmark broke ground on a $16M+ project in early 2025 to establish an intentional continuing care adult community in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. To date, Melmark has received over 200 inquiries from across the US, including state officials and private providers, about its innovative new adult home and community-based services (HCBS) model. With over 750,000 individuals in the United States waiting for HCBS services, this model offers staffing efficiencies and support in the light of the national human services workforce crisis. This intentional community model, opening in July, will provide comprehensive public policy guidelines that can be replicated by other human services providers, leading to another solution to address the HCBS waiting list crisis.
The three-acre site includes four residences housing a total of 20 adults, an instructional and vocational day program for 50+ individuals, a vocational coffee shop and greenhouse social enterprises, daily living activities, supports, community engagement, recreational opportunities, and affordable staff housing.
MNE currently serves 202 students and 47 adults.
Melmark Carolinas (MCS)
Melmark Carolinas state-of-the-art children’s day school opened more than five years ago to satisfy the significant demand for services for children diagnosed with autism, intellectual, and developmental disabilities.
In July 2025, North Carolina Governor, Josh Stein, signed House Bill 959 into law. House Bill 959, Section 4, expands eligibility for nonpublic schools to request residency licenses for teachers. A provisional teacher license is an entry-level teaching license, granted when a candidate has met some, but not all, requirements for a teaching license. Previously in North Carolina, only public schools could request provisional teacher licenses. The state never allowed teachers at a private special education school that opportunity. As a school that operates a Department of Public Instruction Approved Exceptional Children Program, Melmark Carolinas was held to the same licensing requirements as public schools, but lacked the same tools offered to public schools to meet those requirements.
With the signing of this legislation, Melmark Carolinas now has the same ability as MPA and MNE to create state-of-the-art teacher preparation programs with collaborating colleges and universities. Melmark’s ability to specifically train teachers to work with the most complex students allows the organization to develop a highly skilled workforce that leads to best outcomes for every student. The signing of House Bill 959 into law represents an important step in further establishing the Melmark Model for Program Development and Clinical Treatment, a comprehensive evidence-based approach to providing special education programs and services for individuals with autism, intellectual, and developmental disabilities for students in North and South Carolina.
Melmark is the first highly sophisticated private school in North Carolina to offer public school students and their families special education services and is proud to be a leader and advocate for expanding the continuum of care for placements that enhance the current service choices in both North and South Carolina.
MCS continues to grow, now serving over 50 families from North and South Carolina, in addition to advocacy work which is improving access for families across both states to the resources needed to ensure every child receives the Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to which they are entitled.
A Commitment to Continuous Improvement
Melmark fosters a culture of continuous improvement and professional growth that is embedded into every stage of an employee’s career. From the outset, staff are immersed in a learning environment that emphasizes excellence, collaboration, and the development of practical, real-world skills. The organization is committed to building a highly skilled workforce through comprehensive, evidence-based training systems and a wide range of professional development opportunities. Training programs are grounded in scientifically validated methods and are designed to build measurable competencies that directly enhance service delivery. Staff performance and training outcomes are regularly assessed to ensure integrity and meaningful impact for the individuals served.
In addition to internal training, Melmark supports professional advancement through university partnerships, supervised practicum experiences, and continuing education events. Staff are also encouraged to engage in research, contribute to publications, and attend professional conferences. These opportunities promote lifelong learning and reinforce Melmark’s commitment to excellence in both workforce development and the quality of care provided.
Elevating the Field
Melmark is a nationally renowned thought leader focused on raising the quality of human services organizations through the dissemination of numerous books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles for professional journals. Over the last ten years, Melmark has produced close to 300 publications, and the leadership team and staff have presented over 900 times at conferences worldwide.
Through the development of the EnvisionSMART™ Institute, an extension of Melmark’s commitments to elevating the field and raising the quality of service, Melmark’s leadership team and staff have created a four-book practitioner series, peer-reviewed research articles, and proprietary software to improve academic and clinical outcomes and support organizational decision-making.
With a focus on world-class applied research and creating and maintaining a top-notch professional development and training environment, the Institute uses current research to inform Melmark’s processes and develop best practices for individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism (ID/A) and help secure the supports and resources needed to age in place and achieve best outcomes, effectively raising the standard of services while addressing every aspect of the critical educational, clinical, and administrative functions that are vital to evidence-based, special education programs.
Melmark published the first guidebook in the series in 2022, titled Training, Supervision, and Professional Development in Human Services Organizations: EnvisionSMART™: A Melmark Model of Administration and Operation which provided the latest research on Human Service Organizations (HSO) groups, both public and private, and their use of the Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) model for effective designing, implementing and maintaining services within an HSO.
In 2023, Melmark published two books as part of the series, one which demonstrates how to develop an educational program which adheres to state and federal guidelines titled Educational Practices in Human Services Organizations: EnvisionSMART: A Melmark Model of Administration and Operation and another which provides a step-by-step plan for creating clinical programs within human service organizations using Functional Behavioral Assessment and Functional Analysis Systems, titled Clinical Systems and Programming in Human Service Organizations: EnvisionSMART™: A Melmark Model of Administration and Operation.
In early 2025, Melmark published a fourth guidebook in its EnvisionSMART™ series which addresses leadership and management practices for human services organizations (HSOs) serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities titled Leadership and Management Practices in Human Services Organizations: EnvisionSMART™: A Melmark Model of Administration and Operation, representing over 25 years of field knowledge attributed to growing and sustaining a multi-state HSO.
Editors Note: All images provided by Melmark and used with permission.
Reference for this article:
Maguire, H. Gardner, R., & Bird, F. (2026). 60 years of mission moments. Science in Autism Treatment, 23(7).
