The Watson Institute Education Center Sewickley

At The Harry S. Tack Education Center at the Sewickley Campus, Watson offers an approved private school that is licensed to serve children ages 3 to 21 with autism, cerebral palsy, neurological impairments and other developmental disabilities. The Education Center’s classrooms are staffed by a special education teacher and two paraprofessionals. Each classroom team consists of the teacher, paraprofessionals and related service professionals. Service professionals available to the classroom include speech and language therapists, occupational and physical therapists, teachers of the visually impaired, social workers, behavior specialists and a school nurse. Additionally, there are “special” classes: art, music, library and adapted physical education. These classrooms are staffed by a teacher certified in their respective content area. A paraprofessional is assigned to each special classroom as well. A contracted music therapist provides music on a weekly basis.

The Watson Institute helps children with special needs achieve their fullest potential in all aspects of their lives.

We envision The Watson Institute as:

The region’s premier provider of special education services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, brain injuries, behavior disorder and emotional disturbance and nationally recognized for its expertise;
A provider of a comprehensive array of cost-effective, accessible services and programs that serves children with special needs from their birth through age twenty-one;
The place that parents of children with special needs turn to for information and help;
The first choice of school districts and professionals who need professional development services so that they can better serve children with special needs.
An organization that is noted for its expert, professional and compassionate staff, who do whatever needs to be done to help children with disabilities achieve their fullest potential in all aspects of their lives.
Recognized world-wide for providing services to professionals working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and behavior disorders.

About Us
"Ensuring that we provide best practices to all of the children we serve and then sharing that expertise with professionals and pre-professionals is, in short, the Watson Difference."

-- Barry W. Bohn, CEO, The Watson Institute

View the video clip below to see our work in action.

Video Player
Throughout Watson's ninety-nine year history, we've been a refuge to those crippled by polio, served as a location for Dr. Salk's clinical trials for the polio vaccine, been hailed as a premier training resource for physical therapists and have provided high-quality rehabilitation to both children and adults. In addition, we've become a member of Pennsylvania's Approved Private Schools, providing education to children with special needs. We operate a special education preschool program involving children with autism and their typically-developing peers. We offer inclusive summer camp programs and provide child assessment and therapy for children and adolescents with autism. We also provide educational programming with a partial hospital component to children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbances. We've given a well-deserved break to families through our CareBreak program and respite services.