Our Board of Directors is a governing board responsible for ensuring that the school’s mission is carried out in a way most beneficial to the Higashi community.

The purpose of our Advisory Board of Education is to develop and expand our network in the field of autism, create opportunities for research and presentations at conferences, and to be a resource to better serve our students, their families, and the general public with respect to the field of autism education.

Board of Directors

Peter H. Garland

President

Former Director & Chairman, The Education Cooperative
Former School Committee Chairman, Town of Natick

Michael L. Kelly

Treasurer

Executive Director, Boston Higashi School

Frank Sespico

Clerk

Former President, Boston Higashi School Parents Association

Paul Hagen

Vice President, Global Graphics Software Inc.

Ronald Lowinger

Vice President, Unisonic Products Corporation

Michiko Okubo

Assistant Director, Musashino Higashi Center for Education & Research

Craig Schulze

Former Principal, Baltimore City
Public Schools Parent of former student

Katsumi Suzuki

Executive Manager, Musashino Higashi Gakuen School, Japan
Former Executive Manager, Boston Higashi School

Akihiro Takamatsu

Assistant Director, Musashino Higashi Center for Education & Research Former Program Director, Boston Higashi School

Nancy Wagman

Former Kids Count Director
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center

Christopher Supple

Deputy Executive Director and
General Counsel
MA PRIM Board

Lesley Varghese, Esq.

Chief of Staff - Mayor’s Office
City of Austin, Texas

Advisory Board of Education

Margaret L. Bauman, M.D.

Associate Professor of Anatomy & Laboratory Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
Child Neurologist, Integrated Center for Child Development
Founding Director of The Lurie Center (formerly LADDERS)
Director, The Autism Research Foundation (TARF); The Autism Research Consortium (TARC); and the Autism Treatment Network (ATN) Special Area of Study: Brain Research in Autism

Marie Duggan

Executive Director/Founder, Technology for Autism Now, Inc.
NE Regional Director, U.S. Society of Augmentative & Alternative Communication Users AAC/AT Independent Contractor/Consultant

Peter H. Garland

President, Board of Directors, Boston Higashi School
Member of the Corporation, Boston Higashi School
Member, Board of Directors, New Hampshire Special Needs Support Center
Former Director & Chairman, The Education Cooperative
Former School Committee Chairman, Town of Natick

Mark Greenstein, M.D.

Professor of Pediatrics in Genetics & Child Development,
University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Special Area of Study: Communication & Developmental Disorders

Roy Richard Grinker, Ph.D.

Professor of Anthropology & International Affairs
Director of George Washington University Institute of
Ethnographic Research Author, lecturer

Lee Grossman

CEO, Orthopedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF)
Executive Director, American Music Therapy Association (AMTA)
President & CEO, Advance Enterprises, LLC
Managing Director, The Forum Institute P2i Project
Former President & CEO, Autism Society of America & Publisher of Autism Advocate Journal
Member, Data & Safety Monitoring Board, National Institutes of Health

Anne S. Larkin

Co-Leader Kennedy-Longfellow/Lesley University Partnership
Professor Emeritus, Lesley University School of Education
Director, “Say Yes to Education”
Co-founder, “PALS” (Personal Advocacy & Lifetime Support)
Member of the Corporation, Boston Higashi School
Special Area of Study: Research Specializing in Autism,
Facilitated Communication, School Restructuring, and Inclusion

Stephen H. Mott, M.D.

Developmental Cognitive Neurologist, The Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental
Disorders, University of California Irvine
Former Medical Director, Child Development Program, Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-
Hitchcock Medical Center
Special Area of Study: Developmental Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology

John J. Ratey, M.D.

Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Author of Driven to Distraction; Spark-The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise And the Brain and Go Wild
Voted “2016 Outstanding Psychiatrist of the Year” by the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society
Adjunct Professor at National Taiwan Sports University & Reebok’s Ambassador for Active Kids
Special Area of Study: Neuropsychiatry, the Brain-Fitness Connection

Ann S. Roberts, Ph.D.

Consulting Clinical Psychologist, Boston Higashi School
Former Director of Clinical Services, Boston Higashi School

Susan Senator

Author of Autism Adulthood: Strategies and Insights for a Fulfilling Life;
Making Peace with Autism: One Family’s Story of Struggle, Discovery and
Unexpected Gifts; The Autism Mom’s Survival Guide: Creating a Balanced and Happy
Life While Raising a Child with Autism; and Dirt: A Story about Gardening, Mothering and Other Messy Business
Member of the Massachusetts Autism Commission

Stephen Shore, Ed.D.

Author of Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome;
Understanding Autism for Dummies; and College for Students with Disabilities Editor and Contributor to Ask and Tell: Self-Advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum
Board of Directors, Autism Speaks – National Division
Board of Directors, American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF)
President Emeritus, Asperger/Autism Network
Member, Advisory Board, Autism Society of America – National Division
Professor of Special Education at Adelphi University
International consultant, presenter, and researcher on autism spectrum issues throughout the lifespan

Helen Tager-flusberg, Ph.D.

Director, Center for Autism Research Excellence, Boston University
Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Science, Boston University
Specialist in Language, Cognitive & Social Functioning of Autism, and Other Neuro-Developmental Disorders

Maria Trozzi, M.Ed.

Executive Director, Joanna’s Place
Assistant Professor of Developmental Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
Director, Good Grief Program at Boston Medical Center
Consultant, Child Development Unit at Children’s Hospital
Author, psychotherapist, lecturer and consultant

Henry W Clark, Esq.

Special Education Attorney
Former Executive Director of Maaps