Your online resource for activities and professionals that are dedicated to helping children with special needs on Staten Island.

Emergency Children’s Help Organization “ECHO” is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization established for the purpose of providing financial assistance to children and their families during a time of need. ECHO is comprised of dedicated caring people whose sole purpose is to brighten a family’s path during a difficult journey. Our hope is that our assistance will make a difference to improve their current circumstances both financially and spiritually.



ECHO’s founder, Sebastian Angelico, has assembled a diverse Board of Directors, whose unquestionable motivation and agenda is to help children. Sebastian has always supported charitable organizations ranging from those helping children to those helping the elderly. His vision for ECHO was borne from his desire to help children who lack the necessary resources to receive proper medical assistance or who may be battling a living emergency. “When I learn of a child who is in need, I believe ECHO will be able ...

The McCarton Center for Developmental Pediatrics is a multidisciplinary center dedicated to assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children with developmental disabilities and special needs. It offers a unique, integrated, approach for children with developmental disorders.

The McCarton Center was founded in 1998 by Cecelia McCarton, MD, a leading expert in developmental pediatrics and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Based on its Integrated Education Model, the McCarton Center provides not only assessment and diagnoses, but also an individual development plan for each child. This may combine a variety of therapies including aspects of speech and language therapy, sensory integration therapy, socialization with peers, developmental play skills and applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy.

The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventative investments before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown.

In 1992, the Children's Defense Fund established an office in New York City, a city where 30% of children live in poverty and children account for 43% of the homeless population. We are recognized as an authority in the endeavor to protect children and strengthen families.

Nearly five decades ago, a group of Bay Ridge parents and a local special education teacher banded together to solve a common dilemma: how to provide more educational and recreational opportunities for their disabled children. This eventually evolved into a day habilitation program, a work program, a diagnostic and counseling clinic, a thereputic greenhouse, and more.