Garden Academy Leadership

Executive Director

Laura Grow, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Dr. Grow received her doctorate in behavior analysis from Western Michigan University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute. Dr. Grow is a former faculty member of California State University- Fresno and University of British Columbia. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst at the doctoral level. She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. Read More…

Principal

EMILY MAHON, M.S., BCBA

Emily Mahon received her Bachelor’s Degree in Childhood and Special Education from the State University of New York at Cortland in 2009. In 2013, she became a NJDOE certified special education teacher. She received her Master’s Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Northeastern University and became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) in 2018. In 2019, Emily received a Post Master's Principals Certificate from Caldwell University. Emily has been with Garden Academy since 2009. Read More…

Director of Quality Assurance and clinical operations

Danielle Gureghian, PH.D, BCBA-D

Dr. Gureghian received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology (Behavior Analysis) from Western Michigan University in 2006, Master’s Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2008, and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology from the University of Kansas in 2013. Dr. Gureghian is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and has been working with individuals with, and without, intellectual and developmental disabilities since 2006. Read More…

Clinical Director

taylor Custer, M.A., BCBA

Taylor Custer M.A., BCBA is the Clinical Director of Garden Academy. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin Eau-Clarie and her master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Taylor started at Garden in 2018 as the Classroom Supervisor/BCBA of Classroom A2. While working at Garden, she has held multiple leadership positions including Direct Instruction Coordinator, PMT Coach, and Supervision Coordinator. Read More…

Board of Directors

Garden Academy’s Board of Directors is a group of professionals with diverse experience responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and planning of the organization in adherence to Garden Academy’s mission. We are incredibly grateful for their time and dedication to our organization.

Board Member: William Healey, Esq.

President: Jenny Bar Yaacov

Jenny Bar Yaacov is a founding parent of Garden Academy and served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors from 2004-2006. She is the mother of adult identical twin sons with severe autism, who graduated from Garden Academy, and one neurotypical adult daughter. She graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in Russian and History; and holds an MA in Russian and an MBA in Information Technology from the State University of New York at Albany. She recently retired from TIAA where she worked for 30 years on multiple large-scale project and in various positions including Senior Systems Analyst, Senior Business Analyst, Project Manager, and Senior Data Analyst. She lives in Maplewood, New Jersey with her spouse, two sons, and four cats.

Treasurer/secretary: Mary Beth Walsh

Mary Beth (MB) Walsh holds a doctorate in systematic theology from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and is the mother of two young adults, one of whom is diagnosed with severe autism. A long-time advocate for the right of individuals with autism to effective intervention, she has served on the Boards of ASAT and NJABA and was an invited speaker at ABAI’s Second Autism Conference in 2008. She is the author of “The Top Ten Reasons the (Child) with Autism Deserves ABA” (2011). Before the pandemic, she worked for almost a decade at Rutgers University Behavioral Healthcare as a MOM2MOM peer-counselor to other parents of children with autism, where she had the honor of pilot-testing the WHO’s Caregiver Skills Training curriculum with parents of students with autism in the Newark public school system. Her greatest passion however is advocating for the full inclusion of individuals with autism in communities of faith. She served for two years as Co-Chair of the Autism Task Force of the National Catholic Partnership on Disabilities and continues to serve on the Executive Advisory Board for the Office of Pastoral Ministries with Persons with Disabilities of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ. In 2016 she was an invited speaker at the Vatican conference “Living Fully” sponsored by The Pontifical Council on Culture and the Kairos Forum. She taught in the MA in Pastoral Ministry program at Caldwell University and is co-editor of the resource, Journey into Community: Including Individuals with Autism in Faith Communities. A few of her recent articles are “Autism, Culture, Church: From Disruption to Hope” in The Journal of Disability and Religion, “Inclusion as Evangelization: Welcoming Families of Individuals with Autism through Inclusive Liturgies,” in The Journal of Ministry and Liturgy. Walsh is the recipient of the Family Award from the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Ministry (2006), the Autism NJ [COSAC] Frank Sims Volunteer of the Year Award in 2008 and an Excellence Award from University Behavioral HealthCare (2012). The profound connections her son with autism, Benedict, has with their local parish is one of the abiding sources of joys in her life.

Board Member: William F. Healey

Coming soon!