The Gaebler School Story

The Gaebler School was part of the Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham, MA. The Gaebler School Story is all about a monumental paradigm shift for educating students with emotional disabilities from a "medical" model to a new approach that saw the child as a student first, and with psychological difficulties second. This dramatic shift in how the Gaebler students were perceived and treated, marked the beginning of an educational model that changed the paradigm forever. The Gaebler School Story is based upon the personal experiences of Dr. Philip DiMattia who spent 33 years (1955-1988) as a teacher, head teacher, and Principal. Trained as a traditional educator, he brought from the very beginning a formal school concept which emphasized schooling as its fundamental purpose to develop the human potential of its students.