About Us
Here, you can stop compromising and start thriving.
At The Robert Grey Center, our mission is to provide exceptional, individualized, and compassionate ABA services in a nurturing, naturalistic learning environment where children with autism are understood, valued, and supported in reaching their fullest potential.
Through evidence-based practices, meaningful play, positive relationships, and strong partnerships with families, we help children develop communication, independence, social connections, and everyday skills that enhance their quality of life at home, at school, and in their communities.
Our Vision
We envision a future in which children with autism have access to exceptional, individualized care in an environment where they are understood, valued, and empowered to reach their fullest potential.
Our vision is to build a model of autism services where clinical excellence and compassionate care exist together; where meaningful progress extends beyond the therapy setting into home, school, and community life; and where families, clinicians, and staff work in partnership toward shared goals for every child.
As we grow and evolve, we will remain committed to thoughtful, mission-driven growth—strengthening our programs, supporting and developing exceptional professionals, fostering meaningful connections among families, and responding to the changing needs of the children we serve.
Ultimately, we envision The Robert Grey Center as a community in which children and families feel they belong, professionals are proud to build their careers, and high-quality, child-centered autism services create meaningful and lasting opportunities for the children entrusted to our care.
.jpg?width=1536&height=2048&name=image_6487327%20(1).jpg)
Meet our Founder
Meet Bethany Correia, founder and CEO of the Robert Grey Center. Bethany brings over 30 years experience in a wide variety of teaching environments, including working with and advocating for people with disabilities. Over the years, she’s seen too many families forced to make these hard choices and not get the support they need to truly flourish. She started the Robert Grey Center to create a place where kids with autism can thrive and families get the support they need, without the hard choices.
OUR STORY
The Road to Opening
1997
Meeting Robert
Bethany has been advocating for people with disabilities since she could talk. Starting with her younger cousin, Mary, who has down syndrome, and branching out to more formal volunteer programs as young person. By 1997, she was working professionally with her first student with disabilities - The namesake behind “Robert” in the Robert Grey Center.
2000
Helping Families Navigate Special Education
Bethany's teaching career moved to Regular Education, where she continued to happily volunteer, advocate for and work with children who had Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Later, she helped develop Bridge Camp, a camp in Rhode Island that welcomes kids with various disabilities, and enables them to experience overnight camp.
Over the years, she worked privately with families to help children and adults with disabilities acquire new skills and find community. Two of these wonderful humans still refer to her family as their “other family” and remain close.
Eventually, that led her to helping families navigate the special education process. Ultimately, it was this work that made her realize that the Robert Grey Center was needed.
2022
Meeting the "Grey" in Robert Grey
One of those families was Greyson’s family. Greyson was a bright boy, ready to leave his ABA center and enter public school. His center and parents had many questions about his readiness. Did he have the skills needed? What did that environment look like? How could they prepare him? As always, Bethany was happy to step in and help and advocate for Grey. Like so many before him, he deserved nothing but the best, and it was hard for his parents to find in Rhode Island.
That was the catalyst that led her to the decision to bridge these worlds and help give these children and their families so much of what they needed. ABA serves a strong purpose. But it is not enough to see these children through a clinical lens. As a mother, a public school teacher and above all an advocate for people with disabilities for more than thirty years, Bethany knew she could make a difference in the lives of children and families.
Our Values
These values enable all of us at the Robert Grey Center to function together as a team and work toward our common goals. They can be seen and heard in all we do here in our community.
Children First
The needs, dignity, safety, and well-being of the children we serve are at the heart of every decision we make. We meet children where they are, recognize their individual strengths and needs, and provide support that respects each child as a whole person.
Meaningful Progress
We believe progress should matter beyond the therapy room. We focus on developing communication, independence, relationships, play, learning, and everyday skills that enhance a child's ability to participate more fully in family, school, and community life.
Connection Before Compliance
Strong relationships create the foundation for meaningful learning. We prioritize trust, engagement, assent, and positive interactions, creating an environment where children feel safe, supported, and ready to learn.
Individualized Care
There is no single path that is right for every child. We use evidence-based practices while remaining responsive to each child's strengths, interests, developmental needs, communication style, and family priorities.
Partnership With Families
Families are essential members of a child's team. We value open communication, collaboration, mutual respect, and shared decision-making so that the skills children develop are meaningful and sustainable in their everyday lives.
Excellence with Purpose
We hold ourselves to high clinical and professional standards because the quality and consistency of our work directly affect the children entrusted to our care. We value thoughtful programming, treatment integrity, accurate data, ongoing learning, accountability, and collaboration.
Community and Belonging
We believe children, families, and employees should feel welcomed, respected, and valued. We work intentionally to create a warm and inclusive community where people support one another, differences are respected, and everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
Growth with Attention
We embrace growth when it strengthens our ability to fulfill our mission. Whether developing our employees, expanding programming, or responding to the changing needs of our children and families, we make thoughtful decisions that protect the quality, culture, and values of The Robert Grey Center.
At The Robert Grey Center, we believe every child, family, and team member deserves to feel welcomed, respected, valued, and included.
We celebrate the unique strengths, identities, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that each person brings to our community. We are committed to creating an environment where differences are embraced, individual needs are respected, and everyone has a meaningful opportunity to participate and belong.
Our approach to care is rooted in dignity, compassion, and respect for neurodiversity. We recognize that every child experiences and interacts with the world differently, and we strive to provide individualized support that honors who they are while helping them develop skills that are meaningful to their lives.
Through ongoing learning, open communication, and thoughtful collaboration with families and staff, we work to foster a culture of equity, inclusion, and belonging.
At The Robert Grey Center, belonging isn't something children and families have to earn. It's something everyone deserves.