About Us

About We Rock the Spectrum BERGEN

Doris has been working with special needs children since 2007 after receiving her Master’s in education and special education from Touro College in 2007 and extension in bilingual education. Degrees she was able to earn while working in the child care center at Rockefeller University in NYC. Since earning her degrees she has been working as a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT) in the NYC and Northern NJ area, and an Evaluator working with Catholic Charities on their Targeted Evaluation teams. 

After 11 years of working with and mainstreaming pre-school children Doris has found sensory approaches to therapy to be the most effective. Doris has become a fairly well known and sought after therapist in and around her region in Northern Bergen County. After years of frustration due to having to refuse cases due to time restraints, lack of parental involvement in some cases and lack of proper tools and toys during home visits, Doris decided her time will be more effectively spent by bringing We Rock the Spectrum to Northern New Jersey. Children in need of services and their families will be introduced to sensory therapies in a safe professional environment and the “therapist is here … see you in an hour” approach will be replaced with an immersive, non-time limited family approach. As the families enjoy the gym together, they will be learning therapy strategies and having fun. Her idea was to replace the 3 hour weekly therapy services with a whole life, family oriented approach to therapy. Parents, siblings and therapists will have a far wider range of options in the gym than they would have during normal therapy sessions and will see first-hand what works best for them. 

The gym will be a family business, Tim is an environmental scientist who has been involved in the environmental field since 1988. One aspect of environmental investigation involves children and lead paint, mold allergies and environmental issues which can cause developmental delays in young children. Tim is also known locally as a soccer, basketball and baseball coach with 10 years’ experience integrating and including children of all skill levels on recreation sports teams. 

Daniel Donohoe will be graduating from the University of Arizona (UA) in 2025 and has been Doris’s therapy assistant since 2008. Daniel transitioned from occupational therapy to wrestling, football, and Baseball in elementary school. As a high school student Daniel participates in Soccer, Wrestling, and Lacrosse.  

Claire is in high school at Immaculate Heart Academy (IHA). She has been playing soccer and gymnastics since 1st grade and is looking forward to helping Doris after school by demonstrating gross motor skills in the gym. 

Nicholas will be the gym’s 1st customer and his will be our 1st birthday party.  

We look forward to providing a safe family environment in Bergen and hope to use this gym to adjust the approach to therapy from school-centric, hourly therapy to family-oriented, full-time, recreation-based fun. We hope to develop a small community where all children’s birthday parties will be well attended and parents have a safe place to bring children of any skill level to play.