Rock Brook School
109 Orchard Road
Skillman, NJ 08558

School Principal Name: Thomas Connolly

School Phone Number: 908-431-9500

School Email Contact for Student Referrals: thomas.connolly@rock-brook.org

Website: www.rock-brook.org

Population Served:

ADD-ADHD, Apraxia, Aspergers, Autism, Behavior, Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Intell.-Cogn Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, Medically Fragile, Physical Disabilities, Speech-Language, Visual Impairments

Age Served:
Preschool, Elementary, Middle School, High School, 18-21

Counties Served:
Bergen, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Somerset

Program Description:

Rock Brook School is a nonprofit, New Jersey Department of Education-approved private school for students with disabilities (APSSD) serving students ages 3 through 21 from school districts throughout New Jersey.

Since 1974, Rock Brook has provided individualized educational and therapeutic programming for students whose learning and support needs require a highly specialized educational environment.

But what has always distinguished Rock Brook is not simply the services we provide. It is how those services come together around

each individual student.

Our Approach

At Rock Brook, there is no one-size-fits-all program. Each student’s educational experience is shaped by their Individualized Education Program (IEP), strengths, learning profile, communication needs, therapeutic needs, interests, and goals.

Teachers, instructional support staff, speech-language specialists, occupational and physical therapists, behavioral and student-support professionals work collaboratively so that instruction and therapeutic strategies are reinforced throughout the student’s day.

That interdisciplinary approach allows learning to extend beyond a particular lesson, classroom, or therapy session.

Students We Serve

Rock Brook serves students ages 3 through 21 who benefit from a small, highly structured and individualized special education environment.

Students may require support in areas including:

  • communication and language
  • academics and functional academics
  • social-emotional development
  • attention and self-regulation
  • behavior
  • sensory processing
  • fine and gross motor development
  • adaptive and daily living skills
  • vocational and transition readiness
  • independence and community participatiom

Students come to Rock Brook with a wide range of learning profiles, abilities, diagnoses and support needs. Our focus is not simply on a diagnostic label, but on understanding the whole student and developing a program that helps that individual succeed.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

For older students, education increasingly extends into authentic community, vocational and life experiences.

Programming can include community-based instruction, job sampling, vocational experiences, functional academics, daily living skills and transition planning designed to prepare students for greater independence and meaningful participation in adult life.

Partnership With Families & Districts

Successful programming depends upon strong collaboration. Rock Brook works closely with families, Child Study Teams, sending districts and other professionals to understand student needs, monitor progress and develop appropriate educational programming.

Families are valued members of that partnership and are encouraged to remain actively involved in their student’s educational experience.

More Than 50 Years of Individual Success Rock Brook was founded in 1974 and has spent more than five decades helping students develop communication, academic, social, vocational and life skills.

Some students ultimately return to programs within their home districts. Others continue in specialized educational environments or

transition into adult services, vocational opportunities and community-based programs.

There isn’t one definition of success at Rock Brook … Success is helping each student make meaningful progress toward their own potential, independence and future.