Best Special Needs Schools in Reseda, California (2026)

Leichman Career Preparatory and Transition Center is a Los Angeles Unified campus in Reseda built around one goal: preparing our students to work and live as independently as possible. Every class teaches functional skills tied to life after graduation, and our teachers, families and students set work-readiness goals together. Students train in hands-on vocational strands that run like small businesses, including Leo's Bistro culinary arts, Leo's on Wheels, the Lion's Den Store, Career Retail and Leo's Locker, auto detailing, horticulture, animal care, shipping and receiving, textile weaving, graphic arts, music production, cinema and film, and social media management. Our Business Office and Technology strand covers office skills. Beyond the classroom, we run Community Based Instruction, Independent Living and Bridge to Independence, an Off Campus Work Program, Project SEARCH internships, and Post Graduate Supportive Employment. Adaptive physical education, cheerleading and our A Class Act theatre program round out the day.

• Public special education career and transition center
• Transition support
• Public school

Sven Lokrantz Special Education Center in Reseda is a Los Angeles Unified special education school built for students with orthopedic disabilities in kindergarten through 12th grade. Our building, designed in 1961, is a designated historic site with a circular plan, a soaring entry canopy and a folded plate roof that lets daylight into the classrooms. Everything on campus is planned for wheelchair access. Students use a hydrotherapy pool when it is part of their IEP goals, a wheelchair-accessible playscape and adapted swings with seat belts. Classrooms are equipped with switches, interactive whiteboards, computers, iPads and other assistive technology. Our students follow an alternate curriculum, with academic, social and physical goals set through each student's IEP. We use the M.O.V.E. (Mobility Opportunities Via Education) program to help students with severe disabilities build the ability to sit, stand, walk and transition, and many of our staff are M.O.V.E. certified. Occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy are part of the school program, along with music therapy through a partnership with California State University, Northridge.

• Public special education center (K-12)
• Orthopedic impairments
• Severe and multiple disabilities
• M.O.V.E. mobility program