Best Special Needs Schools in Annapolis, Maryland (2026)

The Harbour School opened in 1982 on the belief that children learn most when they are taught the way they learn best. Our Annapolis campus on Green Holly Drive serves students ages 6 to 21 in grades 1 through 12 who have learning disabilities, autism, ADD/ADHD, speech and language impairments or multiple disabilities, and every student has an IEP updated each year. Our curriculum is competency-based and aligned with Maryland State Standards. Students move on when they master a course's competencies, earning Honors, Pass or Incomplete rather than sitting for tests beyond those the state requires. In high school, the Village Curriculum turns classrooms into a working town: math becomes a bank, science an environmental agency, and students shop in the Village with debit cards. Speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling, social skills groups and job coaching are built into the program. Every student has an iPad, each classroom has a SmartBoard, and the media center has a 3D printer. Students join after-school sports, drama productions, Leo Club, dances and prom, plus Saturday Tweener and Teen Clubs. Our transition team connects seniors with jobs, college courses and adult agencies.

• Private special education day school (grades 1-12)
• Learning differences
• Autism
• ADHD

The Pathways School - Anne Arundel is one of three therapeutic nonpublic special education programs run by The Pathways Schools in Maryland, located at 1819 Bay Ridge Avenue, Suite #340 in Annapolis. It serves secondary students who have emotional and behavioral disabilities and have not been successful in traditional school-based settings. Across the organization, students range in age from 11 to 21, and the Anne Arundel campus is a small high school program in roughly the grades 8 to 12 range, with younger grades considered case by case. The Pathways Schools are approved by the Maryland State Department of Education and the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education to run full-day nonpublic programs, and each site keeps enrollment small, with no campus exceeding 40 students. The Anne Arundel model is community-based rather than a single classroom building. Community Support Staff transport students to programming in different settings, with small-group academic instruction and individual and group therapy scheduled at the Annapolis site, while individual instruction, experiential learning, and career exploration happen in libraries, community centers, and workplaces. Coursework follows county curriculum and leads toward a Maryland High School Diploma or a High School Certificate of Program Completion, with paths toward GED preparation, a less restrictive school placement, post-secondary education, or employment. Therapeutic and related services include individual and group therapy, social skills counseling, specialized support groups, family support, mindfulness education, and speech and occupational therapy. The program is restraint and seclusion free and uses Right Response crisis management along with individualized behavior management and a trauma-sensitive approach. Transition services are a major focus and cover vocational assessment, career exploration, job development and coaching, internships, Pre-ETS, a young entrepreneurship program, and post-secondary links with colleges, vocational schools, employers, and adult service agencies. The Annapolis program is also an approved SAT and ASVAB testing location. Admission is identified students whose primary disability is emotional, with secondary disabilities such as specific learning disabilities, mild intellectual disability, traumatic brain injury, or autism spectrum disorder also considered. Placement runs through the local school system: referral packets go to the Pathways Admissions Coordinator, the program principal reviews records and interviews the student and family, and enrollment is finalized through the IEP process.

• Nonpublic therapeutic special education school (community-based day program)
• Emotional/behavioral support
• Learning differences
• Private school