Top 6 Best Special Needs Schools in Elkridge, Maryland (2026)

After watching Montessori education work for their own son, the owners opened Alphabets Montessori School in 2019. The privately run school and daycare is at 6050 Meadowridge Center Drive, Suite #100 in Elkridge, Maryland, and the family still runs it with Maria Montessori's methods. Children attend from infancy through the kindergarten years. The school is open Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and visits are by appointment. Care is organized into three age-based programs in a single Elkridge location. The infant program takes children from roughly 6 to 10 weeks up to 18 months in a quiet, home-like room built around early sensory and motor development. The toddler program covers about 18 months to 3 years and focuses on independence, self-expression, and peer interaction. The Children's House (Primary) program runs from about 3 to 6 years and uses multi-age classrooms where older children model for younger ones and the work shifts toward early academics, practical life skills, and social development. Teaching follows AMI principles. Day to day, the school emphasizes small, personalized care, certified teachers, and family partnership rather than a large institutional setting. Meals are organic and non-GMO, and the building is kept nut-free for allergy safety. Staff speak several languages, including English, French, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Spanish, which can help families who use those languages at home. Families come from Elkridge and the nearby Ellicott City and Columbia areas, and new families see the classrooms on a scheduled visit.

• Montessori school and daycare (infant through kindergarten)
• Private school

Children's Magnet Montessori School in Elkridge is one campus of Children's Manor & Children's Magnet Montessori Schools (CMMS), a Maryland Montessori group that has operated since 1993. The Elkridge location opened in 2016 at 6135 Old Washington Road, off Route 1 and minutes from Route 100, Interstate 95, BWI Airport, and UMBC. It sits on a 9-acre campus shared with a sister school, the Maryland International School, a grade 1 to 12 International Baccalaureate World School. The site includes a large library with an indoor playground, a gymnasium, an auditorium and multipurpose room, a secured entry system, and a large outdoor playground. This campus offers Montessori preschool and kindergarten, so it serves children from roughly age 2 through kindergarten rather than the full infant-to-elementary range found at some other CMMS locations. Programs run from Pre-Primary (about ages 2 to 3.5) and Primary (ages 3 to 6) through an Honors and Kindergarten program, plus a summer program. Classrooms use authentic Montessori materials in a hands-on setup, and teaching follows the Montessori method built around the five learning areas of Practical Life, Sensorial, Language Arts, Mathematics, and Cultural Studies. CMMS layers its own Montessori Links curriculum on top, tying each month to a theme and a continent study across character development, STEM, and the arts. Beyond daily classroom work, students get enrichment in STEM, Spanish, Music, and Yoga. The Montessori approach, with mixed-age classrooms and individualized pacing, naturally accommodates a range of abilities and learning styles, and the school emphasizes the development of the whole child and active partnership with families. CMMS participates in the Maryland EXCELS quality-rating program through the Maryland State Department of Education. To help with affordability, the Elkridge campus accepts the Maryland Child Care Scholarship (CCS), Child Care Aware of America (CCA), and Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood (MCCYN).

• Montessori preschool and kindergarten
• Learning differences
• Financial aid
• Montessori

Elkridge Landing Middle School opened in 1995 and serves middle schoolers in the Howard County Public School System who live in our attendance area. We ask every student to ROAR: be Respectable, Optimistic, Achieving and Responsible. Students take ownership of their own improvement, staff use strong instructional practices, and parents and community members partner with us. Students use HCPSS Chromebooks, and our student services and guidance office and our health room nurse support students during the day. Breakfast and lunch are served daily, with free and reduced-price meals for eligible households, and we offer summer camps.

• Public middle school
• Public school

Three connected programs share one Elkridge campus at 6855 Deerpath Road, Suite D. Sanabil Schools is a private Islamic school that runs from infancy through 8th grade. The Sanabil Learning Center serves children 12 months to 5 years using a hybrid of Montessori and the Creative Curriculum, layered with the school's STREAM approach. Sanabil Elementary covers kindergarten through 5th grade, and Sanabil Frontiers International Academy is the middle school, which opened 6th grade in the 2025-2026 year and plans to add one grade each year until it reaches 8th grade. It is the first Islamic STREAM school in Howard County and the first Islamic school in Maryland to use the approach. The STREAM model stands for Science, Technology, Reading and Religion (Islamic Studies), Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, taught through project-based, hands-on work. Elementary and middle school subjects are taught by specialized teachers rather than one generalist per class. Arabic language, Quran, and Islamic Studies (grouped as AQI) run through the daily schedule at every level, with Quran work focused on age-appropriate memorization and tajweed. A separate Sanabil Hifz Academy supports students pursuing Quran memorization. Classes are small, and social-emotional growth sits alongside academics. Sanabil is a nut-free campus and asks families to pack halal lunches, since no lunch program is offered. Admission for the early childhood program centers on a required Discovery Day, where a child spends a full or partial day in a classroom while teachers observe readiness. New elementary and middle school students take a STAR placement assessment, and applicants submit health forms, immunization records, prior school records, and a birth certificate or passport copy. Re-enrollment for current families closes March 31 and new enrollment closes May 1. Tuition for kindergarten through 5th grade is $8,500 per year, payable in full, as $850 per month over ten months, or as $425 bi-weekly, plus annual fees of $400 for textbooks and $150 for resources. Pre-K runs on weekly rates that vary by age group and number of days. There is a $100 annual re-enrollment fee and a 10% sibling discount for each additional child. Before-care and after-care are available for added weekly fees. Financial aid includes BOOST Maryland scholarships, Maryland MSDE child care vouchers for the Pre-K program, and flexible payment plans.

• Private Islamic K-8 STREAM school (with affiliated infant-through-Pre-K learning center)
• Islamic Education
• Montessori
• STREAM Curriculum

Children from about 12 months through age 5 attend Sanabil Learning Center, the early childhood program of Sanabil Schools, a faith-based Islamic school in Elkridge, Maryland, founded in September 2021. Classrooms are grouped as Toddler (18 to 24 months), Transition (25 months to 3 years), and Primary (3 to 5 years). The day blends Montessori and the Creative Curriculum with a STREAM model: Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art, and Math. Children learn through hands-on exploration, purposeful play, and choice-driven activities. Arabic, Quran, and Islamic Studies are part of the daily schedule through songs, vocabulary, stories, and age-appropriate memorization. Sanabil Schools also runs Sanabil Elementary School for kindergarten through 5th grade, Sanabil Frontiers International Academy for middle school in grades 6 to 8, and Sanabil Hifz Academy for Quran memorization. A second campus, about five minutes from the original location, opened in early 2023 and houses kindergarten through 5th grade at 6855 Deerpath Road, Suite D, Elkridge, MD 21075. Elementary and middle school classes use the same STREAM curriculum, with small classes and instruction shaped to each student. Learning Center tuition is billed weekly and depends on age and how many days a child attends. A five-day Primary week (3 to 5 years) is $249.50, and a five-day Toddler week (18 to 24 months) is $369.50. Three-day and two-day schedules are available, and before-care and after-care cost extra. Those five-day early childhood schedules run from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Elementary tuition for kindergarten through 5th grade is $8,500 per year, payable in full, as $850 per month over ten months, or as $425 bi-weekly, plus $400 for books and $150 for resources each year. Re-enrollment is $100 a year, and each additional child receives a 10 percent sibling discount. Every program starts with an interest form and a required Discovery Day, a full or partial day in a classroom while teachers observe learning style, social interaction, and readiness. Kindergarten through 8th grade applicants also submit health and immunization records, prior school records, and standardized test results where those exist. Students with academic or disciplinary concerns may be accepted with conditions. Pre-K financial aid includes the Maryland State Department of Education Child Care Program voucher.

• Islamic Montessori and STREAM preschool (Pre-K division of a Pre-K to grade 8 school)
• Learning differences
• Twice-exceptional
• Private school

A six-foot aquarium greets children in the lobby of Young Horizons School in Elkridge, a family-owned preschool and child care center with an owner on site every day. Our hours run from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, for children from 6 weeks old through preschool and pre-K, and we also operate centers in Frederick and Middle River/White Marsh. Our teaching blends Montessori methods, daily STEM activities and The Creative Curriculum from Teaching Strategies. Infants have a consistent primary educator, toddlers build self-help skills and early language through Montessori-inspired activities, and preschoolers get ready for kindergarten. Teachers write individual learning plans and track progress through daily classroom observations. We are a Maryland-approved provider of free public Pre-K for eligible 3 and 4 year olds. Outside, children play on a large, fenced artificial-turf playground with a bike track, basketball hoop, mud kitchen, sandbox and musical equipment. The building is nut-free, entry uses parent-only QR codes, and parents can watch classrooms through private live-streaming cameras. We hold a Maryland EXCELS Level 5 rating and are accredited through the Maryland State Department of Education.

• Preschool and child care center (infants to pre-K)
• Montessori
• STEM
• Creative Curriculum