Best Special Needs Schools in Frederick, Maryland (2026)

We serve grades 1 through 12 at High Road School of Frederick County. Teachers plan instruction around students' IEP goals in smaller, structured classrooms, with academic, behavioral and emotional supports coordinated through SESI's Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. Our school provides speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, social work, BCBA support, and a transition and life skills program. The Spark pathway supports academic and behavioral needs; Spring focuses on instruction and life skills; Bloom addresses functional communication and daily living. Students' needs guide the supports they receive. Our school day is Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. Families, staff and district partners work together on skills students can use at school, at home and in the community.

• Private special education school
• Academic support needs
• Emotional/behavioral support
• Autism

Laurel Hall School in Frederick is a nonpublic, Type I full-day special education school operated by Brook Lane, western Maryland's largest nonprofit mental health system. We serve students with emotional disabilities, autism or multiple disabilities who need a highly structured setting with psychiatric support on hand. Enrollment begins with an IEP referral from the local school system, and our students come from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Our Frederick building has nine classrooms, sensory spaces, a library, a gym and a curriculum resource room, with capacity for 50 students, and catered meals are served in our on-site cafeteria. We teach elementary (K to 5), middle (6 to 8) and high school (9 to 12) classes, plus certificate of completion classrooms for grades 6 to 12 that add vocational, community and life skills training, outings, volunteering and internships. Classes are small, with certified special education teachers, behavior specialists and 1:1 adult support. Licensed therapists and counselors provide individual and group therapy as each IEP sets out, along with speech-language, physical and occupational therapy. Credits earned here meet Maryland's education requirements and transfer to the home district for a diploma.

• Nonpublic special education day school (K-12)
• Emotional disabilities
• Autism
• Multiple disabilities

Maryland School for the Deaf is a state-operated campus at 101 Clarke Place in Frederick. The Frederick campus opened in 1868 and serves deaf and hard of hearing students from birth through age 21. Programs include early intervention, preschool, elementary, middle, and high school, plus the Orioles Career Academy for students ages 18-21. The 68-acre campus has three academic buildings, three residence halls, an independent living house, two gyms, an indoor pool, and the Hessian Barracks. After eighth grade, students from the Columbia campus move here for high school. The Columbia campus on Old Montgomery Road is a separate listing.

• State-operated school
• Deaf
• Hard of hearing
• Deaf education