Best Special Needs Schools in North Potomac, Maryland (2026)

Academy Child Development Center at Stone Mill Center is an early childhood and childcare program at 14327 Stonebridge View Dr in North Potomac, MD, set on the campus of Stone Mill Elementary School. It is one location of Academy Child Development Center, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization serving Montgomery County that has run early education programs since 1981 and is not part of a childcare chain. The Stone Mill center operates from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and is led by center director Ma. Victoria Cheng with assistant director Maguy Doliska. Because the program sits on a public elementary school campus, the building uses security cameras and access-controlled entrances, and an onsite cleaning crew handles daily sanitation. The center enrolls children across a wide age span: infants and toddlers (2 to 18 months), Tiny Tots (24 to 36 months), Preschool (3 to 4 years), Pre-Kindergarten (4 to 5 years), and school-age care for kindergarten through 5th grade, plus a summer program. Preschool and Pre-K children must turn 3 or 4 by September 1st per the MSDE age requirement. Classrooms run the University of Maryland CDW project-based curriculum, with hands-on days built around arts and crafts, lego and block building, and a stated focus on language and literacy to prepare children for school. Space permitting, part-week and part-day schedules are available for select programs. Teachers at the center average about ten years of tenure, and several have been with the program long enough to teach families across multiple children. Academy's board and administrative team include backgrounds in early education, special education, elementary education, and business, and the organization maintains community partnerships with Montgomery County Public Schools, Mental Health Consultation Services, and the Gaithersburg Judy Center, along with MANNA Food and the Institute for Early Childhood Preparedness. All Academy programs are accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), licensed by the MSDE Office of Child Care, and hold a Maryland Excels Level 5 rating. Families have several ways to offset tuition. The center accepts WPA (Working Parents Assistance) and POC vouchers and points families to the Maryland Child Care Scholarship (CCS) program, the Montgomery County DHHS EquiCare Grant for infants and toddlers, the MSDE Prekindergarten Expansion Grant, and Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood (MCCYN). Specific program rates are quoted by inquiry rather than posted publicly. Academy provides a morning and afternoon snack, and families send a lunch for their child.

Magnet Montessori Preschool is a small home-style Montessori preschool and daycare in North Potomac, Maryland, run by Ms. Hana, an AMS (American Montessori Society) certified teacher. The program is licensed by the Maryland State Department of Education (license numbers are posted on the site), and it serves children roughly ages three to six. Parents describe a single-teacher classroom with a small class size and a classroom feel, where children stay with the same teacher each year rather than rotating between rooms. The school also draws families from nearby Gaithersburg, Rockville, and Germantown. The curriculum follows the Montessori "follow the child" approach and is organized into seven areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, History and Geography, Science, and Music, Movement and Art. Children work with the standard Montessori materials, including dressing frames, water-pouring exercises, the Movable Alphabet for early reading and writing, and the Golden Beads, Spindle Box, and Red and Blue Rods for hands-on arithmetic. Practical Life work covers dressing, preparing snacks, watering plants, sweeping, and basic manners, which builds motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and independence. Language work leans on phonics so children can begin reading and writing earlier than in a traditional setting. Day to day, the teacher keeps an organized schedule that mixes academics, crafts, and hands-on activities with daily outdoor and free play time. Outdoor equipment such as swings and tricycles is available during outside time, healthy snacks are provided each day, and the class takes field trips out into the community. The teacher also works on interpersonal skills, safety skills, problem-solving, and attention to patterns, which fits the program's stated focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills for children with developmental challenges and language-based learning differences. The site does not publish tuition, enrollment numbers, a founding year, or specific therapeutic services, so families should contact the school directly for current rates, openings, and how it accommodates individual needs.

Prime Montessori Academy, formerly Prime Foundation Montessori, is a private Montessori school in North Potomac, Maryland, serving Montgomery County families in and around Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Potomac. The school was founded in 2011 by Osato Ojofeitimi, a scientist turned Montessori educator, and originally began as a prepared environment in Miramar, Florida before relocating to Maryland. It enrolls children ages 2 through 12, spanning toddler, preschool, and elementary years. Instruction is organized into three age-based classrooms the school calls ateliers: the Petite Atelier for toddlers roughly 20 to 36 months, the Primary Atelier for ages 2.5 to 6, and the Elementary Atelier for ages 6 to 12. The approach is authentic, AMI-aligned Montessori, built around uninterrupted work cycles, hands-on materials, mixed-age groupings, and individualized observation of each child. Programming emphasizes early literacy and numeracy, concentration, practical life skills, independence, and grace and courtesy rather than grade-level lockstep instruction. The founder and Head of School, Osato Ojofeitimi, holds dual AMI Montessori diplomas at the Primary (2.5 to 6) and Elementary (6 to 12) levels, earned through the Washington Montessori Institute, the Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies, and Loyola University Maryland, along with four graduate degrees across the Sciences and Education. The school reports a Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) child care credential at Level 6, the state's highest tier, and states it has operated for more than a decade. Admissions are selective and run by invitation rather than open enrollment, with placement decided through an application and family-interview process and a limited number of spots each cycle. Tuition is not published on the website and is discussed privately with families during admissions. The school presents itself as a college-prep-minded, character-focused Montessori program; it does not advertise special-education or therapeutic services, so families seeking specific clinical supports should confirm fit directly with the school.