Best Special Needs Schools in Timonium, Maryland (2026)

The Odyssey School is a coeducational independent day school in the Greenspring Valley of Baltimore County, Maryland, serving students ages 5 to 14 (roughly kindergarten through grade 8) who have been diagnosed with dyslexia or other related language learning differences. A group of parents founded the school in 1994 on Roland Avenue in Baltimore, and it moved to its current 42-acre campus in June 2002. Enrollment runs around 160 to 166 students, drawn from private, public, parochial, and home-school backgrounds across area counties and Baltimore City. Dr. Tim Lightman is Head of School. Instruction is multimodal, language-intensive, and built around proven, evidence-based methods. Class sizes average 8 to 9 students with a 3:1 student-teacher ratio, and the faculty numbers 52. Every student receives daily reading and writing tutoring in a 2:1 setting, and math is taught in small groups averaging 4 students. The academic core covers language, math, science, social studies, reading and writing tutoring, and creative writing, with specials in art, library, music, guitar and ukulele, physical education, technology, drama, Genius Hour, and mindfulness. The school day runs 7:55 a.m. to 3:10 p.m., and the Coppermine at Odyssey afterschool program runs until 5:45 p.m. with drop-in service available. The program is organized around four pillars (Kindness, Honesty, Respect, and Hard Work) and emphasizes character education and self-advocacy so students can build the language skills to transition back to mainstream schools. The 42-acre campus includes a stream, meadow, woods, an organic community garden, a playground, and two athletic fields, with a main building designed to feel like a home that houses a theater, gymnasium, library, computer lab, science labs, and tutoring rooms. Enrichment includes community service, outdoor and environmental education trips, an artist residency program, and student clubs such as robotics, rocketry, and 3-D printing. Tuition is $44,050 for the 2026-2027 school year. The school provides need-based financial aid, and about 32% of families receive an award. The application fee is $75. Odyssey is accredited by the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (A.I.M.S.) and holds memberships in the International Dyslexia Association, the National Association of Independent Schools, and several regional education organizations.

• Independent K-8 day school for students with dyslexia and language learning differences
• Dyslexia
• Learning differences
• Financial aid

Villa Maria School at Dulaney Valley is a nonpublic special education school in Timonium for students in kindergarten through grade 8 with emotional, behavioral and learning challenges. Catholic Charities of Baltimore runs the school, which traces back to Villa St. Maria, opened in Timonium in 1949. Maryland's education regulators approve our programs, and students enroll after their local school system refers them for placement. Classrooms hold up to nine students. Classroom staff, support teams and clinicians work as one team to provide full-day special education, trauma-informed care and crisis intervention, individual and group therapy, speech-language and occupational therapy, psychiatric services, case management, and nursing and health services. Parents join workshops and support groups and take part in their child's treatment, and our aim is a return to the home school or a less intensive program as soon as possible. The week also includes art, music therapy, physical education and health education, an environmental sciences enrichment program and a therapeutic gardening program. Our Type III Diagnostic Program, also in Timonium, offers short-term residential diagnostic placements.

• Nonpublic special education school (K-8)
• Emotional disabilities
• Behavioral challenges
• Learning differences