Best Special Needs Schools in Tijeras, New Mexico (2026)

This is the Tijeras campus of New Mexico Early Learning Academy, serving families in the East Mountains east of Albuquerque. For families out this way the location is the point, since the alternative is usually a daily drive down the canyon into the city. The academy carries National Early Childhood Program Accreditation and a 5-star rating under New Mexico's FOCUS quality rating system. Speech and behavior therapists are on staff and deliver all-day one-to-one services to children who arrive with a referral, which for an East Mountains family removes a long round trip for every therapy session. Classroom practice follows Conscious Discipline, an approach built on modeling behavior and teaching young children to recognize and manage their own strong feelings. Classes are kept small enough that teachers plan around the individual child, and a nutrition program is folded into tuition rather than charged on top. Enrollment begins with a tour of this specific location. Bring the child's birth certificate or proof of date of birth, proof of residency, photo identification and current immunization records, and raise any diagnosis or existing therapy plan during the health and medical portion of enrollment.

• Private
• Speech therapy
• Developmental delays
• Accredited