Top 5 Best Special Needs Schools in Lake Oswego, Oregon (2026)

Bethlehem Christian Preschool is a non-denominational Christian preschool for about 125 children from 12 months to 5 years old, meeting at The Neighborhood Church on SW Stafford Road. Children hear Bible stories told with puppets, flannel graphs and dramatization, attend a monthly chapel led by one of our teachers, and study a different character trait of God each month. Our morning classes follow each age: a 2 1/2's class, two 3's classes, Pre-K 4's classes and a Pre-K Plus class for children who turn five before February 28. Pre-K classes build kindergarten readiness through emergent literacy, phonemic awareness, writing, and hands-on math such as sorting, graphing and patterning. Families can add stand-alone Math and Music, Art and Science, Letters and Literacy or Lunch 'N Fun classes, and we also run a toddler class. Through our partnership with Stafford Academy, children can continue into a kindergarten and first grade combo class. Field trips, a Christmas celebration, Dad's Day and Mother's Day fill out the year, and financial aid is available.

• Christian preschool
• Christian early education
• Kindergarten readiness
• Play-based learning

Lake Oswego High School is the Lakers' four-year public high school, about 10 miles south of Portland, serving roughly 1,250 to 1,300 students in grades 9 to 12 in a building rebuilt in 2005. Our students speak 28 languages, and the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges accredits our school. Our course of study includes AP and honors classes, the Oregon State Seal of Biliteracy, and Career and Technical Education pathways in marketing, engineering, culinary arts and computer science that can start in grade 9. Students can also take select courses at nearby Lakeridge High School. Life outside class is busy. Our Lakers field teams in more than 30 sports, from water polo, equestrian and skiing to lacrosse and girls flag football, plus Unified soccer, basketball and track and field that bring students with and without disabilities onto the same team. Band, choir, orchestra and drama perform on campus, including fall plays in our blackbox theater. Students also run clubs approved by the Student Senate, publish the Lake Views newspaper, and join National Honor Society and an Equity Council.

• Public high school (grades 9 to 12)
• Advanced Placement courses
• Career and technical education
• Unified sports

Park Academy opened in September 2005, founded by a parent who wanted other children to have the kind of dyslexia-focused schooling that helped her son. Today we are a small nonprofit independent school in Lake Oswego for students in grades 3 through 8 with dyslexia and related learning differences, including attention, memory, processing speed and executive functioning challenges. Every student takes a daily small-group reading class built on the Orton-Gillingham approach and the science of reading, along with explicit executive functioning instruction and self-advocacy skill building. Grades 3 and 4 learn in classes of 8 to 10 with two recesses a day and enrichment in art, drama, music and STEM. Grades 5 and 6 move to subject-specialized teachers in cohorts of up to 12, and sixth graders attend a three-day Outdoor School. Grades 7 and 8 prepare for high school with year-long science and social studies and expanded electives. Our Park Center also offers one-on-one Orton-Gillingham tutoring and a four-week summer literacy camp for students entering grades 1 to 8. A scholarship fund provides financial aid.

• Private special education day school (grades 3-8)
• Dyslexia
• Attention difficulties
• Executive functioning challenges

Children can begin at Peake Academy in Lake Oswego as toddlers and stay through kindergarten readiness. Its licensed early-childhood school programs serve ages 1–6 at the First Street campus, moving from toddler and early-preschool groups into preschool, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten preparation. Teachers use discovery, play, songs, games and hands-on activities to build language, movement, social skills and early academics. Preschool children encounter music, art and Spanish alongside a Scholastic-based curriculum. The pre-kindergarten track uses Core Knowledge materials and adds phonics, literacy, math, Spanish and science. Kindergarten-readiness students practice reading, math, cooking, fitness, art and music, with attention to independence and participation before first grade. Families can choose different weekly schedules and academic, full or extended days, with make-up days and extra time offered through the program. Peake also runs enrichment classes in creative arts, dance, yoga, sports, reading, science and LEGO engineering. Its camps and no-school-day options serve a wider age range than the preschool itself, so families can ask about those separately. The school is at 464 First Street, Lake Oswego, OR 97034; email hello@peakeacademy.com.

• Preschool
• Private school

West Hills Montessori opened its first classroom in 1968 in the Little Red Schoolhouse on SW Vermont Street in Portland, and added this Lake Oswego campus in the West Lake neighborhood in 2003. Across both campuses we enroll more than 200 children, and every classroom is led by an AMI-certified Montessori teacher with trained assistants. The Lake Oswego campus is home to our Toddler Community, where twelve children ages 15 months to 3 years work alongside a Montessori Toddler Guide and two assistants. Children must be confident walkers to join. Our Primary program for ages 3 to 6 runs here as well, covering practical life, sensorial work, math, language and cultural studies with hands-on Montessori materials, plus basic Spanish, songs and outdoor play. Five-year-olds stay for Extended Day until 3:00 p.m. Classes mix ages so younger children learn from older peers and move through an ungraded curriculum at their own pace. Children ages 6 to 12 continue in our elementary program at the Vermont Street campus. After care is available.

• Montessori school (toddler and primary campus)
• Montessori
• AMI-certified teachers
• Mixed-age classrooms