Cajal Academy offers a ground-breaking, neuroscience-based approach for bright & gifted kids with specialized educational needs that transforms student profiles while reducing educational costs.

We prepare today’s innovative thinkers with the skills they need to become tomorrow’s thought leaders.

Cajal Academy is a small, innovative K-12 school located in the heart of historic South Norwalk, Connecticut and accessible by train from NYC and points throughout the region.

We offer a first-of-its-kind program unlocking student gifts by reducing or removing learning and in some cases social-emotional and executive function differences or disabilities, through a research-backed, neuro-developmental approach. These services are integrated into academic curriculum aligned with state standards and tailored to develop the super-sized executive function, leadership and self-care skills that students with strong analytical reasoning and/or creative thinking skills need for a future defined by their strengths.

We are the only school in Connecticut offering expert programs for exceptionally bright and/or gifted students with special needs, the only school in the world that offers these powerful learning interventions, and also the first school specifically designed to empower kids with the connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and its many common ride-along conditions.

We don’t believe in accommodating students’ difficulties. We believe in transforming them, by rewiring the way the child performs foundational skills.

Special education as a field has been based on the premise that student disabilities cannot be changed, just accommodated.

Science suggests that more is possible, and our work proves that’s true.

We’ve made a break-through for the field of education: a research-backed methodology for reducing or removing learning & in some cases social-emotional and executive function challenges, unlocking student gifts and transforming not just student learning but student lives. The shy, profoundly gifted child who struggles to connect with same age peers. The verbally brilliant child who struggles with written expression. The child who wants nothing more than to connect with peers but isn’t sure how to do it. The joyous child who loves learning but has started to dislike school. We understand all these challenges as the downstream, cascading effects of the fundamentals in their neuropsychological profiles, and use a research-backed, neurodevelopmental approach to rebuild those foundations…all while reigniting their love of learning through multidisciplinary project-based learning that puts the focus on critical thinking and creative problem-solving: essential 21st century skills.

We are accepting applications for the 2025-26 school year, with rolling admissions for mid-year placements, and also for our “2e-friendly” Workshop Wednesdays Enrichment Series. Apply today!

All this happens within a K-12 school with project-based learning delivering academic curriculum tied to Connecticut state standards and tailored to give even our brightest thinkers the room they need to explore their gifts while learning the super-sized executive function, leadership and self-care skills they’ll need for a future defined by their strengths.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Read about some of the transformative journeys students have experienced in our program, redefining what’s possible for a child, for a school and for education as a whole.

Our innovative approach lays the groundwork to get (back) on a path towards a future defined by their dreams and interests. For their family or district, this reduces the child’s educational costs across their K-12 years: savings we pass on to families and sending school districts through our unique declining tuition model. For some kids, this could reduce the costs of meeting their educational needs by as much as $100,000 per child per year for the remainder of their K-12 schooling; imagine what this could mean for our public fiscal crisis.

We believe this is the future of education, and the “next generation” special education blueprint we all need. But it didn’t come out of some big research group, it was started by a Mom because her kids needed it. Find out how you can support our work and join our movement to #reframethedebate on education away from how we can cut costs, to how we can foster the innovations that will reduce the needs that are so costly to support.

 Join an Upcoming Information Session, Educational Event or Enrichment Program

New Programs Open Up More Ways to Experience Cajal Academy!

Now that we have our new building we’ve opened up lots of ways your child can experience Cajal! Find out more about immediate placements, diagnostic placements, expert evaluations, our new After School Program, our Workshop Wednesdays Enrichment Program and our summer program. Apply today to join us!

We moved to South Norwalk!

Cajal Academy is now in the hub of innovation and accessible by train from New York City and Westchester County to New Haven, Ridgefield and Danbury

We are one of only about 20 schools nationwide that specialize in meeting the needs of kids who have both high intellectual abilities and an area of specialized need—and the only one in the world to meet those needs with a neurodevelopmental approach that unlocks children’s gifts by changing the fundamentals of those profiles themselves. Families commute from as far as two hours each way, or relocate from points across the country. Learn about our exciting new home, and opportunities to access our school through public transit, work remotely from our building while your children are at school or rent an apartment nearby—all part of our push to maximize access to our unique school!