We provide highly-individualized programs that empower students to access, and prepare them to enjoy, a future defined by their strengths

Many of the students in our cohort of kids with high analytical reasoning and/or creative thinking skills have complex learning profiles. These may include learning, executive function, social-emotional, sensory, neurophysiological or chronic medical differences that interfere with their ability to access and enjoy those gifts.

For these students, we augment our general curriculum with a student “Catalyst:” a data-driven and multi-disciplinary program that meets students where they are, delivered by expert licensed therapies in the fields of neuropsychology, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech and language pathology. Like a student’s IEP in public school settings, this program incorporates a mixture of services by licensed therapists, accommodations and academic differentiation, but unlike an IEP, each student’s Catalyst provides a roadmap for how to reduce or even remove those challenges, through a mix of traditional and Cajal-exclusive approaches, applying the well-established principle of neuroplasticity.

These programs are integrated directly into the project-based learning, social-emotional curriculum and agency and growth mindset coaching in our “Vision to Voice” curriculum, accelerating the pace of progress and helping them to find the courage to try things that have previously been hard for them. Use these links to learn more about these two primary components of our program.

Use these links to learn more about these primary components of each student’s program:

More ways to experience Cajal Academy

Across the country, very few schools integrate academic programming appropriate to kids with very high cognitive profiles with specialized instruction, diagnostic and therapeutic services and expertise. Our program was designed by a social entrepreneur and former corporate litigator who is a generalist problem solver and Mom to two kids in this unique cohort, together with an expert, multi-disciplinary team of experienced educators, licensed therapists and a recognized neuropsychologist. Together, they have developed a research-backed program that is proving effective at reducing or even removing the learning and social-emotional challenges holding kids back—not just accommodating them.

As the number of families we serve grows, we are making connections that don’t appear in the literature—and that have led to specialized programs for kids having certain archetypal profiles. The links below will give you an idea of the mix of strategies we integrate into the Student Growth Catalyst for some of the common needs represented within our program.

One continuous journey from where you are to fully developing your gifts.

Cajal’s unique Catalyst Method is a first of its kind approach to special educational needs that includes the differentiation, accommodation and specialized instruction you would receive in other settings—but then moves beyond them to “rewire” the brain to perform those specific neurocognitive and neurophysio skills that drive those difficulties in the first place. In other words, we don’t just accommodate learning and social differences, we reduce or even remove them, freeing students to access and further develop their strengths. This is an inter-disciplinary and highly-scaffolded process delivered by licensed occupational, physical and language therapists, with data-driven insights from our neuropsychologist. These accommodations and interventions are faded as the targeted skills are developed, and the focus of the student’s program gradually shifts to making the newly-acquired skills more resilient and mastering the skills in our Vision to Voice Curriculum and the benefits of our college-readiness programming for gifted kids.

Immediate, Summer and Fall Placements; Rolling Admissions

No child should have to choose between academic challenge and the support they need to thrive.

All Cajal Academy programs integrate both stimulating academic programs and highly-personalized individual growth plans that leverage neuroplasticity to build up the skills they need to overcome any weaknesses in their otherwise strong neuropsychological and neurophysio profiles. Find out more about these core elements of our program below.

was founded on the premise that children can only fulfill their full human potential when they are given the opportunity to discover and experience their own gifts—and that this shouldn’t come at the cost of the expertise and support they need to overcome obstacles and have agency over their own life-lived experiences. Achieving this balance is especially important (and challenging!) for children having complex learning, social, sensory and/or neurological profiles. Our program is specifically-designed to meet these students’ needs, while leveraging modern neuroscientific research to address—not just accommodate—their differences, enabling them to thrive independently in the academic, social and professional settings of their own choosing.