Learning pathway
Special education — moderate needs
Pathways are suggestions, not requirements. They order existing content by what tends to matter most for a role — you can switch pathways or browse everything any time.
Primarily students with moderate intellectual disabilities, autism, or complex communication needs.
Communication leads here on purpose: when a student's communication is emerging or augmented, it's the gateway to instruction and often the key to behavior. Much of what looks like behavior is communication.
Lead competencies for this role
Communication & CollaborationInstructional SupportBehavior & Social-Emotional SupportHealth, Safety & Physical Support
Guides for this role
Communication & AAC
- Communication Bill of RightsYou support a student with complex communication needs — non-speaking, minimally speaking, or using AAC — and you want to know what rights they have and how they get honored or violated.
- AAC OverviewYour student uses or is being evaluated for AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) — and you want a working framework before the SLP throws acronyms at you.
- PECS and Picture ExchangeYour student is on PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) — and you want to be sure you're implementing the protocol, not just doing 'picture pointing.'
- Assistive Technology OverviewYour student uses assistive technology (AT) — pencil grip to speech-generating device — and you want to support it without accidentally replacing it.
- Sign Language BasicsYour student uses sign language — ASL, Signed Exact English, key word signing, or Total Communication — and you want to know what your role is and isn't.
- Visual SupportsYou use (or could use) visual schedules, first-then boards, choice boards, social stories, or visual timers to support a student through the day.
- See all in Communication & AAC →
Disability-Specific Briefs
- AutismYou support an autistic student — and you need a frame that holds the heterogeneity ("if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person") without flattening it.
- ADHDYou support a student with ADHD — and most of what's hard for them at school is executive function, not motivation.
- Specific Learning DisabilitiesYou support a student with an SLD — and the umbrella covers dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, language-based LD, each needing different support.
- DyslexiaYou support a student with dyslexia — and the right kind of reading instruction (Structured Literacy) makes the difference.
- Intellectual DisabilityYou support a student with intellectual disability — and the field has historically underestimated what these students can do.
- Emotional Disturbance EBDYou support a student under the ED / EBD category — and these students have the worst outcomes in special ed unless the relationship gets right first.
- See all in Disability-Specific Briefs →
Instructional Practice
- Instructional Roles of the ParaYou do instructional work all day — and you need a clear line between supporting and teaching, with the skill ceiling that comes with each.
- Prompting HierarchiesPrompting is most of what you do — and the difference between skilled and well-intentioned prompting determines whether the student becomes independent.
- Prompt FadingYou prompt students through skills they can't yet do alone — and fading those prompts is where actual independence gets built.
- Programming Sheets and Procedural FidelityYou run programs that another adult also runs — and consistency between you is the difference between the program working and not.
- Reinforcement BasicsYou use reinforcement every day — and the difference between great reinforcement and "bribery" is whether you know what you're doing.
- Errorless Learning and Error CorrectionYou teach skills where the student's errors matter — and where uncorrected wrong responses get rehearsed into harder-to-undo patterns.
- See all in Instructional Practice →
Behavior Support
- Function-Based ThinkingYou're trying to figure out why a student behaves the way they do — and why the answer matters more than the behavior itself.
- Functional Behavior AssessmentAn FBA is happening for your student — and you're going to be a major source of the data the team needs.
- Reading and Running a BIPYou're being asked to run a Behavior Intervention Plan — and you need to read it the way it's meant to be read.
- Antecedent StrategiesYou want to spend less time managing crises — by changing what happens *before* the behavior, not what happens after.
- Reinforcement Based InterventionsYou're being asked to run DRO, DRA, DRI, or NCR — and you need to know what those mean and where most paras get it wrong.
- Functional Communication TrainingYou're teaching a student a replacement for behavior that's already doing real work for them — and you need to do it the way the plan was designed.
- See all in Behavior Support →