Learning pathway
Special education — significant 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 severe/profound disabilities, complex medical needs, or multiple disabilities.
Health and personal care lead because they're the daily reality in significant-needs settings — but lead doesn't mean alone. Read the safety note below before anything else, and presume competence: communication still comes second, never last.
Safety note — read first
This pathway includes health, medical, and personal-care content because it's part of the daily work in significant-needs settings — but it builds awareness and recognition, not clinical authority. You never make a medical judgment alone. Follow the student's health plan and IEP, defer clinical decisions to the school nurse or the staff your district has specifically trained and delegated, and in an emergency follow your building's response plan and get the nurse or call 911 as that plan directs. If a task hasn't been trained and delegated to you in writing, it isn't yours to perform. These briefs help you recognize a situation and respond safely; they don't certify you to do a procedure.
Emergency briefs — know before you need them
- Seizure Recognition and ResponseIn clinical reviewAuthored and awaiting clinical (RN/SME) sign-off before we publish it. Until then, follow the student's health plan and your district's emergency procedure.
- Allergies and AnaphylaxisIn clinical reviewAuthored and awaiting clinical (RN/SME) sign-off before we publish it. Until then, follow the student's health plan and your district's emergency procedure.
- Crisis ResponseYour student has crossed from escalation into peak — there's risk of harm, and the team's job has changed from de-escalation to safety.
Lead competencies for this role
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 →
Settings & Grade Bands
- Early InterventionYou work in early intervention (birth-3) — and the framework, philosophy, and your role are fundamentally different from school-age special ed.
- Early Childhood PreKYou work in preschool / pre-K — and resist the urge to make it look like elementary school.
- ElementaryYou work in K-5 special education — and you need to balance being present enough to support with fading enough to build independence.
- Routines and TransitionsYou support students whose hardest moments are transitions — between activities, locations, adults — and most behavioral incidents cluster there.
- Unstructured TimeYou support students during recess, lunch, hallways, before/after school — the times when most behavioral incidents happen.
- Middle SchoolYou support adolescents in 6-8 — and the social and identity landscape is so different that elementary support strategies stop working.
- See all in Settings & Grade Bands →
When the moment is happening
Open these cards during the situation — not to study.
- Your student is losing control right nowYour student is losing control — getting upset, building up, or at a peak. (If this is a medical problem, suicide, or a disclosure: read the triage box first.)
- Drill or emergency right now — and your student needs more than the standard planA drill or a real emergency — fire, lockdown, lockout, shelter-in-place, severe weather, or earthquake. Your student needs more help than the standard plan gives.