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No matter what you teach, having the right materials is key to student engagement. In a special education classroom, having the best resources to engage each student is doubly important. Find inspiration in this list of special education resources covering social skills, professional life skills, academic foundations, and occupational therapy activities to meet students’ needs and help them move into the next stage of their development.
Special Education Resources for Social Skills
Social skills are an important focus for students of any age and ability level, but they are especially important for students in special education classrooms. Focusing on social skills can increase classroom inclusion, help students make friends, and respond to social situations more flexibly now and in the future.
Use low-prep resources to help students learn more about the way they interact with others and improve their relationships by adjusting their behavior.
Focus on kindness and positive behavior in the classroom
Many students don’t have an answer to the question, “Why did you do that?” Use resources that examine common behavioral choices and the ways they affect others to help them reflect on problem behaviors before they start.
Charity: Social Skills
By the way, tell me about my teaching methods.
Grade: K-3
Topic: Character Education
Help students understand the positive and negative impacts their actions can have on others through resources focused on developing social skills. Lessons on kindness and friendship guide young learners through the causes and effects of teasing, yelling, ignoring, pushing and other everyday behaviors that can harm their peers.
Teacher Tip: Use morning meetings to strengthen social skills
Morning huddles (or circle time) are a great tool for repeating skills every day and supporting students through simulated social interactions. You can make a classic elementary school morning event more appealing to older students by ensuring that some of the functional materials traditionally included recognize the actual ages of middle school and high school students.
“Weather is a very functional activity, but it can also be very abstract. As we get older, we start to use weather information to decide what to wear, what to take for travel, etc. We can teach students this information, but we need to give them a more concrete connection. Have them look up the weather online and make predictions based on the forecast. Then have them track whether the prediction was accurate.” -Kristen from Autism Classroom Resources
Special Education Occupational Therapy Resources
Every special education classroom should be aligned with IDEA to make the curriculum accessible to all students. This includes addressing developmental skills such as fine motor, gross motor and self-care skills. Achieving these milestones allows students to approach the course in a new way, equipping them and your classroom for success. Use special education resources to assess and address OT skills and milestones for all abilities and grade levels.
Note important milestones for OT skills and goals
The best way to understand how to meet student needs is to assess them at the beginning of the school year or unit of study. Track student progress toward skills and developmental milestones with checklists, assessments, and other resources designed to establish a student’s baseline before instruction begins.
“Teachers can use different checklists to understand where students may be struggling developmentally,” she said. “These lists should include at what age students typically acquire certain skills so you can compare to chronological age. If a student is within a certain age range, then I wouldn’t expect them to demonstrate a higher level of skill. For example, when thinking about self-care, if a student just takes off their socks and shoes (1.5 years old), I wouldn’t expect a student to take off their clothes or put their socks on (3 years old). It might be helpful to know what to expect for the student’s age level.” -Elizabeth, from Empowering OT with Dr R
Occupational Therapy Assessment Developmental Milestones Fine Motor
Author: Dr. R’s Empower OT
Grade: Preschool to Kindergarten
Use OT checklists to track students’ fine motor, visual motor, visual perception, and self-care milestones. Each section covers your students’ skills through class materials and tasks, allowing you to note whether they met each milestone with a simple “yes” or “no.”
Teacher Tip: Please consider the developmental age of your students when choosing OT activities
Early assessments of special education students can reveal their developmental age, which may differ from their chronological age.
“I will tailor lessons and strategies based on the developmental age of my students,” she said. “For example, a student who is chronologically a 5-year-old but has a developmental age of 3 will not work on writing the letters of his name (as some 5-year-olds do). Instead, he may work on basic skills such as finger differentiation, prewriting strokes, or cutting with scissors.” -Elizabeth, from Dr. R’s Empowering OT
Resources that combine academic and life skills
Academic foundation skills are important in both resource classes and designated special education classrooms that support students in mainstream programs. If you can combine math and reading skills into activities that also address life skills, even better! Find ways to use these resources in your classroom to strengthen math and reading skills and introduce life skills to students of any age.
Master the math skills needed for daily activities
Whether your students need number recognition, addition and subtraction, or applying math concepts to everyday life, you may find that special education resources that include a math component are an especially helpful way to reinforce these concepts. Students use guided activities to master math facts and apply them to situations they may use throughout their day.
Monster Math digital drag and drop activity for 1:1 mapping
Author: NoodleNook
Subjects: Mathematics, Numbers
Standard: CCSS K.CC.A.1, B.4
Useful CCSS-aligned math resources guide students through the concepts of 1:1 correspondence, number recognition and counting. Designed specifically for students with autism, but suitable for students of all ages and skills, this set of Google Drive slides includes number task cards for numbers 1-20, as well as number manipulatives for students to answer questions.
Life Skills Special Education Activities – Groceries Life Skills Math Worksheets
By adapting to autism
Grade: Grades 6-12
How much do your special education students know about finding grocery store information, using a credit card, or calculating the total cost of a grocery order? Take them through these topics and more with 50 worksheets covering basic and life skills at two difficulty levels.
Focus on functional reading skills and applications
From reading and understanding signs or instructions to following written instructions, functional reading skills are an essential life skill. Instructional activities for a variety of real-life reading tasks can help prepare students of all ages.
Safety Signs Worksheet – Functional Reading of Common Words for Community Signs
Author: Autism Classroom Resources – Christine Reeve
Grade: Grades 9-12
Topic: Reading
Instructing high school students in special education classrooms through functional reading exercises involving safety and signposting. A range of worksheets feature symbols with and without text for students to identify, as well as options to cut and paste answers or write them out.
Teacher Tip: Seek Mainstream Support from Special Education Teachers
Many school leaders do not have a background in special education. If you fall into this category, Heather, TpT teacher and author of Special Treat Friday, recommends asking your special education teacher for guidance on how they need to engage their students. “Let your teachers choose what they think is best for their students. They know their students’ needs best and they know their own teaching style.”
If you are a mainstream teacher looking for inclusive special education resources, joining the special education department is a great place to start. See if they have core subject materials you can use in class to differentiate between skill levels, or if they can point you in the right direction to find more resources to adapt and use throughout the school year.
Practical Skills for Career Preparation
Older students in special education programs need resources that emphasize functional and career readiness skills. Regardless of their post-graduation plans, these skills can begin to help them become employable and self-sufficient while they are still students in the classroom. From application and interviewing techniques to executive functioning and time management skills, these activities teach students skills they will use long after they graduate.
Lead students in work understanding activities
If you and your students made a list of possible jobs, how many could they name? Deepen their understanding of entry-level jobs through activities to learn what different workers do.
Entry Level Job Comprehension Worksheets
By Adulting Made Easy aka SpedAdulting
Grade: Grades 6-12
What do students in your special education program know about their future jobs? Take them through more than 55 worksheets to learn about the responsibilities and skills of many entry-level positions, including cashier, baggage clerk, mail carrier, cart boy and more.
Practice professional life skills in the classroom
Prepare students for job interviews and responsibilities before they leave high school! Use resources focused on professional life skills to prepare students for a variety of jobs and responsibilities.
Career Life Skills Pack
By registering with Ms. G
Grade: Grade 5-12
Career life skills are important for any student, but they are especially important in the special education classroom. Using a series of lessons, students are guided through finding a job, planning for job interviews, and problem solving through different work-related tasks.
Coffee Cart Student Business | Free Flyers and Directions | SPED Job Skills
By transition ability
Grade: Grades 6-12
Get students excited about participating in a coffee business project! Designed for special education classes dedicated to career life skills, this innovative program encourages students to apply for barista positions, plan their business budget and menu, take orders, and serve coffee to satisfied customers.
Teacher Tip: Use career skills to make your lessons interesting and accessible
Finding instructional materials that match each student’s skill level and chronological age can be difficult. Additionally, using materials and lessons that do not recognize chronological age can be a barrier to student engagement, learning, and growth—especially for middle school and high school students.
As Corey, TpT teacher and author of Smarter Intervention, explains, “It’s critical that our students get what they need without feeling like they’re doing ‘baby’ work. Once they start to feel like the work they’re doing is designed for younger students, they’ll check it out. If you want to create real, lasting, and meaningful progress, you need to keep students’ ages and interests top of mind when creating resources and lessons.”
Make your special education resources richer and more inspiring
When students of any age or ability can hone and improve their skills, they are one step closer to success. This is especially true for students in special education, as their success depends on developing foundational skills to achieve developmental milestones and close academic gaps.
Find more special education lessons, activities and games to add to your elementary and middle school learning environment. You can also follow our guide to create a sensory-friendly classroom that might benefit everyone in your class!
