George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia

Special Education

Explore and share tips, strategies, and resources for supporting students with special needs.

  • Dispelling Myths Around Learning Disabilities

    One in five students struggle with learning or attention issues like autism, dyscalculia, or ADHD, yet only 17 percent of teachers feel prepared to support them, a new report finds.
    Youki Terada

  • Providing Rich Educational Experiences for All Students

    With proper scaffolds, students with learning differences benefit greatly from challenging opportunities like project-based learning.
    Nina Parrish

  • The Necessity of Having High Expectations

    Conveying compassion for students while holding them to high standards can help improve equity in education.
    Kristine Napper

  • The Sensory Room: Helping Students With Autism Focus and Learn

    Imagine a safe space where students with autism can go to calm their bodies and then get back to the business of learning.

  • District 75: ‘The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love’

    A former teacher revisits her roots in New York City’s District 75—a school system composed entirely of kids with severe disabilities.
    Laura McKenna

  • 17 Ways to Help Students With ADHD Concentrate

    Teacher-tested ideas to help students quietly fidget.
    Youki Terada

  • The Missing Autistic Girls

    In the past two decades, autism diagnoses have soared—but new research shows that girls have frequently been overlooked, leaving them without crucial support.
    Carly Berwick

  • Say Hi to Milo, the Autism Robot

    Standing two feet tall and resembling a boy, Milo the robot is helping autistic students build social skills at a school in South Carolina.

  • Easy Ways to Bring Assistive Technology Into Your Classroom

    Free or low-cost tools can help all students—with and without learning differences—better access course content.
    Jennifer Sullivan

  • Sensory Room 101

    After we published a video about a special room designed to help autistic kids calm and focus themselves, you had questions. Here’s what it takes to create this kind of space.
    Betty Ray

  • Strategies for Students With Scattered Minds

    Teachers can help students strengthen their brain's executive function with "workouts" in which they practice pausing, prioritizing, improving their working memory, and mapping their options.
    Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers

  • Want to Improve a District? Let Teachers Lead the Way

    A Connecticut superintendent put teachers and students at the forefront of all decisions and transformed a district.
    Holly Korbey

  • What I’ve Learned From Special Ed Teachers

    Special education teachers have valuable insights to share with their peers about patience, empathy, working with parents, and more.
    Peg Grafwallner

  • Dyslexia in the General Education Classroom

    In order to accommodate students with dyslexia, general education teachers must understand what the condition is and what alternate means work best for accessing information.
    Kelli Sandman-Hurley

  • The Benefits of Video-Mediated Instruction

    Using video lessons and an instructional avatar creates an inclusive educational experience for students with autism spectrum disorders.
    Lauren Ellison, Kimberly Brdar