Beyond the Classroom

How to supplement your child’s special education.

Parents and caregivers with a child who has special needs have a unique responsibility to engage their children through extended learning and development strategies when away from a structured classroom and in their day-to-day lives. 

Here are some ways to supplement a child’s education and development beyond the classroom by focusing on activities that promote independence and life skills for children with special needs:

Maximize learning opportunities during playtime and while helping around the house

Playtime is a great time to practice communication and the “serve and return strategy” helps promote brain development in young children. Take turns in a conversation — giving the child an opportunity to acknowledge the message and process the information, allowing them time to respond. Be attentive and notice the child’s focus. Encourage language development by naming what the child is doing, seeing or hearing. Like a lively game of tennis, the back-and-forth of these interactions is not only fun, but also good practice for building social and cognitive skills, essentials for healthy growth and development, according to Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child. 

Responsibilities like chores or getting kids to help around the house can be much more productive by implementing useful tools to help them focus on the tasks at hand.

• Eliminate distractions such as TV or noise from kids playing in the other room.
• Consider using step-by-step visual aids like a simple checklist. Praise and reward progress as each step is completed. It’s not about perfection but about moving in the right direction toward accomplishing the task.
• Kids, and even adults, are motivated by incentives. Offering behavioral supports can encourage positive behaviors. Try out the Token System, where something of value or interest (for example, a trip to the park or playdate with a friend) is earned or awarded for positive behavior or completion of an assignment. 

Use visual aids and multi-sensory learning techniques

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) such as visual aids to illustrate routines are highly beneficial to children who are non-verbal. A chart with pictures illustrating the steps of the routine — such as a toothbrush, pajamas, bed — allows the parent to point to the pictures to facilitate understanding when it’s bedtime. The same goes if the child is requesting their favorite food when they are hungry. 

When it comes to organization and staying on task, visual schedules and timers can be much easier to follow than written schedules. Getting ready for school with a sequential visual schedule can look like this:

• (Clock) Wake up.
• (Clothes) Get dressed.
• (Fork and spoon) Eat breakfast.
• (Toothbrush) Brush teeth.
• (Shoes) Put on shoes.
• (Backpack) Check backpack.
• (School bus) Go to school.

Adding the visual timer (clock) so the child can also see their progress can be helpful, especially if they have to leave for school by a certain time. Similarly, visual chore lists can help your child stay on task and feel accomplished. 

Foster a supportive home environment that complements school-based interventions

As taught by the IRIS Center Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, many educators have learned to use The ABC Model, a common framework that illustrates how to analyze the function or meaning of behavior and to identify the environmental factors that can influence behaviors (positive or negative) before and after they occur. 

A — Antecedent is any situation, action or event that precedes a behavior.

B — Behavior is an observable and measurable act.

C — Consequence is any response, action or event that follows a behavior.

While you can see this would be a very valuable approach to implement in classrooms to avoid disruptions and encourage positive behavior, it can look a bit different at home. Behavior itself is communication. The key to implementing this at home is to identify the situation that creates challenging behavior and adjust accordingly. 

Understanding the meaning of the behavior (upset, hurt, afraid) can help parents understand how to address it. Also, development of self-regulation tools to manage emotions and impulsive behavior is dependent on how parents and caregivers respond. One of the Seven Key Principles of Self-Regulation in Context by Murray, D.W., Rosanbalm, K. and ChristopouFlos, C., suggests warm and responsive interactions providing support, coaching and modeling help a child to understand, express and manage thoughts, feelings and behavior. 

Teach self-instruction strategies for students struggling with certain subjects

In traditional education, curriculum is directed by the grade-level curricular standards. In special education, curriculum standards are individualized to students’ needs and abilities. If kids can’t learn the way we teach, we must teach the way they learn. An attitude that views the child as having a learning disability rather than labeling them as a disabled child, helps you to approach teaching and parenting moments with the child as the focus, not their disability — leading to more productive learning and growth opportunities. Ultimately, this approach will also boost the child’s self-esteem and their confidence, making it easier for them to follow instructions and complete assignments.

Helping children guide themselves can be especially difficult if they already struggle with a learning disability that impacts their cognitive processing and ability to stay organized or stay focused. Some key strategies to support self-instruction (or self-regulation), along with many additional resources on understood.org, include:

• Set goals that are clear and achievable to provide direction and motivation.
• Break down tasks into small, manageable steps. 
• Acknowledge and reward oneself for accomplishments, no matter how small.
• Practice positive and encouraging self-talk by talking oneself through tasks or activities, and reinforcing the self-talk with positive acknowledgement of completing the activity. 

Technology and assistive tools can enhance learning and communication

Free learning tools: 

• Proloquo2Go is a highly recommended app for children who are non-verbal or use augmentative and alternative communication. It features natural sounding and real children’s voices, and is fully customizable to help build a person’s communication, whether they are beginner or advanced communicators.
• Bookshare offers audiobooks and eBooks for learners of all abilities.
• Read&Write is a Google extension that offers text to speech or read-aloud functions.

Resource sites for parents/caregivers:

• Understood.org — a leading nonprofit empowering the 70 million people with learning and thinking differences in the U.S.
• Local Center for Parent Information & Resources (CIPR) — parentcenterhub.org
• For Families of Bilingual Children/English Language Learners — colorincolorado.org/families 

Joanne Van Boxtel, Ph.D. is a faculty director in Vanguard University’s School of Education, where she has been leading the curriculum development for a special education teaching credential program to launch in fall 2025.