assessments

It is part of federal law that students with special needs should have their strengths identified and described in their IEPs (IDEA 2004 Section 1414(d)(3)(A)). And yet, when I search the special education literature online, I find virtually nothing dedicated to identifying strengths in these students. If a student is having difficulty in school, what they need is to have adults around them who see the very best in them, not just their deficits, disorders, and dysfunctions. I’ve created an informal 165-item strength-based checklist in my book “Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School [...]