How to Create Independent Work Activities for Special Education Students
- Alyssa Ingle
- Nov 27, 2025
- 2 min read
How to Create Independent Work Stations Special Education Students Can Actually Do
For years, I’ve painstakingly piled up resources, laid them out on tables, and scanned each worksheet for potential challenges. I send my students to work, and two seconds later…
“Mrs. Miller? I can’t do this.”
“I need help!”
“I don’t know what to do!”
Or inevitably, a student confidently hands me a paper that’s done… completely wrong.
How is this possible?! Didn’t I just go over this yesterday? Or even 5 minutes ago?
The Truth Behind the Struggle of Independent Work
It isn’t just that students are lazy. It’s not always that students simply don’t want to try (okay, sometimes it is just that). I’ve always wanted to believe my students do want to complete good work without a constant flow of candy or other prizes. I know deep down every one of my students has some sort of intrinsic motivation to learn.
So why do I keep facing this problem?
Every child - but especially special education students - struggles to understand & apply instructions. But more importantly, most students in special education are constantly faced with work they can’t truly do independently.
Most Students Aren’t Trying to Fool Us
Maybe you don’t believe me, but I don’t think most students are being manipulative when they say that they “can’t”. I think they struggle to apply new skills when they’ve already expended so much energy just trying to get through the day.
Our students need us to recognize how difficult it is for them to accomplish new skills & manage our expectations.
This means that when we expect them to complete work independently, it needs to be work they can actually do independently. Let your students delve into independent work gradually. Here’s how:
Step by Step Ways to Increase Student Independence
Start a lesson activity together and model. I do, we do, you do.
As the student takes over, watch and wait. Give your students at least 5 seconds to process the next step.
Activate their background knowledge when independent work time begins: “Remember that activity from yesterday?”
Watch and wait for a couple of drills.
When it comes to special education, it’s important that you never make assumptions on what your students can do independently. Making inferences and generalizations can be extremely difficult for students.
For example, in Beyond Basic Math’s Sound to Symbol curriculum, students learn one letter sound at a time. The words, sentence strips and passages only contain the sounds students have learned. If a teacher were to present even one unknown sound, how would the student be able to read?
Building independent work skills is a beast of its own, and it’s a separate skill from anything academic. Making both work in tandem is a longterm challenge, but it’s worth the investment! Here’s to more independent learning in your classroom.
Charlotte Miller
Beyond Basic Math
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