The One Thing Everyone Should Know About Students with Disabilities (That We Don’t Talk About Enough)

If you asked a room full of educators, parents, and school teams:

“What’s the most important thing to know about a student with a disability?”

You’d probably hear the same answer over and over:

“Know their accommodations.”

And that answer isn’t wrong.

Accommodations matter. They are essential for access. They are legally required. And yes—you should absolutely know them.

But if we stop there, we miss something much more important.

The Real Answer: Understand How the Student’s Brain Works

Accommodations tell you what to provide.

Understanding the disability tells you why—and that changes everything.

Because when you understand how a student’s brain processes information, responds to instruction, and experiences learning, you move from:

• guessing → intentional teaching

• reacting → planning

• general supports → targeted supports

And that’s when things start to click.

Why Accommodations Alone Aren’t Enough

Here’s the challenge:

When we rely only on accommodations lists, we can fall into the trap of applying the same supports to every student.

Extra time. Preferential seating. Chunking. Graphic organizers.

All helpful. All common.

But not always effective—because not all disabilities impact learning in the same way.

Two students can both have IEPs and need completely different approaches.

Not All Disabilities Are the Same (Even When They Look Similar)

Let’s take a simple example:

A student with dyslexia

May struggle with:

• decoding words

• reading fluency

• accessing written text

They may need:

• structured literacy

• explicit phonics instruction

• text-to-speech supports

A student with ADHD

May struggle with:

• attention regulation

• task initiation

• sustaining effort

• executive functioning

They may need:

• movement breaks

• visual schedules

• chunked tasks

• frequent check-ins

Are there overlaps? Absolutely.

But the root cause of the difficulty is different—and that means the support must be different too.

When We Understand the “Why,” Everything Changes

When educators and teams deeply understand a student’s disability, we start to ask better questions:

• What is actually causing the struggle?

• What barrier is this student experiencing right now?

• What support directly addresses that barrier?

Instead of:

“What accommodations are on the IEP?”

We start thinking:

“What does this student’s brain need in order to learn?”

And that shift is powerful.

This Applies to Everyone on the Team

This isn’t just for special education teachers.

It matters for:

• General education teachers

• Paraprofessionals

• Administrators

• Parents

Because every adult interacting with the student is part of the learning environment.

When everyone understands the student, support becomes:

• consistent

• aligned

• intentional

And the student experiences a system—not a set of disconnected efforts.

So What Should We Be Doing?

Instead of stopping at accommodations, we should be asking:

✔️ What is this student’s disability category and what does it mean?✔️ How does it show up in the classroom?✔️ What are the specific barriers this student faces?✔️ What supports actually address those barriers?

And most importantly:

✔️ Are we adjusting our teaching—or just expecting the student to adjust?

Final Thoughts

Knowing accommodations is important.

But understanding the student is essential.

Because when we understand how a student’s brain works, we stop relying on generic supports—and start building systems that actually help them learn, grow, and succeed.

And that’s the goal.