Top 12 Special Education Preschool Teacher Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting a resume for a special education preschool teacher position means spotlighting a distinctive mix of skills that show how you build inclusive, loving, and learning-rich spaces for little ones with varied strengths and needs. When you foreground the right skills—clearly, concretely—you signal that you’re thoughtful, creative, and relentless about each child’s progress.
Special Education Preschool Teacher Skills
- IEP Development
- Behavior Management
- Autism Spectrum Strategies
- Early Intervention
- Sign Language (ASL)
- PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System)
- Sensory Integration
- Boardmaker Software
- Inclusive Education
- Proloquo2Go
- Differentiated Instruction
- SMART Board
1. IEP Development
IEP development is the collaborative process of creating a child’s Individualized Education Program—clear, measurable goals paired with targeted instruction, supports, and services based on assessments and family input. It turns insights into action.
Why It's Important
IEPs ensure every child receives instruction and support tailored to their needs and strengths. That alignment—goals, services, accommodations—drives meaningful growth and sets up an inclusive, responsive classroom.
How to Improve IEP Development Skills
Know the present levels: Use play-based assessments, observations, and caregiver insights to describe what the child can do now—functionally, socially, academically.
Collaborate intentionally: Plan quick, regular check-ins with families and the team. Use plain language summaries so everyone understands the plan and their role.
Write functional, SMART goals: Developmentally appropriate targets that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—woven into routines, not floating abstractions.
Choose evidence-based strategies: Visual supports, modeling, prompting and fading, structured teaching, and embedded instruction across daily activities.
Monitor and adjust: Simple data sheets, visuals to track progress, short cycles of review. Revise goals, strategies, and supports when the data nudge you.
Mind compliance and access: Meet timelines, document services faithfully, plan for transitions, and ensure accommodations are actually available and used.
Done well, the IEP is a living roadmap—clear, nimble, and anchored to the child’s real world.
How to Display IEP Development Skills on Your Resume
2. Behavior Management
Behavior management blends proactive supports, explicit teaching, and consistent responses to help young learners build regulation, communication, and social skills—so the classroom hums rather than frays.
Why It's Important
Predictable, supportive routines and responses reduce frustration, increase engagement, and make learning possible for every child, including those who need extra structure to thrive.
How to Improve Behavior Management Skills
Start with ABCs: Observe antecedents, behaviors, consequences. Know triggers and motivators before you intervene.
Clear, visual expectations: 3–5 positively stated rules, picture cues, and routines that children can see and practice.
Proactive supports: Visual schedules, first–then boards, choice-making, transition warnings, and well-paced activities.
Teach replacement skills: Requesting help, waiting, turn-taking, calm-down strategies—practice when calm, not only in the heat of the moment.
Reinforce what you want: Immediate praise, token boards, preferred activities—matched to the child’s interests, then faded gradually.
Consistent responses: Neutral, brief, and predictable. De-escalation first; consequences that teach, not punish.
Family partnership: Align strategies across home and school; share simple visuals and language for consistency.
Reflect and refine: Review data weekly, tweak supports, and keep learning new approaches.
How to Display Behavior Management Skills on Your Resume
3. Autism Spectrum Strategies
Autism Spectrum Strategies are tailored supports that build communication, social understanding, flexibility, and independence—delivered through structure, visuals, and responsive teaching.
Why It's Important
These approaches honor differences in processing and interaction, reducing barriers and boosting engagement for children on the spectrum.
How to Improve Autism Spectrum Strategies Skills
Individual profiles first: Sensory preferences, interests, communication style, and regulation needs guide everything.
Structure the day: Visual schedules, clear work systems, defined spaces, and predictable routines—comfort and clarity in one package.
Visual supports everywhere: Photos, symbols, and timers to show what’s happening now, next, and later.
Communication access: Model language, honor all communication (gestures, signs, AAC), and teach requesting, commenting, and protesting.
Social learning: Story-based instruction, peer-mediated activities, and play that invites joint attention and turn-taking.
Sensory regulation: Thoughtful movement, calming tools, and choice of seating to match sensory needs.
Generalize skills: Practice across people, places, and materials; embed in routines.
Use data: Small measures, frequent reviews, steady adjustments.
How to Display Autism Spectrum Strategies Skills on Your Resume
4. Early Intervention
Early Intervention coordinates services in the earliest years to support development, empower families, and reduce later barriers. Quick action, gentle supports, big impact.
Why It's Important
Young brains are wonderfully plastic. The sooner we respond—with targeted strategies and family coaching—the more growth we unlock.
How to Improve Early Intervention Skills
Screen and refer promptly: Use developmentally appropriate tools and act quickly when concerns arise.
Routines-based support: Embed strategies in snacks, centers, clean-up, outdoor play—real contexts stick.
Family coaching: Model, practice together, leave simple visuals or step-by-steps that families can use.
Interdisciplinary teamwork: Align goals and strategies across SLP, OT, PT, and classroom staff; one plan, many hands.
Assistive tools: Introduce supports that increase access and independence, from low-tech visuals to AAC as needed.
Culturally responsive: Honor home languages, routines, and values. Adapt materials to fit the child’s world.
Plan transitions: Prepare for moves between services or into kindergarten well ahead of time.
Measure what matters: Small, frequent check-ins on progress; revise goals without delay.
How to Display Early Intervention Skills on Your Resume
5. Sign Language (ASL)
American Sign Language is a rich, visual language that opens communication doors for deaf and hard-of-hearing children—and benefits hearing peers by expanding expressive options and attention to nonverbal cues.
Why It's Important
ASL boosts access, builds vocabulary, and can reduce frustration by giving children clear, immediate ways to communicate wants, feelings, and ideas.
How to Improve Sign Language (ASL) Skills
Practice daily: Start with core signs (more, help, finished, stop, go) and use them in every routine.
Pair speech with signs: Speak and sign together; model for peers so the whole room becomes a language-rich space.
Embed in play and music: Songs, fingerplays, and center time make repetition natural—and fun.
Feedback matters: Seek coaching from DHH specialists or interpreters when available; refine handshapes and facial grammar.
Share with families: Send home a tiny “sign of the week” card or video; keep a simple class sign dictionary.
How to Display Sign Language (ASL) Skills on Your Resume
6. PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System)
PECS teaches functional communication by having a child exchange pictures to make requests and, over time, to build more complex language.
Why It's Important
It gives non-speaking or minimally speaking children an efficient, concrete way to be heard—reducing frustration and increasing independence.
How to Improve PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) Skills
Follow the phases: Teach each phase with fidelity—initiation first, then distance and persistence, discrimination, sentence strips, attributes, and commenting.
Make it meaningful: Use high-interest items, real photos when helpful, and vocabulary the child truly wants.
Generalize early: Practice across people, settings, and times of day so communication doesn’t stay locked to one table or one adult.
Pair with speech: Model spoken language alongside picture exchanges; celebrate approximations in any modality.
Train the team: Families, paraprofessionals, therapists—everyone knows how to prompt, wait, and respond consistently.
Expand thoughtfully: Increase vocabulary, add attributes, and move to sentence strips when ready.
Track, fade, adapt: Collect data, fade prompts, and shift supports as spontaneous exchanges grow.
How to Display PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) Skills on Your Resume
7. Sensory Integration
Sensory integration supports help children process and respond to sensory input—sound, touch, movement, light—so they can participate, learn, and connect.
Why It's Important
When sensory systems feel settled, attention rises and challenging behaviors drop. Access improves. Learning sticks.
How to Improve Sensory Integration Skills
Partner with OT: Use occupational therapy input to craft individualized sensory supports and routines.
Create sensory-smart spaces: Calm corner, noise management, varied seating, and clear pathways.
Sensory diets: Planned movement and deep-pressure activities woven through the day—swinging, wall pushes, animal walks.
Hands-on exploration: Sensory bins, playdough, water play—tactile and proprioceptive input with purpose.
Visual structure: Timers, first–then visuals, and task steps that reduce uncertainty.
Teach self-advocacy: Scripts and visuals for “I need a break,” “Too loud,” or “Quiet space please.”
Monitor and adjust: Watch for over- or under-stimulation; tweak intensity, duration, and timing.
How to Display Sensory Integration Skills on Your Resume
8. Boardmaker Software
Boardmaker provides a robust symbol library and templates to create visual supports, communication boards, schedules, and activities tailored to each learner.
Why It's Important
Visuals make learning and expectations concrete. Boardmaker helps you produce consistent, accessible materials quickly—then tweak them as needs change.
How to Improve Boardmaker Software Skills
Develop a symbol style guide: Standardize colors, fonts, and framing so students recognize materials across contexts.
Customize for function: Build schedules, core boards, and token charts aligned to IEP goals and classroom routines.
Design for durability: Print, laminate, add Velcro or key rings; organize binders and portable rings for easy access.
Create interactive sets: Sorts, matching, and choice boards—printable and, when available, digital versions for touchscreens.
Work efficiently: Use templates, batch-edit symbols, and maintain folders for quick updates throughout the year.
Share and back up: Export files for colleagues and families; keep cloud and local backups so nothing is lost.
How to Display Boardmaker Software Skills on Your Resume
9. Inclusive Education
Inclusive education means every child learns in the same community classroom with supports that remove barriers and celebrate differences.
Why It's Important
It nurtures empathy, expands opportunities, and ensures access to grade-level experiences—right from the start.
How to Improve Inclusive Education Skills
Center on UDL: Offer multiple ways to engage, represent, and express learning so every child has a way in.
Co-teach and co-plan: Share roles, align instruction, and create supports together for seamless inclusion.
Differentiate smartly: Tier tasks, vary materials, and design centers that meet a range of readiness levels.
Peer supports: Structured peer buddies and cooperative activities that build belonging and skill.
Accessible materials: Visuals, adapted texts, tactile tools, and assistive tech as needed.
Family voice: Invite input, honor culture and language, and share strategies that transfer home.
Data-informed tweaks: Monitor access and progress; remove barriers you spot.
How to Display Inclusive Education Skills on Your Resume
10. Proloquo2Go
Proloquo2Go is a symbol-based AAC app that lets non-speaking or minimally speaking learners communicate using customizable buttons, pages, and phrases.
Why It's Important
It gives children a reliable voice—portable, personal, and ready for real interactions—and supports language growth over time.
How to Improve Proloquo2Go Skills
Personalize the setup: Core word layout, consistent motor planning, and vocabulary that reflects the child’s life.
Model constantly: Use Aided Language Input; point to symbols while you speak during daily routines and play.
Make it social: Embed AAC in games, centers, and music so communication feels natural and joyful.
Train the team: Ensure staff and families know how to edit buttons, prompt, and respond—same approach across settings.
Maintain and protect: Back up vocab sets, charge devices, add cases and straps, and plan for access during outdoor play.
How to Display Proloquo2Go Skills on Your Resume
11. Differentiated Instruction
Differentiated instruction tailors content, process, and products so each child can access learning at the right level—without losing the joy of discovery.
Why It's Important
No two learners are the same. Differentiation keeps challenge appropriate, builds confidence, and increases meaningful participation.
How to Improve Differentiated Instruction Skills
Pre-assess lightly: Quick checks reveal readiness, interests, and preferred modalities.
Set micro-goals: Small steps toward big standards—clear targets for each group or child.
Flexible grouping: Shift groups by skill, interest, or learning profile; fluid, not fixed.
Vary the pathway: Hands-on centers, visuals, stories, movement, and technology—multiple doors to the same room.
Choice and voice: Offer options for tasks and how to show learning; scaffold options as needed.
Right-sized scaffolds: Visual cues, sentence starters, manipulatives, and peer support—faded over time.
Check for understanding: Frequent, low-stakes checks drive quick adjustments.
How to Display Differentiated Instruction Skills on Your Resume
12. SMART Board
A SMART Board is an interactive display that turns lessons into touchable, collaborative experiences—great for visual, auditory, and tactile learners.
Why It's Important
It invites participation, makes concepts concrete, and supports multimodal instruction that sticks.
How to Improve SMART Board Skills
Design for visibility: Big visuals, high contrast, clean layouts, and minimal on-screen clutter.
Make it hands-on: Drag-and-drop sorting, tracing, matching, and multi-touch games for small groups.
Use built-in tools: Timers, screen shade, digital ink, and simple templates to speed lesson creation.
Support access: Calibrate regularly, adjust touch sensitivity, and plan alternatives for students who need switches or pointers.
Record and revisit: Capture mini-lessons for review, center rotations, or absent students.
Have a Plan B: Tech hiccups happen—keep printable versions or quick, no-tech adaptations ready.
How to Display SMART Board Skills on Your Resume
