So you want to find Special Education resources online. You’ve heard everyone talking about it and you’ve seen ALL the beautiful classrooms and resources on pinterest… but where do you get started?
Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) is the BEST online marketplace for educational resources, and I am proud to say that they are over 100,000 resources created by special educators and tested in REAL classrooms.
The ability to download a resource at a moments notice, and having a library of instant downloads at our fingertips has changed the way every teacher teaches. This is especially true for special education teachers, where before you may have had NO CURRICULUM and were tasked with making everything yourself. Sometimes, life gets in the way of that.
Teachers Pay Teachers has made it possible to simply search for what you need, and download it instantly. There are SO MANY differentiated materials for every topic possible, you just need to know the right way to search for it!
You want to make sure you have an active TPT account before you start searching. That way you can wish list things, make purchases with a few clicks, and follow your favorite sellers, without loosing what you were looking at.
Once you have an account you can start searching! Above are some search tips that may help you! In special education, our students could be at a variety of levels and even if they are in a certain grade, the search may not give you what you are looking for. Try searching by category and using the search bar as often as possible. If you are looking for something specific to special ed or autism, add that to your search term to yield better results and avoid sifting through many pages.
Before you buy a resource, it’s good to check out the sellers page. You can always find a FREE resource in the top right corner. This is a great way to check the quality of their work and see if their style fits your student needs. If you really like what the seller has to offer, you can follow their store. This means that you will receive updates when they have a sale or post a new product, which is important because a lot of sellers give limited time discounts when they first post!
You can also search from this page, look at their featured items, sort by best sellers or price, and search through custom categories. If you have a seller that you have bought from before, and want to see what else they have, the custom categories can give you a good idea of that.
Wish listing an item is a great way to save it for later. When you are ready to purchase you can narrow it down by going to “My Wish List” Located in the drop down menu under your name on the top right. I personally love to wish list the night before a site wide sale to get everything I need in one place before I analyze the list! It’s a great way to save for later!
The My Purchases page is a LIFESAVER. You always have access to your purchases from whatever computer you are on. I love this because I can go down to the computer lab, log into TPT and print what I need right from there. No emails or USBs needed. You can also provide feedback by clicking the thumbs up symbol on this page. It lets you know if you have already provided feedback or not. 
Did you know that providing feedback on your TPT purchases gets you FREE MONEY to spend on more resources? ( I swear this is one of TPT’s most hidden gems!) Each time you leave feedback you earn credits… and they add up quick. I love to leave feedback and watch it pile up, and use my credits during a site wide sale. Make sure you take advantage of earning your credits!
You can also buy additional licenses on this page. It is against TPT and most sellers terms of use to use a product in multiple classrooms or share with your teacher friends without buying additional licenses. They are almost always available at a discount of the original price, and sellers greatly appreciate your honesty!
I hope this helps you find some amazing resources on TPT!
