Both K-12 and post secondary education in Alberta provide students with specialized services and/or programs designed to support students with their learning needs.

Parents and students can find relevant links and resources listed below.

We offer specialized learning supports for students who have emotional, behavioural, cognitive, learning, speech, hearing, vision, physical or medical needs.

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Student’s with special needs can struggle in their academic achievements as well as their social and emotional growth and development. Such needs are not just limited to learning disabilities, cognitive developmental disabilities, and physical disabilities. Low vision, hearing loss, and emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety are just a few examples of special needs that a student may have.

Students with low visions for example, may benefit from bigger balls and birdies in physical education, more time on exams, and alternate format textbooks and learning material. Further more, depending of the specific condition, students with low vision may struggle to socialize and may have hard time learning fine motor skills that require good eye-hand coordination. Similarly, students with other conditions may have varying special needs.

Parents of k-12 students can contact their children’s teachers to discuss their children’s needs. Post-secondary institutions have an office dedicated to serving students with special needs like the Academic Success Center of University of Alberta, Access and Disability Resources of MacEwan University, and Learning Services of NAIT.

University of Alberta’s Course Accommodations webpage for example, lists alternate formats such as “e-text, braille, large print, audio, and coloured paper”, course load adjustments, practicum placement support and sign language interpreting as some of the accommodation they provide students with. Students must book counselling appointments and submit any required documentations to explore and utilize the services they qualify for.