Special education is a broad field with vastly different skill requirements across disability categories. Specify the populations you have supported: autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, physical or health impairments, traumatic brain injury, or specific learning disabilities. Listing your experience with specific populations directly tells employers whether you match their student needs.

Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) or Non-Violent Crisis Intervention (NCI) certification is required or strongly preferred for most paraprofessional roles with high-needs students. List these certifications with issue date and renewal status. First aid, CPR, seizure management training, and G-tube or medication administration certificates are similarly important for students with medically complex needs.

Paraprofessionals in well-run special education programs collect data regularly on IEP goals, behavior incidents, communication attempts, and skill acquisition. Mention the data systems you used (Google Sheets, Goalbook, paper frequency counts), the types of data you collected (event recording, interval recording, DTT data), and how frequently you contributed to IEP progress reports. This expertise is often underrepresented on para resumes and significantly differentiates candidates.