Learning strategies for students with IEPs: mnemonics, chunking and highlighting

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

Learning strategies for students with disabilities work when you match the strategy to the task and teach it explicitly. Use mnemonics for lists and steps, chunking for long tasks and information, and limited highlighting for key ideas. Model the strategy, practice it with feedback, then have the student use it alone. Measure both strategy use and the result, such as quiz accuracy.

A learning strategy is a routine a student uses to learn or remember something: a mnemonic for the planets, breaking a long reading into parts, marking only the main idea in each paragraph. Students without disabilities often pick these up on their own. Many students with IEPs don't, and the result looks like a memory or effort problem when it is a strategy gap.

This page covers three common strategies, how to teach any strategy so the student actually uses it, and how to measure whether it works. For memory supports in the classroom, see working memory strategies for students. For the cluster overview, see executive functioning IEP goals.

Why teach strategies directly

Teaching cognitive and metacognitive strategies, so that students learn how to learn and work more on their own, is one of the core teaching practices for special educators set out by the Council for Exceptional Children and the CEEDAR Center.^[1] The IRIS Center's materials on these core practices describe explicit teaching with modeling, guided practice and feedback as the way to get there.^[2] A strategy that is mentioned once and never practiced rarely sticks.

Match the strategy to the task

Strategy	What it is	Best for	Poor fit for
Mnemonics	A word, sentence or image that cues a list, sequence or fact	Lists, steps in a process, vocabulary, ordered facts	Understanding why something happens
Chunking	Breaking information or a task into smaller parts handled one at a time	Long readings, multi-step assignments, long lists to memorize	Very short tasks
Highlighting with a rule	Marking only key words or the main idea, using a set rule	Textbook sections, study guides, notes	Students who can't yet find the main idea
Self-quizzing	Covering the answer and trying to recall it	Facts, terms, formulas	Learning a new skill for the first time
Graphic organizers	A visual layout that shows how ideas connect	Comparisons, cause and effect, sequences	Memorizing exact wording

Pick one strategy for one kind of task. Teaching five strategies at once leaves the student with none.

Step 1: Choose the task and the strategy

Start with a task the student faces every week, such as a Friday science vocabulary quiz or a long social studies reading. Pick the strategy that fits from the table. Write down the result you expect to change, such as quiz accuracy or the number of reading sections finished.

Step 2: Teach the strategy explicitly

Use the same sequence for any strategy.

Explain what the strategy is, when to use it, and why it helps, in two or three sentences.
Model it while thinking aloud: "I have 8 terms. I'll split them into two groups of 4. First group..."
Practice together on a real task, with the student doing more each time.
Practice alone while you watch and give feedback.
Use it in class on the real task, with a cue card.

Teaching mnemonics

Make the mnemonic with the student. A sentence the student builds ("My Very Excited Mother...") is easier to recall than one handed out. Practice recalling the cue first, then the list it stands for. Check recall again 2 days later; a mnemonic that only works on the day it was made is not doing its job.

Teaching chunking

Show the student how to split the task before starting: draw lines across a long reading every 2 or 3 paragraphs, or number the steps of an assignment. After each chunk, the student does something brief, such as writing one sentence or checking off the step. This turns one overwhelming task into several manageable ones.

Teaching highlighting

Give a rule, such as "one highlight per paragraph, no more than 5 words." Model on a paragraph, then compare your highlight with the student's. A page that is 60% yellow shows the student has not yet sorted key ideas from details. For students who can't find the main idea, teach that first; see main idea IEP goals.

Step 3: Fade the cue

Once the student uses the strategy correctly on 3 tasks in a row with a cue card, remove the card and check whether they still use it. Then check it in a different class. Strategy use in the resource room does not always carry over to the general education room without a planned check.

Worked example from start to finish

Jada is a fictional 8th grader with a specific learning disability. Her science teacher gives a 10-term vocabulary quiz every Friday. Over 4 baseline quizzes she scores a median of 4 of 10. She studies by reading the list once the night before. All numbers are illustrations.

Her case manager teaches two strategies in her study skills class: chunking the 10 terms into 2 groups of 5, and self-quizzing with folded index cards, plus a mnemonic for any term she misses twice. Jada practices 10 minutes, Tuesday to Thursday.

Week	Strategy steps used (of 4: chunk, cards, self-quiz, mnemonic for misses)	Quiz score (of 10)
Baseline (median of 4 weeks)	0	4
1 (teaching)	2	5
2	3	6
3	4	8
4	4	7
5 (cue card removed)	3	7
6	4	8

Strategy use rose first, and the quiz score followed. In week 5, when the cue card came off, Jada skipped the mnemonic step, so her case manager put a one-line reminder in her planner. By week 6 she used all four steps again without the card.

Measuring strategy use and results

Measure two things. Strategy use is the skill: count the strategy steps the student completed out of the steps taught, from the study cards, the marked reading or an observation. Treat it like work completion: steps done of steps expected. The result is the outcome: quiz accuracy, sections finished, or items recalled.

Probe frequency: every time the target task happens, usually weekly.
Data sheet: one row per task with the date, steps used, steps expected and the score. The accuracy data sheet has room for both.
Decision: if strategy use is high and the result is flat after 6 to 8 weeks, the strategy may be the wrong fit.

The IEP must say how progress toward each goal will be measured,^[3] and recording both columns makes the cause of a change visible. Review the trend over several weeks before deciding.^[4]

Common mistakes

Weak: A list of 10 study strategies handed out in September. Better: One strategy for one task, taught with modeling and practice.
Weak: "Highlight the important parts." Better: A rule: one highlight per paragraph, 5 words or fewer.
Weak: A mnemonic the teacher made up and handed out. Better: A mnemonic the student builds, checked again 2 days later.
Weak: Measuring only the quiz score. Better: Record strategy steps used beside the score.
Weak: Teaching the strategy in the resource room only. Better: Plan a check in the class where the task happens.

Goals and templates

The mnemonic template fits recall of a list. For highlighting, use highlight only the key ideas in a section; for self-quizzing, make flashcards from a study guide and quiz with them. The use a taught memory strategy template covers strategy use during instruction. More are on the study skills goals page and the executive function goals hub. Paste a draft into the goal checker. Strategies for tests are in test-taking IEP goals, and the move from adult cues to student checks is in self-monitoring strategies.

Frequently asked questions

What are learning strategies for students with disabilities?

Routines a student uses to learn or remember, such as mnemonics for lists, chunking long tasks into parts, highlighting with a rule, self-quizzing, and graphic organizers. They work best when taught explicitly and matched to a specific task.

How do you teach a learning strategy?

Explain what it is and when to use it, model it while thinking aloud, practice together, have the student practice alone with feedback, then use it on the real class task with a cue card that is later faded.

Is highlighting a good study strategy?

Only with a rule. Unlimited highlighting often turns whole pages yellow and does not separate key ideas from details. Teach a limit, such as one highlight per paragraph, and check it against your own.

Use it in IEP Atlas

Sources

High-Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities, Council for Exceptional Children and CEEDAR Center
High-Leverage Practices, IRIS Center, Vanderbilt University
34 CFR §300.320: Definition of individualized education program, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
Progress Monitoring: Data & Goal Setting, National Center on Intensive Intervention

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.