special needs
plural nounTo save this word, you'll need to log in.
Definition of special needs
: any of various difficulties (such as a physical, emotional, behavioral, or learning disability or impairment) that causes an individual to require additional or specialized services or accommodations (such as in education or recreation)
students with special needs
Keep scrolling for more
Examples of special needs in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web The search for Tylee and Joshua began in November when Idaho police tried to conduct a welfare check on Joshua, who is adopted and has special needs.
—
NBC News, "Video shows Lori Vallow's former husband telling police she 'lost her mind'," 20 May 2020 In Chicago, the struggle over how to serve students with special needs came to a head this week.
—
Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica, "Families of Special Needs Students Fear They’ll Lose School Services in Coronavirus Shutdown," 20 May 2020 And so was Lori's son JJ, who has autism and special needs.
—
CBS News, "Search for missing Idaho children reveals "no sign of life, no sign of death"," 16 May 2020 Momentum BMW has been also a proud supporter of Houston Children’s Charity’s annual gala for the past 13 years and most recently their Chariots for Children program that provides handicap accessible vans to families with special needs.
—
Houston Chronicle, "Momentum BMW MINI relocates to newly renovated $52 million facility," 14 May 2020 Laurie Abrams: All kids do well with a schedule, but especially kids with special needs, listening issues and attending issues.
—
Cnn Staff, CNN, "Thank You, Teacher: Dr. Sanjay Gupta's coronavirus podcast for May 8," 8 May 2020 Avery and Colby are healthy, with no special needs.
—
Washington Post, "Two parents, two jobs, two young kids. One day after another.," 8 May 2020 Moreover, half of these top employers use an outsourcing business model to provide staff for third-party clients, rather than employing H-1B workers directly to fill a special need at the company that applies for the visa.
—
Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz India, "Six in 10 H-1B positions may be paying below the local median wage," 7 May 2020 New Avenues to Independence offers innovative programs and services to people who have Down syndrome, autism, mental illness and other special needs.
—
Shirley Macfarland, cleveland, "New Avenues’ homes blossom with flowers from Petitti’s: Strong Points," 7 May 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'special needs.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on special needs
What made you want to look up special needs? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
May 2020 Words of the Day Quiz
- Which is a synonym of exiguous?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Share special needs
Time Traveler for special needs
The first known use of special needs was in 1899
See more words from the same year