How Special Education Works in a VR School
If your student had an IEP at a previous school, Tiffany Strong is the person who will be handling their case. Here is how special education works at Virtual Horizons, in her own words.
August 4, 2026 | 3 min read
At Virtual Horizons, special education is built with one purpose in mind. We provide students with special needs multiple ways to learn each lesson, including direct instruction and assistance inside the VR classroom. Our students are not defined by labels. They are individuals with unique strengths, challenges, and stories.
Tiffany Strong is our Special Education Director. We asked her how it works, and we are letting her answer in her own words. She starts with the practical part.
“If you have a child that had an IEP at a previous school, I am the person that will be handling their case load.”
More than one way to learn the lesson
“For special education, the VR experience is going to allow students with an IEP to have multiple ways of learning a lesson.”
Students are inside the VR with their classmates and their teachers, and they can also have assistance inside the VR world. The direct instruction still happens, Tiffany says, and the lesson becomes something a student gets to experience too.
The assistance happens inside the lesson, next to your student, while the class goes on around them.
For the student who finds school a scary place
Her answer here starts with the students who struggle in a brick-and-mortar setting. A lot of students with disabilities, in her words, “often struggle with anxiety, depression, social scaredness, or just not being able to reach the curriculum because school is such a scary place.”
“In the VR world, you still get that social part of school, but because you’re in your own headset, in your own world, you can be whoever you want to be.”
If your student needs to tune out sounds, or needs less noise, fewer distractions, or less of that built-up anxiety, they will not have it in the VR world.
The social part of school stays. The noise, the crowd, and the distraction do not have to.
Room to try the hard thing
For a student with an IEP or a 504, Tiffany points to one more thing the VR universe makes possible.
“They will be able to overcome fears that they might have in a typical classroom.”
Her example is reading aloud, one of the hardest things a student can be asked to do in a room full of classmates.
Talk to her
Tiffany says she is really excited to work with families in August as the school year starts.
“If there’s any questions, any concerns, or if you have ideas or suggestions, please let me know via email.”
Tiffany Strong, Special Education DirectorIf your student has an IEP or a 504 and you are considering Virtual Horizons, start there, before the school year starts on Monday, August 17.
Start with a conversation
Tell us about your student. Email [email protected] and we will put you in touch with Tiffany, or begin the enrollment form whenever you are ready.