1. Routine, routine, routine.
This is a must for students with special needs. They need to know what to expect at all times. This includes behavior!
2. Scaffolding. Or as I like to think of it, breaking down a task to its most basic steps. I have done this to teach middle school Language Arts - writing.
3. Differentiation. This is not what you think. Yes, they may need modifications to various lessons but at the heart of differentiation for me is realizing that there are many ways to learn the same thing; That there are many different ways to accommodate various challenges.