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Assist individuals with special needs

Work activity · O*NET

Assist individuals with special needs is an intermediate work activity in the O*NET database — a concrete task that recurs across many occupations , grouped under Assisting and Caring for Others. 45 occupations report doing it as part of their work.

What it involves

The most common detailed activities O*NET records under this category, ranked by how many occupation tasks map to each.

  • Assist students with special educational needs
  • Assist patients with daily activities
  • Provide for basic needs of children
  • Assist clients in handling details of daily life
  • Assist patients with hygiene or daily living activities
  • Feed patients
  • Assist individuals with special needs
  • Assist disabled or incapacitated individuals

How AI is applied to this activity

Microsoft's "Working with AI" study mapped real Bing Copilot conversations to O*NET work activities. The figures below are their measurements for this activity — they describe how AI is used today in one assistant's data, not a forecast that the activity will be automated.

AI completes it successfully 95.3% When Copilot attempts this activity, how often it finishes the task
Scope AI handles 16.5% How much of the activity AI carries within a conversation
Positive user feedback 69.1% Share of interactions users rated positively
How often AI is applied here 58th pct Percentile across all measured activities by how often AI performs them

Source: Microsoft "Working with AI" (working-with-ai). A high completion rate means AI can assist the activity in isolation — it does not mean an occupation that performs it is being automated, since every job blends many activities.

Detailed work activities

The more granular units of work O*NET groups under this activity, ordered by how many occupations perform them.

Occupations that perform this activity

Ranked by how many of the occupation's tasks map to this activity.

Occupation Tasks
Nursing Assistants 6
Home Health Aides 5
Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers 5
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education 4
Psychiatric Aides 4
Childcare Workers 3
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses 3
Nannies 3
Special Education Teachers, Preschool 3
Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education 2
Occupational Therapists 2
Orderlies 2
Physical Therapist Aides 2
School Bus Monitors 2
Social and Human Service Assistants 2
Special Education Teachers, Middle School 2
Speech-Language Pathologists 2
Teaching Assistants, Special Education 2
Telephone Operators 2
Adapted Physical Education Specialists 1
Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors 1
Baggage Porters and Bellhops 1
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School 1
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School 1
Concierges 1
Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors 1
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education 1
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers 1
Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education 1
Occupational Therapy Assistants 1
Personal Care Aides 1
Phlebotomists 1
Physical Therapist Assistants 1
Psychiatric Technicians 1
Radiologic Technologists and Technicians 1
Rehabilitation Counselors 1
Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks 1
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education 1
Special Education Teachers, Elementary School 1
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten 1

Showing 40 of 45 occupations.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay AI task-overlap (horizontal) versus median pay (vertical), each as a percentile across all scored occupations, for 35 occupations in occupations that perform Assist individuals with special needs.. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Orderlies Psychiatric Aides Physical Therapist Aides Physical Therapist Assistants Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses Occupational Therapy Assistants Radiologic Technologists and Technicians Occupational Therapists Special Education Teachers, Middle School School Bus Monitors Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education Rehabilitation Counselors Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks Concierges Telephone Operators AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
Occupations that perform Assist individuals with special needs., by AI task-overlap and median pay

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Assist individuals with special needs." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/activities/assist-individuals-with-special-needs

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Assist individuals with special needs. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/activities/assist-individuals-with-special-needs

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-assist-individuals-with-special-needs,
  title  = {Assist individuals with special needs},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/activities/assist-individuals-with-special-needs}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.