The functional curriculum is a beneficial curriculum for education students with intellectual disabilities. Special education teachers have transitioned from spending most of their academic time using the functional curriculum to spending more time teaching the additional academic content material. There are numerous research studies focusing on students' academic content knowledge and assessing special education students using alternate academic achievement standards; however, it was not known what knowledge and skills, including the use of assistive technologies, a special education teacher must have to provide academic content effectively to students with intellectual disabilities and limited communication abilities. The primary purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explain how special education teachers perceive and describe their experiences, the knowledge, skills, and abilities, including the use of assistive technologies that were needed to deliver academic content effectively to special education students in middle and high school with limited communication abilities. A convenience and snowball sampling method was used to select participants. Six special education teachers of middle and high school students with intellectual disabilities were interviewed and thematic saturation obtained for the study. Data were collected through interviewing participants using open-ended, semi-structured interview questions. The data were analyzed using NVivo 11 Pro software to assist in finding relevant themes. Special education teachers reported on effective strategies (manipulatives, engagement of students, and color-coding) and the curriculum. Teaching standards throughout the school year were utilized by all of the teachers and deemed beneficial. These results directly connect to providing students with resources to assist in their comprehension of academic content. Future research should be conducted using various forums to investigate the experiences on a larger scale. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]