The academic and functional strengths and abilities section of the individual education program (IEP) is used to ensure that teams consider the strengths the student requires to be successful in the general curriculum and are used to determine how to compensate for the student’s areas of need. The strengths and abilities section of the IEP is based on data and serves as the foundation for building a strengths-based IEP. When educators operate from a strengths-based model, students can develop their self-advocacy and self-awareness skills and it builds their self-confidence as learners. This brief provides implementation tips and resources for developing the strengths section of the IEP.