The Information We Collect
There are two types of information we collect on our site: Personal and General Information. Each is obtained through different means and utilized for different purposes.- General Information
- Personal Information
How Information is Collected
Special Learning collects information in two ways. General Information is collected both directly and indirectly. Personal information is obtained only through direct collection methods.Collectionof General Information
- General information is collected while each and every visitor is on our website. It is obtained in an unobtrusive and safe manner, through both direct and indirect means. Directly, the information is taken from your personally identifiable information that you have input into the system. While your personal information is the source of the general data, we collect only aggregate figures, disassociating your personally identifiable information from those figures.
- Indirectly, we utilize cookies, web beacons and similar methods to collect general information. These are small, temporary files used by websites to enable various access points on a site. These files are saved to a user's personal computer as temporary internet files and may be utilized for recordkeeping or data collection purposes as well.
Collection of Personal Information
Personally identifiable information is provided directly by you when you sign up for an account with the website, register for special access to certain features, or when you make a purchase from our store. Though your personal information might be used to glean the aggregate data needed for general information purposes, it will never be associated with that general information in such a manner that it can be traced back directly to you. It is depersonalized for the purposes of general information collection, research, and analysis.How We Use the Information Collected
Special Learning utilizes the information collected on our website for several purposes. The information collected through general and personal information is used for different reasons.- General Information Uses The data collected through general information aggregation is utilized by Special Learning to enhance the features and functionality of our website; to target strategic marketing initiatives; to make informed, user-based decisions about our website, our products, and our services; and to improve our overall effectiveness in our general business activities.
- Personal Information Uses Personal information is used to set up secure user accounts, register users for access to certain areas of our website, and to process user purchases from our store. This information is stored securely in our database and is used to:
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- Ensuring safe and secure use of our online services,
- Improve your registered-user experience on our website, by providing you information and recommendations that are relevant to you and your specific needs and circumstances,
- And to provide you, via correspondence, with product, service, or general autism- related information offered by Special Learning. If you are not interested, or do not wish to receive such communications, you may opt out of Special Learning's automated mailing services by sending an email to privacy@special-learning.com, or by changing your personal profile settings on the site.
- Personal information of registered users is also utilized for general information collection to provide aggregate data for research purposes. When personal information is the source of aggregate data, it is disassociated from personality identifiable information, so that only raw and anonymous data is collected.
- Your personal financial information, entered by you when purchasing items from our store, is not saved by our site.
The Sharing of Information
Special Learning has strict information sharing practices in place in order to ensure the safety and security of your personal information.- Personal Information Special Learning does not share your personally identifiable information with third-parties for any purpose other than those expressly stated in this section of the Privacy Policy. Your personal information may be released to the appropriate authorities and entities when legal justification is present. Special Learning may release information concerning your use of the site (including any and all public, private, and general information) when compelled by law to do so.
- General Information
How Public Information May Be Used
Special Learning provides registered members access to a public forum and to other public services. While we require all members to register in order to utilize these public services, we have no control over the manner in which other members may use or disclose information posted publicly in these arenas. For this reason, we recommend that you use caution regarding the posting of public information, and emphasize that information posted by you in any public portion of our website is not covered by this Privacy Policy, and is instead governed by the Terms of Use for our website.Security Measures
Special Learning takes the safety and security of your personal information seriously. For this reason, we have put in place reasonable security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized use, access, modification, or disclosure.Third Party Links
This site may contain links to third party websites. Special Learning is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any other websites, and encourages users to exercise discretion when leaving our website via any external link. This Privacy Policy applies only to the information collected via the Special Learning site and does not govern or disclose the policies or practices of any other website. We strongly recommend that you review the privacy policy of any third party site you may visit via a link found on this site.Protection of Minors
This site is not intended for the use of minors under the age of 13. Children under 13 are not permitted to register with the site, make purchases from the site's store, or to use any website functions for which formal registration is required. Special Learning will never knowingly collect or share any information about a minor child under the age of 13.- What to do if your child registers with the site through unauthorized means. If your child has submitted personal information to this site and you would like to have that information removed from our data stores, please contact us at privacy@special-learning.com. The information will remain active in our data stores until we have had the reasonable opportunity to remove it.
- What to do if your child posts information publicly to the site through unauthorized means. If your child has posted information to our public forum or another public area of our website and you wish to have the posts removed, please contact us at privacy@special-learning.com. The posts will remain public until we have had the reasonable opportunity to remove them.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
Special Learning reserves the right to make adjustments and changes to this policy at any time, and will ensure that the current version of the policy is available to you at all times. Your continued use of the site is deemed agreement with the information contained within past and updated Privacy Policies for the site.California State Privacy Rights
California Civil Code Section 1798.83 provides California residents with certain additional rights related to their personal information. This code requires that an entity, such as Special Learning, must provide California residents with the ability to request information pertaining to the business disclosure of personal information to third parties when such information is intended for the express purpose of direct marketing by a third party. However, as previously discussed in our Privacy Policy, your personal information is never shared with any third party for direct marketing purposes.Data we obtain from sources other than you
When we contact professionals we have not previously dealt with, we sometimes obtain contact details from public registers or each organisation's own public website rather than from you directly. UK GDPR Art. 14 requires us to tell you the following:
- Who we are (controller): Special Learning, Inc., 445 E. Illinois, Suite 6702, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Contact: privacy@special-learning.com.
- UK/EU representative: To be designated — our Art. 27 representative has not yet been appointed; this notice will be updated once they are.
- What data we hold: your organisation's name and registered office, and a role-based business email address (e.g. info@/contact@) published on your website or the public register. We do not seek special-category data.
- Why (purpose): to send you relevant professional continuing-education and practice resources.
- Lawful basis: legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) — promoting professional-development products to professionals in the field. Our Legitimate Interest Assessment is available on request.
- Where we got it (source): the UK Companies House public register (for organisation identification and registered office), supplemented by each organisation's own published website (role-based email addresses such as info@/contact@). We do not use third-party data providers for this audience.
- Who we share it with: our email and CRM service providers, acting on our instructions under data-processing agreements. We do not sell your data.
- International transfers: where data is processed outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards (e.g., the UK International Data Transfer Addendum / adequacy).
- How long we keep it: until you object/unsubscribe, or 24 months of no engagement, whichever is sooner.
- Your rights: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and — at any time — to object to direct marketing (Art. 21), which we will always honor. Where we rely on consent for anything, you may withdraw it. You may complain to the ICO (ico.org.uk).
Cookies & Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies (pixels and local storage) to operate this site and, with your permission, to understand how it is used and to support our marketing. Strictly necessary cookies that make the site work are always on. In the EU and UK, analytics and advertising technologies load only after you consent through our cookie banner, and you can accept or reject non-essential cookies at any time. We also honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser signal as an opt-out of non-essential tracking.
| Category | What it covers | Set without consent? | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Session, security and load-balancing, the consent-state cookie itself (sl_consent_v1), and our first-party attribution cookie. | Yes — always on | ePrivacy Art. 5(3) exemption; GDPR Art. 6(1)(f) |
| Analytics | Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-CK363SFWK1) — how the site is used, so we can improve it. | No — consent required in the EU/UK | GDPR Art. 6(1)(a) consent; ePrivacy Art. 5(3) |
| Advertising / Marketing | Meta Pixel (ID 519577668387760) — to measure and improve our advertising. | No — consent required in the EU/UK | GDPR Art. 6(1)(a) consent; ePrivacy Art. 5(3) |
Retention. Strictly-necessary and consent-state cookies persist only as long as needed for the session or to remember your choice. Analytics and advertising identifiers are retained for up to 12 months, after which your consent is requested again.
Managing your choices. You can change or withdraw your cookie consent at any time using the cookie banner (choose “Reject non-essential” to turn analytics and advertising off). Withdrawing consent does not affect any processing carried out before you withdrew it. For all other privacy rights, contact us at the address above.