FAQ

• IEP stands for Individualized Education Program.

• An IEP lays out the special education instruction, supports, and services a student needs to thrive in school.

• IEPs are part of PreK–12 public education.

The term "multiple disabilities" means concomitant impairments (e.g., mental retardation and blindness, mental retardation and orthopedic impairment), that together cause such severe educational problems that a student cannot be accommodated in a special education programs for one impairment only. The term does not include deaf-blindness and there must be two or more impairments, excluding speech.

The term "emotional disability" means an emotional disturbance exhibited by one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to such a marked degree that it adversely affects the student's educational performance:

• an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;

• an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;

• inappropriate types of behavior or feelings in normal circumstances;

• a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression;

• a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.

The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have a serious emotional disturbance.

A self-contained Emotional Disabilities classroom is built around providing intensive social-emotional and behavioral support practices to students diagnosed with an Emotional Disability. The class uses principle of ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) and The Zones of Regulation curriculum to assist with guiding students on how to navigate through a variety of emotions. The goal of these intensive supports is to assist students with improving their self-awareness of their emotions and to learn how to manage their emotions so they can be successful in a general education setting.

An inclusive classroom is a general education classroom where students with and without learning differences learn together. Inclusive classrooms are welcoming and support the diverse academic, social, emotional, and communication needs of all students.

The term "other health impairment" means a limitation in strength and vitality that can include a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, and that adversely affects a student's educational performance. This limitation is generally due to such chronic or acute health problems as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia.

The term "autism" means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three (3), that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experience.

The term "specific learning disability" means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or perform mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not apply to students who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.