Special Education Glossary

Accommodations: changes that provide a student with a disability appropriate access to instruction (but do not fundamentally lower or alter state standards).

ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder. This term is no longer officially used by professionals. It was replaced by the term ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). However, many people still use ADD to informally mean inattention without symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity.

ADHD - Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. A condition in which there are symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity that have persisted for at least 6 months at a degree more severe than would be observed in typical children. For more information visit www.chadd.org or download my brochure on ADHD.

Achievement Testing - an evaluation of a child's learned academic skills. This is not a measure of the child's ability (or what he or she can do), but of what the child can demonstrate having learned.

Annual Review – meetings held at least once a year for a student with an IEP, in which the child’s’ progress concerning his or her goals is reviewed and a new IEP for the upcoming year is developed.

Anxiety - excessive fear or worry about real or imagined circumstances. For more information, download my brochure on anxiety.

Auditory Processing – Discriminating, recognizing, and comprehending auditory information.

Asperger's Syndrome - This diagnosis is no longer officially used by professionals. Click here to learn about diagnostic changes made under the DSM-5. In the past Aspergers has been described to be a developmental disability characterized by a lack of social skills; a limited ability to have a reciprocal (back and forth) conversation; and restrictive or repetitive patterns of behavior that can include rituals, routines, and an intense interest in a single subject. Click here to view a heartwarming interview of a boy with Asperger's.

Autism – A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction. Other signs include engagement in repetitive activities, stereotyped movements, resistance to change in routine, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. It is not an emotional disturbance and it is not caused by bad parenting. Click here to learn about diagnostic changes made under the DSM-5. For more information download my brochure on Autism or visit: "AutismSpeaks.org"

Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP) - takes the observations made in a Functional Behavioral Asessment and turns them into a plan of action for managing a student's behavior. A BIP may include ways to change the environment to keep a problem behavior from occurring, provide positive reinforcement to promote positive behavior, employ planned ignoring to avoid reinforcing negative behavior, and provide supports needed so that the student will not be driven to act out due to frustration or fatigue.

Cognitive Testing - an evaluation of a child's ability. This may include his or her ability to take in and interpret verbal and non-verbal information, remember and manipulate just learned information, and perform timed tasks.

Cross-Categorical Program – Instructional services offered in the same classroom to students with a wide range of disabilities.

Decoding – Reading a word accurately. Often this refers to using phonics to figure a word out. It can also refer to using word parts such as prefixes and suffixes.

Developmental Delay – Delay in physical, cognitive, communication, social/emotional, or adaptive development.

Differentiated Instruction: providing students with different avenues of acquiring content so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in ability.

Dyslexia – a specific language-based disorder characterized by difficulties in single word decoding (or reading a word accurately). Often this refers to using phonics (or the ability to make sense of the individual sounds that make up words).

DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) – a tool used by professionals as a guide for diagnosing mental concerns.

English as a Second Language (ESL) – a program that assesses the language needs of students with limited English proficiency and provides support in the classroom and or small group instruction.

Executive Functioning - an umbrella term for higher level processes such as planning, working memory, attention, problem solving, verbal reasoning, self-control, mental flexibility, multi-tasking, initiation and monitoring of actions.

Functional Behavioral Assessment - an attempt to look beyond the obvious interpretation of an undesired behavior as "bad" and determine what function it may be serving for a child (i.e. does a child engage in a behavior to seek attention, avoid work or escape from class?). This becomes the basis for a Behavioral Intervention Plan.

Fine Motor Abilities – The ability to use hands to manipulate small items (pinching, handwriting, using scissors).

Fluency – refers to rate (or speed) and accuracy.

Gross Motor abilities – The ability to use the whole body to execute large muscle movements (running, jumping; climbing).

IDEA – Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. For more information, visit: "idea.ed.gov"

Inclusion – The philosophy that fosters students with special needs to be integrated into general education classrooms and the community.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP) – A document which describes the agreed upon special education programs and services to be provided by the school district to a child with a disability. The IEP includes statements on the child’s present levels of performance, yearly goals, short term objectives, and special services that are provided.

Least restrictive environment – The setting that permits a child to be educated with non-disabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.

Modifications: fundamentally alter or lower the state standard in order to ensure that a child with a disability has appropriate access to instruction.

Morpheme: the smallest grmmatical unit (or meaningful unit) in language. For example, the word "waited" has 2 morphemes: "wait" and "ed".

Occupational Therapy (OT) – services provided by a licensed professional who deal with activities of daily living and or motor skills and or sensory processing.

Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports “PBIS” - a system that promotes positive behaviors in students by which all students in a school are accountable (with support) to behave in ways that positively affect them personally, academically, socially, and physically.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) – an umbrella term for 5 disorders described in the DSM-IV (Autism Disorder, Retts Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified). Common characteristics include: severe impairments in social interaction skills, communication skills, or the presence or stereotyped behavior or interests. Click here to learn about diagnostic changes made under the DSM-5.

Phoneme: the smallest unit of speech that can be used to make one word different from another word (i.e. bat vs cat).

Phonemic Awareness – the ability to manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) that make up words.

Physical Therapy (PT) – Services provided by a licensed professional who evaluates physical impairments and functional limitations, then plans and executes treatment programs to maintain the best possible functioning.

Psychoeducational Evaluation – An individual evaluation of the child’s functioning that may include assessments of cognitive, social, emotional, academic, or behavioral functioning.

Reading Comprehension – Understanding the concepts and meaning of read material.

Receptive Language- The ability to interpret the communication expressed by others.

Re-evaluation – a school districts reevaluation of a child eligible for special education is done at least every 3 years.

Response to Intervention (RtI) - refers to a process that emphasizes how well students respond to changes in the intensity of their instruction.

Sensory Integration – The neurological ability to process and organize information gathered through the senses.

Special education - specially designed instruction and related services that meet the unique needs of an eligible student with a disability or a specific service need that is necessary to allow the student with a disability to access the general curriculum.

Specific Learning Disability – A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or calculate math.