SPECIAL EDUCATION TERMINOLOGY
- Academic – Refers to subjects such as reading, writing, math, social studies, and science.
- Accommodations – Changes in format, response, setting, timing, or scheduling that do not alter in any significant way what a test measures or the comparability of scores.
- Adapted Physical Education (APE) – A related service for students with disabilities require developmental or corrective instruction in the area of physical education.
- Adaptive Behavior – The ability of an individual to meet the standards of personal independence as well as social responsibility appropriate for his or her chronological age and cultural group.
- Advocate – A person who represents and provides support to children with disabilities and/or their parents.
- Age of Majority – Age 18, the age at which special education parental rights and procedural safeguards transfer from the parent to their child with a disability unless conservatorship is made. This must be addressed by the IEP team prior to age 18.
- Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) – A developmental screening tool that pinpoints developmental progress in children between the ages of one month to 5 ½ years. Available in two formats ASQ-3 (developmental) and ASQ-SE-2 (social-emotional).
- Alternate Assessment – A test designed for the small number of students with severe disabilities who cannot participate in the regular state standardized testing and reporting system. It is a means of including students with the most significant disabilities in the state’s assessment and accountability program (i.e. STAAR-Alt2).
- Alternative Dispute Resolution – This encompasses various techniques, including mediation, arbitration, conciliation, negotiation, and fact-finding, to help parties resolve disagreements without resorting to court.
- Alternative Pathway to Diploma – California students who qualify for the California Alternate Assessments have a relatively new pathway to a high school diploma that does not affect eligibility for public school transition programs.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – This act prohibits discrimination of individuals based on disability.
- Appeal – A written request for a change in a decision; also, to make such a request.
- Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) – Application of learning principles derived from operant conditioning used to increase or decrease specific behaviors.
- Aptitude Test – A test which measures someone’s capacity, capability, or talent for learning something.
- Area Board – Located throughout the state. Area Boards were established to monitor and review the service delivery system for persons with developmental disabilities in each region. There are 13 in California.
- Assessment/Evaluation – Assessment encompasses all those functions in the testing and diagnostic process. It may include observation, interviews, and testing methods to identify if a child has a disability, the severity of that condition, and the child’s educational needs based on his or her learning profile.
- Assessment Plan – The description of the battery of tests (psychological, achievement, language, etc.) to be used in a particular student’s assessment.
- Assistive Technology – The term “assistive technology device” means any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability. The term “assistive technology service” means any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device.
- At-Risk – A term used to describe children who have, or could have, developmental problems that may affect later learning.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – A disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
- Audiological Services – A related service; includes identifying children with hearing loss and providing services that will help children with hearing losses maximize their strengths and abilities.
- Audiologist – A professional who studies the science of hearing and provides education and treatment for persons with hearing loss.
- Auditory Processing – The ability to understand and use information that is heard; both words as well as other non-verbal sounds.
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) – Is all the ways someone communicates besides talking. May use a tablet, pictures, etc.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – A developmental disorder characterized by abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication; restricted repertoire of activities and interests; and/or repetitive patterns of behavior.
- Bayley Scales of Infant Development – A widely used infant scale that provides a diagnostic measure of an infant’s mental abilities. The purpose of the Bayley is to verify the nature and extent of a child’s developmental delay.
- Behavior Disorder – A disability; a behavior that causes a child to have difficulty learning or getting along with others. The causes of this disorder may vary greatly.
- Behavior Intervention Services – A systematic implementation of procedures designed to promote lasting, positive changes in the student’s behavior in the least restrictive environment; may include an individualized plan to address behaviors that impede a student’s learning or the learning of others and describes positive changes to the environment, supports, instructional materials and strategies to be used to promote alternative replacement behaviors that support classroom success.
- Blind – An impairment in which an individual may have some light or form perception or be totally without sight when a child relies basically on senses other than vision as a major channel for learning.
- Braille – A communication system utilizing raised presentation of written materials for tactual interpretation; frequently used by individuals who are blind.
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- California Children Services (CCS) – California’s Title V program for children with special health care needs. (Title V is the federal funding source.) CCS arranges, directs and pays for medical care, equipment and rehabilitation for CCS-eligible conditions. Eligibility rules apply.
- Child Find – A federal mandate, this is the means to locate and refer all individuals who might require special education.
- Child Health and Disability Prevention Program (CHDP) – A preventative health program that provides early no-cost health care and information to children and youth. Eligibility rules apply.
- Child Protective Services (CPS) – A branch of the Department of Human Services charged with the investigation of charges of abuse against children.
- Chronologically, Age-Appropriate – Making the activities, behaviors, or settings of a disabled child as similar as possible to a non-disabled child of the same age.
- Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) – Contains administrative regulations for the application of federal laws such as the IDEA.
- Cognitive Operations (Skills) – Processes involved in thinking, knowing; analytical or logical:
- Cognition – comprehension
- Memory – retention and recall of information
- Convergent thinking – bringing together of known facts
- Divergent thinking – use of knowledge in new ways (creative thinking)
- Evaluation – critical thinking
- Cognitive Skills – The act or process of knowing; analytical or logical thinking.
- Community Advisory Council (CAC) – A group of parents of children with disabilities, members of the community, students and special education professionals who advise the school board and school district administration about special education programs.
- Community Based Instruction (CBI) – A strategy for teaching functional skills in the environment in which they would naturally occur.
- Community Behavioral Health Services (CBHS) – The agency designated to provide mental health assessment and services to students with special needs.
- Compliance Complaint – The specific issue and/or resolution process involved when a school district is accused of violating educational law.
- Confidentiality – Assurance that no information contained in school records be released without parental permission, except as provided by law.
- Consent – Permission from the parent/student or a student eighteen years or older as required by law for assessment, release of records, and implementation of a special education program developed by an IEP team.
- Counseling – A related service; includes parents and children receiving assistance from social workers, psychologists, and/or guidance counselors.
- Criterion-Referenced Testing (or measurements) – Measures individual performance compared to an acceptable standard (criterion) – such as “can correctly name letters of the alphabet” – not to the performance of others as in norm-referenced testing.
- Curriculum-Based Measurement – Evaluation techniques for monitoring student progress in core academic areas such as reading, writing and math.
- Deaf – When a student has a hearing loss so severe that it inhibits language processing and affects educational performance.
- Deaf Blind – When a student has a hearing loss and visual impairment that causes severe communication, developmental, and educational problems.
- Designated Instruction and Services (DIS) – Sometimes called related services; specialized instruction and/or support services identified through an assessment and written in an IEP as necessary for a child to benefit from special education (e.g. speech/language therapy, vision services, etc.).
- Developmental Delay – A term used to describe the development of children when they are not able to perform the skills that other children of the same age usually are able to perform.
- Developmental History – The progress a child has made acquiring skills or milestones (such as reaching, rolling, crawling).
- Developmental Skills/Milestones – Actions (such as reaching, rolling and crawling) that a child is expected to perform within a given age range.
- Developmental Tests – Standardized tests that measure a child’s development as it compares to the development of all other children at that age.
- Disability – An inability or incapacity to perform a task or activity in a normative fashion.
- Disproportionality – Refers to being out of proportion. Disproportionate representation is the determination that students in special education are over – or under-represented based on race/ethnicity overall or by disability.
- Due Process – Procedural safeguards to ensure the protection of the rights of the parent / guardian and the student with a disability under IDEA and related state and federal laws and regulations.
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- Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) – Early identification and special education services provided to children ages 3-5.
- Early Intervention – Services and programs for infants and young children (under 3 years old) who are experiencing delay in reaching developmental milestones, have disabilities or who are at-risk for developing handicapping conditions.
- Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment – Mandatory Medicaid (Medi-Cal) benefits and services for Medicaid (Medi-Cal) eligible children and adolescents under age 21; designed to ensure children’s access to early and comprehensive preventative health care and treatment. State Medicaid programs (Medi-Cal) must provide EPSDT benefits.
- Early Start – California’s term for early intervention services provided under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
- Early Intervention Program – A program in which problems that have been discovered in a child’s development are remedied before the child’s later development and learning are seriously affected.
- Emotional Disturbance – Because of serious emotional disturbance a student exhibits one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational placement:
- An inability to learn which 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 under normal circumstances exhibits in several situations
- A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
- Evaluation – Procedures used by qualified personnel to determine whether a child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and/or related services that the child needs.
- Expressive Language Skills – Skills required to produce language for communicating with other people. Speaking and writing are expressive language skills.
- Extended school year (ESY) – Special education and related services in excess of those provided during the regular academic year.
- Fair Hearing – A formal meeting held by an outside individual to resolve a disagreement about regional center services or a child’s educational program.
- Family Resource Center (FRC) – Provides information, education and support to families of children with special health care needs. In San Francisco, Support for Families of Children with Disabilities is the Family Resource Center.
- Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) – One of the key requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Requires that an education program be provided for all school age children (regardless of handicapping condition) without cost to families.
- Fine-Motor Coordination – Pertains to usage of small muscle groups (writing, cutting).
- Formal Assessment – Using published, standardized tests usually for measuring characteristics, such as “intelligence” or “achievement;” tests which have a standard set of directions for their use and interpretation.
- Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) – A special education program and/or related service(s) as determined on an individual basis which meets the unique needs of each child with a disability at no charge to the parent. Such an educational program and related service(s) are based on goals and objectives as specified in an IEP and determined through the process of assessment and IEP planning in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.
- Full Inclusion – An opportunity for students with disabilities to attend their neighborhood schools and participate full-time in regular classroom programs with their age-group peers. Inclusive education is not a program, but an evolutionary process in which the needs of the individual students are addressed by general and special education staff who help provide the necessary supports to meet the student’s needs.
- Functional Academics – The application of life skills as a means for teaching academic tasks; this is the core of many instructional programs for students with more significant disabilities.
- Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) – A functional behavioral assessment may be conducted for any student identified as having a behavior problem serious enough to impact the learning of the child him/herself or others.
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- Goals – A list of skills and/or behaviors that a parent, teacher and child will be aiming for over the next year. They are based on the child’s needs.
- Gross Motor Coordination – Pertains to usage of large muscle groups (jumping, running).
- Bilateral – Ability to move both sides of the body at the same time (jumping).
- Unilateral – Ability to move one side of the body without moving the other(hopping).
- Cross lateral (cross pattern) – Ability to move different parts of the opposite sides of the body together or in different sequences (e.g., skipping, which is a highly integrated movement).
- Hard of Hearing – When a student has a hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating, which impairs processing speech and language reception and discrimination through hearing, even with amplification, and which adversely affects educational performance.
- Head Start – A federally funded preschool program that services children from low income families to meet the child’s educational, social, health, nutritional and emotional needs. (Ten percent of the class is reserved for children with special health care needs.).
- Healthy Families – California’s State Child Health Insurance Plan to provide health insurance for low-income children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medi-Cal. Eligibility rules apply.
- Health and Nursing Services – A related service; health-related services provided by a school nurse or other trained professional.
- Hearing Impaired (HI) – A disability; a hearing loss that interferes with the ability to understand or use spoken language and that affects learning in school.
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- Identification – The referral to the school district of a child who might be eligible for special education services.
- Identification and Assessment (I and A) – The process by which students’ special education needs are evaluated.
- Inclusion – Inclusion is a philosophy and/or practice focused on educating each child with a disability to the maximum extent appropriate, in the school and/or classroom he or she would otherwise attend if he or she did not have a disability. It involves bringing the support services to the child (rather than moving the child to the services).
- Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) – An evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner.
- Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) – A plan of services and support for Early Start eligible children and their families, developed based on service needs. The plan includes services necessary to meet the unique needs of the child and family, beginning and end dates of services, and the way in which the services will be delivered.
- Individual Services Plan (ISP) – Plan that describes the special education and/or related services that an LEA will provide to an eligible student who is voluntarily enrolled by his/her parent(s) in a private school setting.
- Individual Transition Plan (ITP) – Plan included in a student’s IEP beginning at age 16 or younger, that addresses transition needs and interagency responsibilities or linkages that are needed for the student to successfully transition from school to adult life.
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) – The Federal legislation that created amendments to PL 94-42, including the title of the act.
- Individualized Education Program (IEP) – The IEP is a written educational plan for each special education student that includes instructional goals and objectives based upon the educational needs specified and developed by the IEP team.
- Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) – A written plan for providing early intervention services to an eligible child from birth to three years of age. The plan must be developed jointly by the family and appropriately qualified personnel involved in the early intervention. The plan must be based on the multidisciplinary evaluation and assessment of the child and include the services necessary to enhance the development of the child and family’s capacity to meet the child’s special needs.
- Informal Assessment – Using procedures such as classroom observations, interviewing, or teacher-made tests which have not usually been tried out with large groups of people, and which do not necessarily have a standard set of instructions for their use and interpretation.
- Informed Consent – In accordance with 34 Code of Federal Regulations and Education Code, informed consent occurs when: (1) The parent has been fully informed of all information relevant to the activity for which consent is sought, in his/her primary language or other mode of communication; (2) The parent understands and agrees in writing to the carrying out of the activity for which his/her part and may be revoked at any time.
- Intake – The process an agency uses to determine if a child is eligible for the services they offer.
- Integration – The joining of two groups that were previously separated; in this case non-disabled children and children with disabilities. For example, a child in a special day class has opportunities to interact and learn with non-disabled peers; these interactions can occur in the regular education classroom, or during non-academic activities such as recess, lunch or physical education.
- Intellectual Disability – A student who has significantly below average general intellectual functioning and deficits in adaptive behavior, which manifested during the developmental period, and adversely affects the student’s educational performance.
- Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – The score obtained on a test of mental ability; it is usually found by relating a person’s test score to his or her age.
- Intelligence Test – A standardized series of questions and/or tasks designed to measure mental abilities – how a person thinks, reasons, solves problems, remembers, and learns new information. Many intelligence tests rely heavily on the understanding of spoken language. Intelligence tests are given under controlled conditions involving standard instructions and time limits.
- Interagency – Between or among agencies.
- Interdisciplinary Team – A team emphasizing interaction among a variety of disciplines.
- Interpreter – A professional who signs, gestures, and/or finger spells a speaker’s message as it is spoken to enable individuals who are hearing impaired to understand spoken language, and who speaks for a person using sign language to be heard.
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- Lanterman Act – California law that establishes the rights of persons with developmental disabilities to services and supports they need and choose. This law is administered through the Department of Developmental Services and services are provided through the California Regional center system.
- Lead Agency – The state agency in charge of overseeing and coordinating early intervention services. In California, the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) is the lead agency.
- Learning Disability (LD) – A disability; a child’s regular education classroom performance is significantly below expected levels; also a disability category containing the currently used labels of severely learning disabled, and mentally handicapped.
- Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) – The concept that each child with a disability is to be provided opportunities to be educated with nondisabled peers and in a setting which promotes interaction with the general school population and classmates who are typically developing to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of both. LRE is determined by the IEP team on an individual student basis.
- Limited English Proficiency (LEP) – Refers to students whose primary language is other than English. A student may be eligible for both bilingual and special education.
- Low Incidence Disability – A severe disability with an expected incidence rate of less than 1 percent of the total K-12 statewide enrollment; includes hearing impairments, visual impairments, and severe orthopedic impairments (EC 56026.5).
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- Mainstreaming – Refers to the selective placement of students with disabilities in one or more general education classes and or extra-curricular activities.
- Manifestation Determination – The determination made any time a disciplinary action is taken that involves a removal of student with a disability that constitutes a change in placement. A review must be conducted of the relationship between the child’s disability and the behavior subject to the action.
- Mediation – A conflict resolution process that can be used to resolve special education issues. Mediation is entered into prior to holding a due process hearing as an intervening, informal process conducted in a non-adversarial atmosphere that allows the parties to create their own solutions rather than having one imposed upon them through the judicial process.
- Medical Therapy Unit (MTU) – Also called Medical Therapy Program (MTP). The unit providing assessment and remediation services by occupational therapists, physical therapists and adaptive physical education teachers to children who have fine and gross motor problems that are interfering with their educational process. Offered through California Children Services.
- Medi-Cal – California’s public program that pays for health and long term care services for low-income Californians, as well as others with very high medical expenses. Medi-Cal offers two types of coverage: Fee for Service and Managed Care. Eligibility rules apply. Also known as Medicaid.
- Medi-Cal Waivers – These waivers allow some children with special needs, whose parents are over income limits, to qualify for Medi-Cal benefits. Waivers are administered by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) or by the In-Home Operations division of Medi-Cal. Eligibility rules apply.
- Multidisciplinary – The involvement of two or more disciplines or professions in the provision of services.
- Multi-disabled – A disability; having two or more disabilities.
- Multidisciplinary Team – Under state law, refers to the involvement of two or more disciplines or professions, and the parent or guardian, in the provision of integrated and coordinated services, including evaluation, assessment and IFSP development.
- Modality – A way of acquiring sensation; visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory are the commonsense modalities.
- Natural Environments – Early intervention services provided in the natural environment to the maximum extent appropriate, including home and community settings in which the infant or toddler without disabilities participate.
- Non-Public School (NPS) – A private placement under contract with the district and certified by the state, to service pupils with disabilities whose needs can not be served by the special education programs offered within the SFUSD.
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- Objectives – The steps to be accomplished to reach the child’s goal(s). Objectives serve as a guide for planning and carrying out learning activities.
- Occupational Therapy (OT) – Treatment provided by a therapist trained in helping a student develop daily living skills (e.g., handwriting, self-care, prevocational skills, etc.).
- Office of Civil Rights (OCR) – Agency that ensure equip opportunity and accessibility for users of programs and services that receive federal funding.
- Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) – A component of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education. OSEP focuses on the free appropriate public education of children and youth with disabilities from birth through age 21.
- Orientation and Mobility – Services provided by qualified personnel to teach students with a visual impairment systematic techniques for planning routes and movements from place to place in the school, home, and/or community.
- Orthopedically Impaired – A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures).
- Other Health Impaired – A pupil has limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and which adversely affects a child’s educational performance.
- Parent – Means a biological or adoptive parent unless the biological or adoptive parent does not have legal authority to make educational decisions for the child, a guardian generally authorized to act as the child’s parent or authorized to make educational decisions for the child, an individual acting in the place of a biological or adoptive parent, including a grandparent, stepparent, or other relative with whom the child lives, or an individual who is legally responsible for the child’s welfare, a surrogate parent, a foster parent if the authority of the biological or adoptive parent to make educational decisions on the child’s behalf has been specifically limited by court order.
- Parent Counseling – A related service; parents receive help and support in understanding the special needs of their child.
- Parent Rights – An entitlement granted under law such as the right to appeal or the right to full access.
- Parent Training – A related service; parents receive specific training in skills required to implement their child’s IEP.
- Payor of Last Resort – A term used to describe a situation where funds are not to be used to satisfy a financial commitment for services that would be otherwise paid for from another public or private source. For example, funds for early intervention may only be used for early intervention services that an eligible child needs but is not currently entitled to under any other federal, state, local or private source.
- Perceptual Motor Skills – The ability to perceive a situation, evaluate it, and make a judgment about what action to take (e.g., copying shapes or crossing a street).
- Physical Therapy (PT) – A related service; therapy to remedy mobility and gait and to modify strength, balance, tone and posture; given when assessment shows a discrepancy between gross motor performance and other educational skills.
- Placement – The classroom, program and/or therapy that is selected for a student with special needs.
- Preschool – Public or private educational programs for children ages 3 to 5.
- Prior Written Notice (PWN) – A written notice that must be given to the parents of a child with a disability a reasonable time before a LEA (a) Proposes to initiate or change the identification, evaluation or educational placement of the child or the provision of FAPE to the child; or (b) Refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation or educational placement of a child or the provision of FAPE to the child.
- Procedural Safeguards – Also known as Parent Rights; Procedural safeguards must be given to the parents of a child with a disability at a minimum (a) Upon initial referral for evaluation; (b) Upon each notification of an IEP meeting; (c) Upon reevaluation of a child; and (d) Upon receipt of a request for due process.
- Program Placement – The educational setting or site for delivery of special education services; placement is included in the IEP and occurs after the IEP is written.
- Public Agency – An agency, office or organization that is supported by public funds and serves the community at large.
- Psychological Services – Services provided by a credentialed or licensed psychologist pursuant to an IEP. Services include obtaining and interpreting information about child behaviors and conditions related to learning, planning programs of individual and group counseling and guidance services for children and parents.
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- Receptive Language – Receiving and understanding spoken or written communication. The receptive language skills are listening and reading.
- Referral – The process of requesting an evaluation for a student who is suspected of having a disability. A referral is official and must be in written form. Once it is made, timelines and procedural safeguards ensue.
- Regional Centers – Mandated by the Lanterman Act to provide case management services, coordinate purchase of services, and provide access to services in the community for persons with developmental disabilities. These centers are unique to California.
- Related Services – Related services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education; can include speech pathology and audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, early identification, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. The term also includes school health services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training.
- Reliability – The extent to which a test provides precise or accurate measures.
- Resource Specialist Program (RSP) – Students who can participate in regular education may also receive special education instruction in the RSP. These students can receive services within the classroom, or can be “pulled out” of the regular education classroom for special assistance during specific periods of the day or week and are taught by credentialed teachers with resource specialist authorization.
- Reverse Mainstreaming – When non-disabled children go to a special education classroom to play and learn with children who are disabled.
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- School Psychologist – A person trained to give psychological tests, interpret results, and suggest appropriate educational approaches to learning or behavioral problems.
- Section 504 – Part of the federal Rehabilitation Act that prohibits discrimination in the education of children and youth with disabilities; vocational education; college and other post-secondary programs; employment; health, welfare and other social programs; and other programs and activities that receive federal funds.
- Service Coordination – Activities carried out by a service coordinator/case manager to assist and enable a child and his/her family to receive services.
- Severe Cognitive Disability (SCD) – A disability; having a moderate delay in the ability to learn and to function independently in the everyday environment; a moderate delay is defined as a rate of development and learning 25-50 of what is expected of a child the same age.
- Severe Disorder of Language (SDL) – A disability; difficulty understanding language or using language to the extent that it interferes with language. Also a disability category containing the currently used labels of severe disorder of language, hearing handicapped, and language delay.
- Severely disabled (SD) – A general disability category containing the currently used labels of mentally handicapped, handicapped, emotionally disturbed, autistic, and multi-handicapped.
- Significant Disproportionality – Is the determination that a LEA has significant over-representation based on race and ethnicity overall, by disability, by placement in particular educational settings, or by disciplinary actions.
- Social Skills Training – Using direct instruction to teach students appropriate social behaviors that increase the individual’s social competency and acceptance.
- Special Day Class (SDC) – Special education service setting comprised entirely of special education students.
- Special Education (SPED) – Instruction or education that is required to meet the needs of children with special needs that cannot be supplied through modification in the regular education program.
- Special Education Intake Unit (SEIU) – The intake center within Special Education Services which processes the referrals and conducts the assessments of children referred for special education services.
- Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) – The county office from which some special education services are funded.
- Special Needs – Children with disabilities who require special adaptations made to their instruction or environment in order to learn.
- 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 have manifested itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The basic psychological processes include attention, visual processing, auditory processing, sensory-motor skills, cognitive abilities including association, conceptualization, and expression.
- Speech Language Impairment – When a student has a language or speech disorder that meets one or more of the following: articulation disorder, abnormal voice, fluency disorder, language disorder (receptive or expressive).
- Speech Therapy – A related service; helps children learn to speak and use language; speech therapy is given by a speech pathologist or a speech and language therapist.
- State Department of Education – Also referred to as SDE in federal law.
- Student Success Team (SST) – A regular education process designed to make preliminary modifications within the regular education program of a student not succeeding in class. Each SST is to meet on a weekly basis.
- Supplementary Aids and Services – Aids, services and other supports that are provided in general education classes or other education-related settings to enable children with disabilities to be educated with typically developing peers to the maximum extent appropriate. These aids and services must be noted on the IEP.
- Surrogate Parent – A person appointed by the SELPA who acts as a child’s parent for the purpose of the IEP process to ensure the rights of an individual with exceptional needs when no parent can be identified or located, or the child is a ward of the state and the parents do not retain educational rights for the child.
- Timeline – Time limit.
- Transition – Transition services are a coordinated set of activities for a student, designed within an outcome-oriented process, which promotes movement from school to post-school activities. The coordinated set of activities is based upon the individual student’s needs, preference, and interests. The process begins at 16 years or younger and includes the student, family, education personnel, and vocational and adult service providers.
- Transition Plan – A part of the IFSP which is done when a child is 2.6 years old. It is developed by the families, regional center service coordinator, public school personnel, and other members of the multi-agency team. The Transition Plan includes specific steps to help families and their children through the process.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) – An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
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- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)– UDL focuses on planning instruction in such a way to meet the varied needs of students at the point of first best instruction, thereby reducing the amount of follow-up and alternative instruction necessary.
- Validity – The extent to which a test really measures what it is intended to measure.
- Visually Impaired (VI) – Students who are blind or who have partial sight and who, as a result, experience lowered educational performance.
- Visual-Motor – The ability to relate vision with movements of the body or parts of the body.
- Visual Motor Skills – The ability to adjust movement based on what is seen; includes eye-hand coordination (activities such as cutting and handwriting) as well as gross motor skills (like kicking and throwing).
- Visual Perception – The identification, organization, and interpretation of data received through the eye.
- Vocational Education (Voc Ed) – Education beginning at middle school through age 21 in which special education students participate in an adequately and appropriately supportive work model that may include off-site job training.
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