Accessibility Features: Accessibility features are customizable options within products that accommodate users’ visual, mobility, hearing, language, and learning needs. These features enable individuals with disabilities to use products effectively, functioning as assistive technology.
Accommodations: In education, accommodations modify how materials are presented or tasks are completed, allowing students with disabilities to access the same assignments as their peers. These adjustments can include changes in setting, timing, or response methods, helping transform frustration into success.
Achievement Tests: Achievement tests measure what students have learned through formal and informal educational experiences, using methods like standardized tests, curriculum-based assessments, and alternative approaches such as observations or interviews.
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs): ADLs include basic tasks like eating, dressing, and bathing, while Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) cover tasks like cooking, shopping, and mobility outside the home.
Adaptive Behavior: Adaptive behavior refers to skills necessary for independent living and social relationships, developing through learning and maturation to meet the demands of different environments.
Adaptive Technologies: These are assistive technologies designed specifically for individuals with disabilities, including devices like powered wheelchairs and augmentative communication systems to aid in mobility and communication.
Adaptive Physical Education: A specially designed physical education program tailored to the abilities and interests of children with disabilities who may not safely or successfully participate in standard physical education activities.
Adjustment: Adjustment is the process of adapting one’s behavior to fit changes in the environment, seeking a new balance over time in response to stress or change.
Adolescence: Adolescence is a crucial developmental period between childhood and adulthood, marked by rapid physical, mental, and social changes, often accompanied by emotional and psychological challenges.
Adult Services: These are services provided to individuals after reaching the legal age of majority (usually 18), governed by different laws and resources, and offered based on need rather than entitlement.
Advocate: An advocate is a person who assists parents and children in navigating special education services and dealings with school districts, without being a legal representative.
Age of Majority: The age at which a person is legally recognized as an adult (usually 18), gaining the right to make legal decisions, though some youth with disabilities may have decision-making delayed.
Aids for Daily Living: These assistive devices help individuals with disabilities perform self-care tasks like eating and dressing, ranging from simple tools like suction-cup brushes to high-tech devices.
Alternative Assessment: Designed for students with severe disabilities, alternative assessments allow participation in state accountability programs when standardized tests are not appropriate.
Alternative Dispute Resolution: This is an informal process to resolve conflicts between schools and parents over special education services, including options like mediation and facilitated IEP meetings.
Alternative Educational Programs: These are specialized options within a school’s curriculum, such as remedial or vocational programs, that do not involve placing students in special education classes.
Alternative Testing Techniques: Modified test procedures allow students with disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge, as outlined in their Individualized Education Program (IEP).
Ambulation Aids: Devices like canes, crutches, and walkers assist individuals in maintaining an upright posture while walking.
Anecdotal Record: A brief, factual account of a child’s behavior or interaction during an event, often used for later reference and documentation in educational settings.
Antisocial Behavior: Age-inappropriate actions that violate societal norms, family expectations, or the rights of others, potentially developing into more severe behavioral disorders if left unaddressed.
Anxiety: An emotional state characterized by fear, tension, and physiological symptoms, often triggered by social interactions or situations where self-esteem feels threatened.
Annual Goals: These are specific learning objectives set by teachers for students to achieve within one academic year, often included in a student’s IEP.
Aphasia: A condition resulting from brain damage that impairs an individual’s ability to use or comprehend language, typically noticeable by age three.
Appeal: In special education disputes, an appeal allows a party to challenge the findings of a due process decision or complaint review through legal channels.
Appropriate Services: These services are customized to meet the unique needs of a child or family, varying widely based on the specific requirements of each case.
Aptitude: A person’s natural ability to acquire skills or knowledge in areas like language or music, often developed further with training and education.
Architectural Adaptations: Physical modifications to environments, such as ramps and widened doorways, designed to remove barriers for individuals with disabilities.
Assimilation: The process of integrating new information into existing cognitive frameworks, adjusting one’s understanding based on prior knowledge.
Attention: The ability to focus on a specific task or object while filtering out distractions, crucial for learning and completing tasks efficiently.
Attitudes: Personal judgments or feelings towards people, events, or behaviors, shaped by various experiences and influencing one’s interactions with the world.
Asperger Syndrome: A type of pervasive developmental disorder affecting social interaction, communication, and coordination, often without intellectual delay.
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT): A mental health service model where a team of professionals provides treatment in the individual’s community setting, offering a range of support services.
Assessment: The process of gathering information about a child’s strengths and needs to create an educational plan, using tests, observations, and family input.
Assistive Devices: Tools and equipment that help individuals with disabilities perform daily activities, including mobility aids, postural supports, and self-help devices.
Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs): Devices that amplify sound to help individuals with hearing impairments in various settings, such as classrooms or public spaces.
Assistive Technology Device: Any equipment or product that enhances the functioning of individuals with disabilities, ranging from simple tools to complex computer systems.
Assistive Technology Evaluation: A functional evaluation that identifies a child’s need for assistive technology, often conducted by a multidisciplinary team with input from family and educators.
Assistive Technology Interventions: Strategies using technology to help students with disabilities access and engage with the academic curriculum, including reading and writing aids.
Assistive Technology Service: Support services that assist in selecting, maintaining, and training individuals to use assistive technology devices.
Assistive Technology: Devices and services that help students with disabilities access education, including visual aids, communication tools, and computer adaptations.
Assessment or Evaluation: A formal process for diagnosing a student’s educational needs, forming the basis for their IEP.
At Risk: Children considered to have a higher likelihood of developing a disability or experiencing academic failure due to environmental or developmental factors.
Ataxia: A form of cerebral palsy characterized by a lack of coordination in balance and hand movements, affecting daily functioning.
Athetosis: A condition involving involuntary movements, often affecting individuals with cerebral palsy, and impacting motor control, especially in the arms and face.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A common disorder in children characterized by difficulties with attention, hyperactivity, and impulsive behaviors.
Attention Span: The ability to maintain focus on a task long enough to complete it, influenced by various factors such as sleep, disorders, or distractions.
Auditory Memory: The ability to remember information presented orally, crucial for learning, and involving short-term, long-term, and sequential recall.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): Systems designed to enhance communication for individuals with impairments, ranging from low-tech picture boards to high-tech speech recognition programs.
Augmentative Communication: Techniques used to improve communication for those unable to speak, including both aided systems like word boards and unaided systems like sign language.
Authentic Assessment: Evaluation methods that reflect a student’s real-world skills and learning, such as portfolios, performances, and self-assessments.
Autism: A developmental disability affecting communication, social interaction, and behavior, usually evident by age three.
Autistic: Refers to children with autism, characterized by challenges in communication, social interaction, and sensitivity to sensory input.
Automaticity: The ability to perform tasks with little conscious effort, developed through practice, such as automatic word recognition during reading.
Auxiliary Aids and Services: Under the ADA, aids and services like interpreters, adapted classroom equipment, and taped texts are provided to ensure effective communication for individuals with disabilities.
Barrier-Free Education: Ensuring all students with disabilities have access to special education services in environments without physical barriers. This includes making buildings and facilities accessible.
Baseline Measure: The level of a behavior before starting a teaching method, used to evaluate progress.
Basic Skills Training: Focused on improving attention, memory, language, study, and self-management skills, including computer competence.
Basic Skills: Fundamental academic abilities like reading, writing, listening, and math, essential for daily living.
Basic-Skills Approach: A method for teaching reading by emphasizing phonics and simplified materials to help learners translate written symbols into sounds.
Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP): A plan with strategies and supports to reduce disruptive behavior, allowing the child to learn in a less restrictive environment.
Behavior Modification: A technique to change measurable behaviors through positive reinforcement for good behavior and consequences for maladaptive behavior.
Behavioral Assessment: A method of recording behaviors to identify triggers or assess changes resulting from interventions.
Bilingual Special Education: Uses both the home language and English in special education to maximize learning potential, respecting cultural and language differences.
Biological Risk Factors: Internal factors, like genetics or metabolism, that increase the likelihood of certain conditions or behaviors.
Birth History or Natal History: Information about delivery, birth complications, and early health, including immunization history.
Borderline Personality Disorder: A mental condition involving unstable moods, relationships, and self-image, often with intense emotions and self-harming behavior.
Career Awareness and Exploration: Students learn about different careers and job functions. Career exploration takes it further by identifying specific career paths suited to the individual.
Career Education: Part of transition planning that helps students move from school to work. It includes identifying interests, learning about different jobs, and developing work-related attitudes and skills.
Caregiver: A trained individual, such as a social worker or psychologist, who supports people with mental health issues.
Case Study: An example of studying an individual or group in their current environment to understand their condition or situation.
Categorical Education: The practice of grouping students with disabilities based on the type of disability for instructional purposes.
Cerebral Palsy: A movement disorder caused by brain damage that affects posture and motor skills, noticeable in early childhood. It can involve different parts of the body depending on the severity.
Chaining: Teaching a skill by breaking it down into smaller steps that are learned and linked together in sequence.
Child Protective Services: Services designed to protect children from abuse or neglect, with a goal of keeping the child with their family if possible.
Child Maltreatment: Refers to physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, or emotional abuse of children under 18.
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder: A developmental disorder where children lose previously acquired skills in areas like communication and social interaction.
Child Study Team (CST): A group of professionals who evaluate and help determine a child’s eligibility for special education services.
Children and Adolescents at Risk for Mental Health Problems: Risk factors like abuse, poverty, trauma, or stress can increase the likelihood of mental health issues in children and adolescents.
Classwide Peer Tutoring: A method where students work together in pairs or small groups to complete academic tasks, using peer tutoring and group rewards.
Classification: Organizing disabilities into categories (e.g., learning disabilities, physical impairments) to better understand and address specific needs.
Clinical Assessment: A process used to diagnose and plan treatment for individuals with mental disabilities by identifying underlying causes.
Cognitive Skills: Mental abilities like thinking, learning, problem-solving, and remembering, essential for understanding and interacting with the world.
Cognitively Impaired: A child with below-average cognitive and adaptive functioning, often struggling with learning and daily tasks.
Communication: The exchange of information using spoken or written language, gestures, body language, or symbols, essential for interaction.
Community Organization: A process where a community identifies needs and takes collective action to address those needs through cooperation.
Community Participation: Encouraging individuals with disabilities to take part in community-based activities, often supported by assistive technology.
Compensatory Intervention: Teaching substitute skills or using tools to help individuals with disabilities complete tasks despite their limitations.
Computational Skills: The ability to perform basic math operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, fundamental for problem-solving.
Concept Learning: The process of categorizing objects or ideas based on defining characteristics (e.g., shape, color), essential for understanding.
Confidentiality: Ensures that personal information in school records isn’t shared without parental permission, except when required by law.
Consent: Parental or student permission is needed for assessments or special education services as part of an IEP.
Consultant Teacher: A teacher who supports regular classroom teachers by providing resources and strategies for teaching students with learning disabilities.
Content Mastery Approach: Intensive instruction in practical life skills, like managing taxes or healthcare, that are needed for daily living.
Contingency Contracting: A behavior agreement that outlines expectations and consequences between parties, such as a parent and child.
Cooperative Learning: Students work together in small groups to complete tasks, promoting teamwork and shared responsibility in learning.
Core Curriculum: The required set of knowledge and skills students must learn to advance through grades and graduate, including academic and social learning.
Co-Teaching: Two or more teachers work together to plan and deliver lessons, often in an inclusive classroom setting.
Counseling Services: Support provided by qualified professionals to help children with disabilities address emotional, social, or behavioral challenges.
Crisis Residential Treatment Services: Short-term, 24-hour help for children in emergencies, provided outside of hospitals to stabilize behavior and avoid hospitalization.
Criterion-referenced Assessment: A test that measures whether a student has mastered specific skills or goals, often created by teachers to guide instruction.
Cue-Do-Review: A teaching method where the teacher explains (cue), works through activities with the student (do), and reviews the learning at the end.
Curriculum Development: The process of planning, implementing, and evaluating educational programs to provide effective learning experiences.
Curriculum: A set of learning experiences designed to meet specific educational goals, including what is taught and how it’s taught for children with special needs.
Day Treatment: A program offering special education, counseling, vocational training, and therapy for at least 4 hours a day, often in collaboration with mental health and education services.
Decoding: The process of recognizing written words by sounding out letters and blending them to form meaningful words.
Descriptive Videos: Videos enhanced with narration that describes visual elements, helping those with vision impairments enjoy the content.
Desensitization: A technique to reduce emotional responses by gradually weakening the reaction.
Developmental Aphasia: A severe language disorder caused by brain injury, affecting language skills more than typical developmental delays.
Developmental Delay: A child shows slower progress in areas like communication, motor skills, or learning, compared to peers.
Developmental Disabilities: Long-term physical or mental conditions that affect a person’s ability to perform daily tasks, varying from mild to severe.
Developmental Screening: A quick check to identify children who may need further evaluation for potential developmental issues.
Developmental Therapy: A method to teach social, emotional, and cognitive skills to children with severe behavioral or developmental disorders.
Diagnosis: The process of identifying a condition based on assessment and professional expertise, used to determine appropriate services.
Diagnostic Tests: Tests used to identify a student’s weaknesses in areas like reading or math, guiding further support.
Differently Abled Children: Children with physical or mental conditions that affect normal functioning, but who still have unique strengths.
Direct Instruction: A structured teaching method that emphasizes clear, step-by-step lessons, practice, and feedback to help students master skills.
Disability: A condition that limits a person’s ability to perform tasks compared to others, though it doesn’t always lead to a handicap.
Discrete-Trial Teaching: A teaching method for children with autism involving structured, repetitive practice with clear instructions and responses.
Discrimination Learning: Learning to recognize when different responses are needed in different situations, important for real-life decision-making.
Down Syndrome: A genetic condition caused by an extra chromosome, often leading to intellectual disability and physical traits like a large tongue.
Due Process: Legal procedures ensuring fair treatment, especially in student discipline matters where the severity of consequences dictates the process.
Durable Medical Equipment (DME): Long-lasting medical devices used for daily living, like wheelchairs or communication aids, needed for specific medical conditions.
Dyscalculia: A learning disability involving difficulty with math, such as performing calculations or distinguishing between symbols like + and -.
Dysgraphia: Difficulty with writing, including poor handwriting, grammar, or trouble organizing thoughts on paper.
Dyslexia: A reading disability affecting memory, recognition, and reversing letters or numbers, often leading to reading and writing challenges.
Dysnomia: Difficulty recalling names or words needed for speaking or writing.
Dyspraxia: A severe difficulty with tasks requiring fine motor skills, like writing or buttoning, or in coordinating movements.
Early Childhood Special Education: Services for children with disabilities or developmental delays, from birth to age 5, to support school readiness and development.
Early Intervention Services: Services for infants and toddlers (birth to age 3) with disabilities, provided under IDEA, focusing on meeting the needs of both the child and family.
Early Screening Profiles: A test for children ages 2–6 to identify those needing further assessment or early intervention, covering areas like language, motor skills, and behavior.
Ecological-Functional Curriculum: A curriculum that considers the child’s environments (home, school) and family culture, focusing on practical, meaningful skills for current and future settings.
Ecological Vocational Assessment: An assessment that examines job tasks and work environments to determine if a person with disabilities can perform the job and what support is needed.
Educational Assessment: The process of gathering information to make decisions about a child’s placement, goals, and services in education, using tools like standardized tests.
Educational Performance: A child’s current academic levels, learning pace, and needs for managing their learning environment.
Emotional Disability: A condition where mental health issues interfere with learning, relationships, and daily functioning over a long period.
Emotionally Disturbed: A child with emotional or behavioral challenges that significantly affect their learning and ability to form relationships.
Encoding: The process of spelling a word by translating sounds into letters.
Enduring Instruction: Teaching that ensures mastery by allowing enough time for students to learn deeply and apply the information in real life.
Environmental Risk Factors: External factors (social or physical) that negatively affect a person’s health and are often beyond their control.
Epilepsy: A disorder causing recurrent seizures due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain.
Error Analysis: A method to find out the strategies a student uses while completing tasks to identify mistakes and areas for improvement.
Evaluated Instruction: Adapting teaching methods based on the student’s progress and response to previous lessons.
Evaluation: The process of assessing whether a child qualifies for special services by a team of professionals based on testing and observation.
Exceptional Children: A term that includes children with disabilities and those who are gifted, both requiring special adjustments in teaching.
Explicit Instruction: A teaching approach that provides clear explanations, models, and feedback to help students understand and succeed.
Family History: Information about the client’s family, including details about parents, siblings, and other household members, along with their health, education, and relationships.
Family Support Services: Services that help families dealing with mental health challenges, offering therapy, parenting help, crisis intervention, and respite care to maintain family stability.
Foster Homes: Licensed homes providing care for individuals, including those with disabilities, who cannot live with their families, offering them a traditional family environment.
Fragile-X Syndrome: A genetic disorder causing intellectual disability, learning problems, and behavior issues, often associated with conditions like autism and ADHD.
Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE): Under the IDEA law, children with disabilities are entitled to free education tailored to their needs, provided in the least restrictive environment at no cost to parents.
Functional Assessment: An evaluation of skills needed for everyday tasks, focusing on how a person with disabilities interacts with their environment and functions independently in community life.
Functional Communication Training: A method to teach individuals alternative communication skills to reduce problematic behaviors by meeting their needs more appropriately.
Functional Curriculum: A curriculum that focuses on essential life skills like money management, social skills, and personal care, preparing students for independent living and community participation.
Functional Reading: Teaching reading skills that are useful for daily life, helping students read signs, instructions, and materials that improve their independence in the community.
Functional Vocational Assessment: An assessment of a person’s ability to perform job tasks and how they feel while doing them, including how well they get along with coworkers and navigate the work environment.
Functional-Skills Training: Teaching practical, everyday skills like handling money, reading signs, and making safe decisions, tailored to the student’s ability to promote independence.
General Educational Development Tests (GED): A series of five tests covering writing, social studies, science, literature, and mathematics. Passing these tests earns a high school equivalency diploma.
Generalizable Instruction: An instructional approach that ensures learners can apply what they’ve learned in various contexts, promoting success beyond the classroom.
Gestural Prompt: Non-verbal cues, like pointing or specific movements, used to guide a student’s attention without physical contact.
Graphic Organizer: A visual tool that represents information organization to aid understanding, used before, during, or after learning.
Gross Motor Development: The progression of physical skills that enable infants to move effectively, including crawling, standing, and walking.
Group: A collection of individuals who regularly interact, share common values, and work together towards shared goals.
Guidance: Support that helps individuals understand their situation and make informed decisions about their future, tailored to their interests and social needs through counseling.
Habilitation: An educational approach for children with special needs aimed at teaching essential skills for success in school and life.
Handicap: A disadvantage an individual faces in certain environments due to an impairment or disability, which may vary depending on the surroundings.
Health and Safety: The practice of maintaining well-being by following health guidelines, having a proper diet, and knowing how to prevent and treat illnesses.
Heterogeneous Grouping: A teaching method where students with diverse abilities are placed in the same group to promote integration, especially for children with disabilities.
Higher Education: Post-secondary education at institutions like colleges or trade schools, where students are responsible for requesting any needed accommodations.
Homebound Instruction: Special education where teachers provide lessons at home for students unable to attend school, requiring a guardian’s presence during instruction.
Homogeneous Grouping: A practice where students with similar abilities are grouped together, which can limit the inclusion of students with disabilities.
Hyperactivity: A condition of excessive restlessness and difficulty sitting still, often linked to attention-deficit disorders or learning disabilities.
Hypertonia: A condition, common in cerebral palsy, where there is increased stiffness in muscles and joints.
Impairment: A loss or reduction of function in a body part or organ, like a missing limb.
Impulsivity: Acting without thinking about the consequences.
Inclusion: A practice where children with disabilities are fully included in regular classrooms with the necessary support and resources.
Independent Living Centers (ILCs): Community organizations that advocate for people with disabilities, promoting access to housing, jobs, transportation, and more.
Individualized Education Program (IEP): A written plan for a child with disabilities that outlines their educational goals, services, and support, developed by a team of educators and parents.
Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP): A plan for infants or toddlers with developmental delays, detailing their current status, family needs, and services to support development.
Instructional Modifications: Changes in teaching methods, materials, or the environment to help a student learn more effectively.
Integrated Employment: Employment where people with and without disabilities work together without major support systems in place.
Intensive Instruction: Teaching that focuses on keeping the learner highly engaged and providing frequent, closely-timed lessons for maximum impact.
Job Analysis: Identifies the skills and environment needed for a job to see if a person can meet its demands. If their skills aren’t enough, the job is rejected to prevent failure.
Job Sample: A method where jobs that match a person’s skills are tested. The person is trained, and tasks or tools are adapted if needed to fit their abilities.
Job Try-Out: Gives a person a chance to try different jobs to see which one fits their skills best. This hands-on method helps individuals understand their abilities and limitations, especially for those with intellectual disabilities.
Labeling: Identifying individuals by a category, such as “behaviorally disordered,” which can be formal (by professionals) or informal (by peers).
Language: A system of communication using sounds, words, gestures, or symbols shared by a group.
Learned Helplessness: A tendency to rely on others due to a lack of confidence, often seen in individuals who struggle with learning and experience repeated failure.
Learner-Centered Education: A teaching method focused on students’ needs, where they take responsibility for identifying and filling knowledge gaps, while teachers guide and support the process.
Learning Disabilities: A group of disorders affecting how a person takes in, processes, or expresses information, often due to central nervous system differences, impacting areas like reading, writing, or math.
Mainstreaming: Placing children with disabilities into general education settings, such as regular classrooms, preschools, or childcare facilities.
Medical Services: Services provided by a doctor to assess a child’s disability, helping determine the need for special education and related services.
Mental Retardation/Mentally Disabled: Refers to significantly delayed intellectual and social development, often measured by low IQ, affecting learning and social skills.
Metacognition: Thinking about and being aware of your own thinking processes, such as how you solve problems or remember information.
Multisensory Approach: Teaching method using multiple senses, like visual, auditory, and tactile, to enhance learning experiences, making concepts easier to understand.
National Open School: An open education program for children with intellectual impairments, allowing them to learn at their own pace with a focus on reduced curriculum and vocational skills.
Neurological Impairments: Issues with the brain or spinal cord affecting learning, coordination, attention, and emotional or speech development.
Non-Academic Activities: Activities outside academics, like field trips or clubs, where students with disabilities should have the chance to participate equally.
Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities: Learning disabilities affecting right-brain functions, like social skills, spatial awareness, problem-solving, and understanding body language.
Norm-Referenced Assessment: Tests that compare a child’s performance to that of other children of the same age, commonly used for diagnosis and classification.
Observational Learning: Learning new skills or behaviors by watching and imitating others, often occurring after just one observation, useful in tasks like surgery or driving.
Operant Learning: A learning process based on rewards and punishments. Positive behaviors are strengthened by rewards, while negative ones diminish with punishment.
Orientation and Mobility Services: Support for blind or visually impaired children, helping them safely navigate using tools like sound, cane, or remaining vision.
Orthography: The writing system of a language, including its spelling rules.
Orthopedically Impaired: Students with physical disabilities (e.g., cerebral palsy) that impact their ability to perform in school.
Other Health Impaired: Children with chronic or severe health conditions (e.g., asthma, ADHD) that affect their academic performance, documented by a doctor.
Parent: A person responsible for a child’s well-being, including natural, adoptive, foster parents, guardians, or other caregivers like grandparents or stepparents.
Perception: The process of understanding sensory information, such as sight and sound. Teachers help students actively engage with this process to enhance learning.
Perceptual Handicap: Difficulty in processing sensory information, like confusing similar sounds or letters (e.g., “b” and “d”), which can affect reading and learning.
Personal Assistance Services (PAS): Services that assist people with disabilities in completing everyday tasks like dressing, eating, and organizing, allowing them to live and work more independently.
Phoneme Awareness: The ability to hear and identify individual sounds in words, helping with skills like rhyming, separating sounds, and recognizing which sounds come first in words.
Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound in speech that distinguishes one word from another, like the /b/ in “bat” and the /m/ in “mat.”
Phonemic Segmentation: The process of breaking a word down into its individual sounds or syllables, useful in learning to read.
Phonetics: The study of how speech sounds are produced, heard, and their physical properties, focusing on how sounds are made and understood.
Phonics: A method of teaching reading by emphasizing the relationship between letters and their sounds to help decode words.
Phonological Awareness: The understanding of sound structures in language, allowing one to recognize, think about, and manipulate sounds in words.
Phonology: The system and study of the sound patterns in a language, including how sounds combine and how they’re pronounced.
Physical Development: Refers to a student’s motor and sensory skills, energy, and physical abilities, which can affect their learning progress.
Physical Prompt: Direct physical guidance provided by a teacher to help a student complete a task or response correctly.
Postsecondary Accommodations: Adjustments made in higher education or workplaces to support individuals with disabilities, such as modified curriculum or special equipment.
Postsecondary Activities: Activities that students with disabilities can pursue after high school, such as further education, employment, or independent living.
Postsecondary Education: Formal education opportunities after high school for students with disabilities, including vocational programs, colleges, or continuing education.
Pre-Natal History: Details about a mother’s health and experiences during pregnancy, such as age, drug intake, and illness, which can affect the child’s development.
Pre-Referral Intervention: A teaching strategy designed to help students with learning difficulties before referring them for special education evaluation.
Pre-requisite Skills: Basic skills a student needs to have before starting a new lesson or unit to ensure they can succeed.
Preventive Intervention: Efforts to stop small problems from becoming major issues or disabilities through early actions.
Problem Solving: The process of identifying a problem, developing a solution, and applying strategies to resolve it, essential for independent living and learning.
Process-sensitive Instruction: A teaching method that adapts lessons to address different learning barriers, helping students overcome cognitive challenges.
Program Evaluation: A systematic process to measure how well an educational program is working, assessing both its progress during the program and its overall effectiveness at the end.
Prompts: Cues or assistance provided by a teacher to guide a student’s response, which can be verbal, gestural, or physical, based on the student’s needs.
Psychological Assessment: The organized process of gathering and interpreting information about a person’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning to understand their mental state.
Q dictionary : Coming soon
Record Maintenance: The organized process of documenting and securely storing collected information for a specific purpose.
Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI): A statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, RCI standardizes human resource development in rehabilitation across India.
Rehabilitation Counseling Services: Employment-focused services for individuals with disabilities to promote independence and workplace integration.
Related Services: Support services (e.g., counseling, speech therapy) to assist children with disabilities in learning effectively in inclusive settings.
Remediation: Educational interventions designed to address and reduce specific learning disabilities or deficits.
Resource Room: A specialized classroom where students with learning disabilities receive individualized instruction part of their school day.
Resource Teacher: A certified specialist who teaches academic and social skills to students in the resource room and supports classroom teachers.
Respite Care: Temporary, non-family care for individuals with disabilities, providing relief for their families.
Response Cost: A behavior management technique where reinforcers (like tokens) are removed following inappropriate behavior.
Rett Syndrome: A neurological disorder beginning in early childhood, marked by slowed head growth, hand movements, and severe language and cognitive impairments.
Satellite Program: A special education classroom located within a general school facility to support students transitioning from segregated environments.
School Health Services: Health-related support provided by school nurses or qualified staff, including administering medication or monitoring health needs for students with disabilities.
Screening Instrument: Quick initial tests to identify individuals who may need further assessment for specific conditions.
Screening Process: A data-collection method over time to identify individuals at risk for conditions like learning disabilities.
Screening: A brief method to identify individuals who may need more extensive evaluation or support, but not for diagnosis.
Self-Determination: The right of individuals to make independent choices and control their own life paths.
Self-Advocacy: Skills for individuals with disabilities to communicate their needs, request accommodations, and self-manage in various environments.
Sensory Integration Therapy: A treatment aimed at enhancing sensory processing through engagement with all senses to aid learning.
Serious Emotional Disturbance: Diagnosable conditions in children that disrupt daily functioning and affect school, relationships, and adaptability.
Serious Mental Illness: Chronic adult conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, affecting daily life and relationships.
Severe Disabilities: Disabilities requiring intensive support across multiple life areas to aid participation in community settings.
Shaping: A positive reinforcement technique for gradually achieving target behavior, refining through practice and feedback.
Sheltered Workshops: Transitional workplaces offering supervised, paid employment for individuals with disabilities.
Sheltered-Workshop Program: Day programs providing supervised, productive work environments for individuals needing continuous support.
Short-Term Goals: Curriculum-based objectives set for achievement within a short timeframe (e.g., learning basic addition).
Slow Learner: A student who struggles with schoolwork relative to peers, without a specific disability as the cause.
Social Development: The quality of relationships and social adaptability with peers and adults in various settings.
Social Group Work: Structured group activities fostering individual growth, interpersonal skills, and social agency support.
Social Maladjustment: Behavioral difficulties impacting school success, not attributed to emotional disturbances.
Social Skills: Behaviors (verbal and nonverbal) that enable effective interactions and societal acceptance.
Special-Education Professionals: Specialists collaborating to support students with disabilities, including educators, therapists, and aides.
Specific Learning Disability (SLD): Challenges in specific learning areas like reading or math, not affecting all learning aspects.
Structured Instruction: Systematic teaching of content in manageable steps to aid learning for students with disabilities.
Study Skills: Techniques to learn, understand, and recall course content independently and effectively.
Subtype Research: Research to identify distinct characteristics within subgroups of individuals with learning disabilities.
Supported Employment: Assistance for individuals with disabilities to succeed in competitive jobs through temporary or ongoing support.
Syllabication: Dividing a word into syllables to improve reading and pronunciation skills.
Tactile: Related to touch, with tactile learning involving hands-on, touch-based activities.
Task Analysis: A teaching strategy breaking tasks into sequential, teachable steps, used for both assessment and instruction (e.g., steps in brushing teeth).
Teaming: The highest level of collaborative teamwork, involving reciprocal information sharing and equal participation among all team members.
Therapeutic Day Program: A school program for students with serious emotional disturbances, integrating emotional treatments like behavior management and psychotherapy.
Think Aloud: A metacognitive technique where the teacher vocalizes thought processes while reading or completing a task.
Token Economy: A reinforcement system awarding tokens (stars, points) for desired behaviors, which can be exchanged for rewards.
Transition: Refers to major life changes, such as moving from school to work or from specialized to mainstream settings, involving the process and supports needed.
Transportation: Services ensuring students with disabilities have adapted transportation to and around school, including specialized equipment like ramps or lifts.
Underachiever: Refers to a child whose academic performance falls below their potential ability. Identifying the cause is crucial, as it may signal a deeper issue.
Verbal Prompt: Specific verbal instructions guiding a student on what to do and how, tailored to their understanding, e.g., “Take the pencil with your right hand.”
Visual Discrimination: The ability to notice slight differences in visual stimuli, essential for distinguishing similar letters and words.
Visual Perception: The skill of recognizing visual information; challenges here may affect reading, writing, tracking, and interpreting maps or graphics.
Whole Word Approach: A reading method where students first learn to recognize and read entire words for functional literacy before learning to spell them, e.g., reading “green” rather than learning its spelling.
Word Attack Skills: The ability to decode words by understanding letter-sound relationships.
Word Decoding: The process of identifying words by sounding out letters, letter patterns, or blended sounds.
Wrap-Around Services: A support system providing coordinated, individualized services across home, school, and community, driven by family input and creative resource use.
X-Coming soon…
Y-Coming soon…
Zero Reject: Schools are required to provide education to all children with disabilities, regardless of disability severity, from ages 2 to 17, and must include ages 3-5 and 18-21 if education is provided to nondisabled children in those ranges. Each state must also locate, identify, and evaluate all children with disabilities or suspected disabilities under the “child find” mandate.