Accommodations vs Modifications: Accommodations are changes in the teaching content, presentation, or environment to support a student’s unique needs without changing the outcome expectation (ex. more time allowed on an assignment or a desk that will fit a wheelchair). Modifications are changes to what is being taught and the criteria for mastery (ex. expecting the class to know their multiplication tables by rote but the special education student is graded on learning their addition facts).
Adaptive Skills: Self-help skills that promote independence.
Assistive Technology: Technology devices that reduce the impact of a child’s impairments on his or her capacity to participate in the learning environment. This may include low-tech materials or methods such as picture schedules or sign language or higher tech devices such as calculators, augmentative communication devices, switches, etc.
Behavior intervention plan or behavior improvement plan (BIP). If a child with a disability exhibits behavior that impacts his/her educational progress, a BIP is included in the IEP. This plan contains specific goals and positive strategies for improving the child’s behavior.
Developmentally Appropriate Practice: NAEYC guidelines regarding appropriate educational practices to be used with children ages birth to age 8.
Developmental Delay: A disability category for children ages Birth-9. It covers children who show delays in the areas of cognitive, motor. Language, social-emotional, and adaptive skills.
Due process hearing. The state education agency provides this process for parents to pursue when they do not agree with the school’s proposed plan for special education or believe their child’s IEP has not been appropriately implemented, and are unable to resolve the conflict otherwise.
ESY- Extended School Year: services provided beyond the school year. Every IEP must consider annually whether the student will lose so much learning during non-school days that services need to be continued during school vacations and/or summer breaks.
Exceptional Children: children who differ from society’s view of normalcy (above or below).
Free and appropriate education (FAPE): This is a concept from civil rights law, guaranteeing all children, including those with disabilities, a ‘‘free and appropriate public education.’’
Functional Behavior Analysis: an assessment that examines the purpose or function of a behavior
Inclusion: the process of integrating children with special needs into educational settings primarily designed to serve students without disabilities.
Individualized Education Program (IEP). Sometimes referred to as the individual education plan, this document describes the goals, objectives, services, and who is responsible for each. The parent should participate in the development of this document and be provided a copy. The IEP is reviewed at least annually to ensure goals are updated and that the plan is working well for the student.
Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP): The special education plan that is used for children ages Birth-2 which describes the services, goals, objectives, and who is responsible for each. The IFSP focuses on supports for the family.
Least restrictive environment (LRE). The school is required to create an educational plan (IEP) that allows a student with a disability to receive instruction with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent possible. Teams determine the LRE based on assessment data and the goals and objectives of the IEP.
Response to intervention (RTI). Before a child is identified as a child with a specific learning disability, the school must ensure and document that all appropriate educational interventions within general education have been attempted with inadequate response. A systematic model of implementing increasingly intensive educational interventions and evaluating the outcomes is typically known as response to intervention (RTI). In some states this model is part of the requirements for determining special education eligibility.
Section 504 Plan. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is federal legislation that protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination in the public schools. If the child’s disability does not require special education or related services, that child might be eligible for a Section 504 plan that specifically describes what accommodations are necessary for the child to access instruction in the classroom.
Specially Designed Instruction: a set of organized and planned instructional activities which adapt, as appropriate the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs that result from the student’s disability.
For Disability Category terms, please see the Council for Exceptional Children at https://www.cec.sped.org/Special-Ed-Topics/Who-Are-Exceptional-Learners
Resources:
National Association for School Psychologists. www.nasp.org
National Center for Children in Poverty. www.nccp.org
Council for Exceptional Children. www.cec.sped.org.
Gargiulo,Richard & Kilgo,Jennifer. An Introduction to Young Children With Special Needs: Birth Through Age Eight. 4th ed. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 2014. Belmont, CA.