No products in the cart.
Special Education Glossary (A–Z)
Special education comes with a whole new language—full of acronyms, legal terms, and school-specific jargon that can easily overwhelm parents who just want to know how to best support their child. This glossary is designed to explain common special education terms so you can feel more confident advocating for your child.
A
Accommodations
Changes to how a student learns or demonstrates knowledge without changing what they are expected to learn. Examples include extra time, preferential seating, or audiobooks.
Why it matters: Accommodations help your child access learning without lowering expectations.
Comprehensive List of IEP Accommodations
Top Learning Accommodations Every Parent Should Know
Accessible Educational Materials (AEM)
Accessible instructional materials are textbooks and learning resources adapted into formats a student can use when standard print isn’t accessible. These may include Braille, large print, audio, or digital text.
Why it matters: Accessible materials make sure your child can fully participate in learning the same content as classmates.
ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
A neurodevelopmental condition that affects attention, impulse control, and/or activity level. It impacts different areas of executive functioning.
Why it matters: ADHD can qualify a student for accommodations or school support through an IEP or 504 Plan.
Managing ADHD in Children: A Comprehensive Guide for Parents
A Guide to ADHD-Friendly Homework Routine
10 Tips for Managing ADHD Symptoms at Home
ADA Civil Rights
A law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life.
Why it matters: ADA works in tandem with other education laws like the IDEA.
Advocate
Special Education Advocates, or sometimes known as Educational Consultants, support families by helping them understand their rights, interpret evaluations, and collaborate with schools to ensure students receive appropriate, individualized services.
Why it matters: An advocate can help you navigate the complexities of special education systems.
Ways a Special Education Advocate can support you and your child.
Audiologist
An audiologist is a trained professional who evaluates hearing, helps diagnose hearing loss, and provides support, treatment, or devices to improve hearing.
Why it matters: An audiologist ensures your child can access classroom instruction and participate fully by identifying and addressing hearing needs early.
ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)
A neurodevelopmental condition that affects how a person communicates, interacts socially, and experiences the world, with strengths and challenges that vary widely.
Why it matters: ASD can qualify a student for accommodations and/or school services through an IEP or 504 Plan.
Classroom Accommodations for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Helping My Child with ASD Improve Cognitive Flexibility
Assistive Technology
Assistive technology refers to a broad range of tools and devices designed to support individuals with disabilities in many aspects of their lives, including education.
Why it matters: The use of assistive technology can be included in your child’s IEP or 504 Plan and offers customized solutions to mitigate many students’ challenges throughout the learning process.
Assistive Technology in Special Education
B
Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP)
A BIP is a written plan that uses strategies to reduce problem behavior and support success at school.
Why it matters: It ensures your child gets consistent, supportive help instead of punishment.
Pathological Demand Avoidance and School Struggles
C
CALT (Certified Academic Language Therapist)
They are highly trained specialists certified by the Academic Language Therapy Association to provide structured, evidence-based instruction for students with language-based learning differences, including dyslexia.
Why it matters: Working with a CALT ensures your child receives targeted, research-based intervention that addresses the root causes of reading and language challenges, leading to stronger literacy skills.
What is ALTA Certification? (Academic Language Therapists and Practitioners)
How to find a Certified Academic Language Therapist
CSE (Committee on Special Education)
Also known as the IEP team, is responsible for making decisions about a student’s special education eligibility, services, and IEP.
Why it matters: Knowing how the CSE works empowers parents to actively participate in decisions about their child’s supports, services, and goals, ensuring the educational plan truly reflects their child’s needs.
Tips on Preparing for Your Child’s Annual IEP Meeting
D
Differentiation
Adjusting materials, content, or tasks to match individual learning needs within general education.
Why it matters: Teachers must differentiate their assignments and lessons to accommodate students with varying learning styles.
DSO (Disability Service Office)
Every college should have a DSO, or an equivalent program that provides support, accommodations, and guidance specifically tailored for students with disabilities.
Why it matters: Understanding the role of the DSO helps students’ transition to college, ensuring they know how to access accommodations, advocate for themselves, and succeed independently in a higher-education setting.
Your Guide to College Disability Services and Accommodations
Parent Workshop: Practical Tools for College for Students with Executive Functioning Challenges
Due Process
A formal legal procedure parents can use to resolve serious disagreements with a school district about special education services.
Why it matters: It protects your child’s educational rights.
Dyscalculia
A learning difference that affects understanding numbers, math facts, and calculations.
Why it matters: Dyscalculia is a learning disability that requires specialized instruction and accommodations to access the general math curriculum.
Dyscalculia vs. Math Anxiety (Infographic)
5 Tips to Improve Number Sense in Children with Dyscalculia
How to Advocate for Your Child with Dyscalculia
Dysgraphia
A learning difference that affects writing, including handwriting, spelling, and organizing thoughts on paper.
Why it matters: Writing difficulties often require specialized instruction and other therapeutic supports, like an occupational therapist.
What is Dysgraphia and How to Support it?
Dyslexia
Dyslexia Assessments: How to Choose the Right One for Your Child
Leveraging Strengths to Overcome the Challenges of Dyslexia
Supporting a Late Dyslexia Diagnosis
Finding a Dyslexia Reading Therapist
A Day in the Life of a College Student with Dyslexia (video)
E
Educational Evaluation
An assessment that looks at a student’s academic skills to understand strengths and areas of need.
Why it matters: Evaluations guide decisions about services and supports.
What to Expect in an Educational Evaluation
Educational Therapy
Educational Therapy combines therapeutic and teaching approaches to identify what supports and what interferes with a student’s learning, focusing not just on what a child learns but how they learn.
Why it matters: Educational Therapy helps uncover the root causes of learning challenges and builds individualized strategies that support academic progress, confidence, and independence—especially when traditional tutoring isn’t enough.
How do I find an Educational Therapist near me?
Pillars of Educational Therapy (Infographic)
Eligibility Determination
The process by which a school team decides whether a student qualifies for special education services.
Why it matters: Eligibility opens the door to accommodations, school services, and supports.
How do I determine eligibility for an IEP?
Executive Functioning
Executive Functioning Skills, most simply put, refers to a set of cognitive skills needed to complete a task or solve a problem. They are essential for success in academics and beyond. They include skills like planning, organization, time management, and cognitive flexibility.
Why it matters: Weak executive functioning can impact school success across all subjects.
Executive Functioning Skills: A Comprehensive Guide
Parent Guide to Finding an Executive Functioning Coach
Tackling Procrastination in Kids with Learning Differences
Time Management: A 5-Step Strategy
Extended School Year Services (ESY)
ESY are special education services provided during the summer for students who need extra support to prevent losing skills when school is not in session.
Why it matters: ESY helps your child maintain steady learning progress so they don’t fall behind after a long break. These services are generally available to students who have historically shown documented learning loss after school breaks of one week or more.
Extended Time
Extended time is an IEP accommodation that provides students with extra time (e.g., time and a half or double time) to complete tests, quizzes, and assignments without changing learning standards.
Why it matters: It is an essential accommodation, commonly used for students with disabilities affecting processing speed, writing and decoding deficits, attention issues, or anxiety.
F
504 Plan
A 504 Plan is a formal plan developed under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act that provides accommodations and supports to students with disabilities so they can access the general education curriculum.
Why it matters: A 504 Plan ensures your child receives the accommodations they need—such as extra time on tests, preferential seating, or assistive technology—so they can participate fully in school alongside their peers.
IEP vs. 504: Which is right for your child?
Parent Workshop: Navigating the IEP and 504 Process
FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education
A legal requirement that schools provide eligible students with appropriate education at no cost to families.
Why it matters: Your child has a right to meaningful educational benefits.
FBA (Functional Behavioral Assessment)
Often paired with a BIP, an FBA helps identify triggers, purpose, and function of behaviors to design supports.
Why it matters: Identifying the function of negative behaviors is essential to developing a plan to lessen them.
G
GE (General Education)
Refers to the standard classroom setting where students receive instruction alongside their peers using the general curriculum, with or without additional supports.
Why it matters: Understanding General Education helps parents know what supports or accommodations may be needed to help their child access the curriculum and whether further differentiation or support is necessary.
I
IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
The federal law that governs special education services and protections. The IEP followed the IDEA.
Why it matters: IDEA defines your child’s rights and the school’s responsibilities.
IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation)
An evaluation conducted by a qualified professional who is not employed by the school district. The cost is covered only if you are eligible for an IEE and the provider meets their requirements.
Why it matters: Parents may request an IEE if they disagree with a school’s evaluation.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
A legally binding document outlining a student’s special education goals, services, and supports.
Why it matters: The IEP ensures instruction is tailored to your child’s unique needs.
Frequently Asked Questions about the IEP
IEP Red Flags and How to Fix Them
How to Find IEP Consulting/Advocacy
Parent Workshop: Navigating the IEP and 504 Process
L
LRE (Least Restrictive Environment)
The setting where a student can learn with appropriate supports while spending as much time as possible with peers without disabilities. This term is often found in the IEP under the placement section, describing where the child will receive instruction (general education classroom, special class, or a combination).
Why it matters: Placement decisions must balance support and inclusion.
Learning Specialist
An education professional who supports students with learning differences by providing targeted instruction, usually during the school day.
Why it matters: A Learning Specialist can provide differentiated instruction in a small-group or individual setting. Their background and expertise in supporting learning disabilities can vary widely.
M
Metacognition
Metacognition is the ability to reflect on your thought processes, feelings, and behaviors. In simpler terms, it’s how we think about thinking!
Why it matters: An essential skill for students to understand how they learn best.
Metacognition: What is it and how to support it?
Growth Mindset: A Tool for Nurturing Young Minds
N
Neuropsychological Evaluation
A Neuropsychological Evaluation is a very comprehensive assessment conducted by a neuropsychologist to examine a child’s cognitive, academic, emotional, and behavioral functioning, helping identify learning differences, attention challenges, or other neurological concerns. Usually, a Neuropsychological Evaluation is a private evaluation you would pay out of pocket for.
Why it matters: This evaluation provides a very detailed and comprehensive understanding of your child’s strengths and challenges, guiding targeted interventions, accommodations, and support strategies that can improve learning, behavior, and overall well-being.
O
Occupational Therapy (OT)
An occupational therapist is a licensed professional who provides therapeutic support to strengthen fine motor skills, sensory processing, and everyday life skills.
Why it matters: An OT can help students with learning disabilities or challenges in handwriting, emotional regulation, technology use, and other related skills.
Orton-Gillingham (O-G)
O-G refers to a specific instructional approach that closely follows the Science of Reading. O-G follows all the principles of structured literacy—it is multi-sensory, explicit, sequential, systematic, prescriptive, diagnostic, and cumulative.
Why it matters: Orton-Gillingham is a structured literacy approach that emphasizes multi-sensory, skill-based instruction. It is the gold standard for dyslexia remediation.
Finding an Orton-Gillingham Tutor or Reading Therapist
What you should know about Orton-Gillingham (Infographic)
Orton-Gillingham: What Parents Should Know
P
Paraprofessional
A paraprofessional is a trained school aide who supports students in the classroom or individually with learning, behavior, health, or daily needs.
Why it matters: A paraprofessional helps your child access instruction and stay safe and supported throughout the school day.
PLAAFP / PLOP (Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance)
The PLAAP refers to a section of the IEP describing how a student is currently performing.
Why it matters: Goals should be based directly on present levels.
Progress Monitoring
Progress monitoring refers to ongoing data collection to track a student’s improvement toward goals.
Why it matters: Ongoing progress monitoring shows whether interventions are working.
Prior Written Notice (PWN)
A document explaining a school’s decisions about special education services.
Why it matters: It ensures transparency and accountability. Parents can formally request a PWN in writing when a school communicates decisions only verbally, providing parents with a paper trail.
Processing Speed
Frequently misunderstood and very relevant to writing, reading fluency, output, and executive functioning.
Why it matters: Educational evaluations measure processing speed to determine the need for accommodations such as extended time on assessments.
Progress Report
Often misunderstood—this is separate from general report cards and tied to IEP goals.
Why it matters: Teachers and other professionals must update parents on progress toward every IEP goal several times each year.
Pull-Out Services
Pull-out services occur when a student leaves the regular classroom for a short time to receive specialized instruction, usually in a small-group setting.
Why it matters: Pull-out support can provide your child with focused, individualized, and differentiated support outside the classroom distractions.
Push-In Services
Push-in services happen when a specialist comes into the regular classroom to support a student during normal class activities.
Why it matters: Push-in support helps your child practice skills in their everyday learning environment while staying included with peers. This may be preferable for students who want to avoid missing class content during service hours.
Procedural Safeguards (Parent Rights)
Procedural safeguards are a set of legal rights for parents of children with disabilities, including written information about how to protect your child’s special education rights.
Why it matters: They make sure you are informed, involved, and able to advocate for your child at every step of the special education process.
Psycho-Educational Evaluation
A Psycho-Educational Evaluation is an assessment conducted by a school psychologist or licensed professional to measure a child’s cognitive abilities, academic skills, and learning profile, often used to identify learning disabilities or inform special education eligibility. The cost is typically covered by the school district if your child is eligible.
Why it matters: This evaluation gives parents a picture of their child’s learning strengths and challenges, and also helps determine eligibility for accommodations for school services via the IEP or 504 Plan.
Helping Your Child Succeed—Even Without School Testing
What Assessments Does My Child Need?
R
Related Services
Why it matters: These services are related to learning but are not direct academic support. Related services are services that may be required to assist a student with a disability to receive meaningful educational benefits.
RTI (Response to Intervention)
A process of providing increasing levels of support before special education referral.
Why it matters: RTI data can inform eligibility decisions.
RSP (Resource Specialist Program)
When a student receives targeted support from a resource specialist while spending most of their day in the general education classroom.
Why it matters: An RSP helps your child get extra academic support while staying connected to their general education classroom as much as possible.
S
Science of Reading
The science of reading is a comprehensive body of research that provides information about which parts of the brain are responsible for reading development, how we learn to read, which skills are involved, and how they work together.
Why it matters: The Science of Reading tells us that structured literacy instruction like the Orton-Gillingham Approach is the most effective approach to teaching foundational literacy skills for all students, but is essential for those with reading learning disabilities.
Terms you should know about the Science of Reading (infographic)
Section 504
A civil rights law that protects students with disabilities from discrimination.
Why it matters: Section 504 informs the 504 Plan which provides accommodations for students who don’t qualify for an IEP.
SIPPS
SIPPS is a structured literacy curriculum based on principles from the Orton-Gillingham Approach. It provides explicit, sequential instruction in foundational reading skills and is designed to support students at various reading levels.
Why it matters: SIPPS is a widely used, Orton-Gillingham-based curriculum that offers structured, step-by-step support for developing reading skills.
SLD (Specific Learning Disability)
A disability category under the IDEA that includes dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.
Why it matters: SLD is one of the most common eligibility categories.
Special Education
Instruction is designed to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities.
Why it matters: It provides individualized support beyond general education.
Special Day Class (SDC)
A special education classroom where students receive most or all of their instruction in a smaller, more structured setting with a special education teacher.
Why it matters: A SDC is typically recommended for students who need more intensive academic or behavioral support.
Speech-Language Therapy
A speech therapist is a trained specialist who supports children with speech, language, social communication, and sometimes feeding or swallowing skills that affect learning and daily life.
Why it matters: A speech therapist helps your child communicate more clearly and confidently, which improves learning, friendships, and emotional well-being.
Structured Literacy
Structured Literacy is a comprehensive, explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic approach to teaching language and reading.
Why it matters: Structured Literacy is how we teach reading in line with the Science of Reading. It is essential when supporting students with language-based learning disabilities, such as dyslexia or dysgraphia.
T
Tests of Dyslexia (TOD)
The Tests of Dyslexia (TOD) is a comprehensive reading evaluation that helps families understand why an individual may be struggling—not only with reading, but with other learning challenges that often stem from underlying reading difficulties.
Why it matters: The goal of the Tests of Dyslexia is to understand how your child learns. Rather than simply identifying challenges or assigning a learning disability diagnosis, the TOD provides clear insights and actionable next steps to guide individualized support.
Finding a Provider for the Tests of Dyslexia (TOD)
Triennial
A triennial evaluation is a required evaluation conducted every 3 years to review a child’s learning needs, progress, and whether they still qualify for special education services through an IEP or 504 Plan.
Why it matters: It ensures your child’s supports are still appropriate and gives you a chance to update goals, services, or accommodations as your child grows and changes.
Transition Plan
A plan within the IEP that prepares students for life after high school, beginning by age 16 (or earlier in some states).
Why it matters: Transition planning supports independence and future success.
Twice-Exceptional (2E)
Twice-exceptional (2E) describes a child who is both gifted or has high abilities and has a learning difference or disability, such as ADHD, dyslexia, or ASD.
Why it matters: Understanding 2E helps ensure your child receives support for their challenges while also nurturing their strengths and areas of giftedness.
Supporting Twice-Exceptional Students With Dyslexia
W
Wilson Reading Program
The Wilson Reading System is a specific type of structured literacy program informed by the Science of Reading and closely follows the Orton-Gillingham principles. Wilson is characterized by its highly structured lessons and is led by a Wilson Certified Practitioner.
Why it matters: The Wilson Reading System is a specific reading program based on the tenets of structured literacy.
Working Memory
Working memory refers to the ability to hold and use information for short periods of time.
Why it matters: Weak working memory can impact reading, math, and following directions.
What is working memory, and how do you improve it?
Additional Resources
Schedule An Initial Consultation
You can schedule a free initial consultation by completing our Contact Form. We will listen to your concerns, answer any questions, learn about the student’s needs, and help guide you through our new student intake process.