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Special Education Jargon

Special Education teachers speaking their acronyms and jargon can be overwhelming to the novice parent or teacher who is unfamiliar with the terms. A cheat sheet would go a long way in helping the novice to decipher what is being said at these important team meetings.

To begin with let's review the broad terms, IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Act. This is the act that established that everyone, including those individuals who have disabilities deserves, a FAPE: Free and Appropriate Public Education. Having established that everyone deserves an education let's go through the process that is used to determine when or if a student qualifies for special education services under IDEA.

The Evaluation Process

This process will vary from state to state do to the implementation of IDEA being different from state to state and in some instances from district to district. Most schools will have a team of teachers who work together to develop interventions when a student is struggling in the general education setting. When and if these interventions fail then the student will be referred for a staffing to discuss whether or not testing has been deemed necessary. If the student is tested then there will be an eligibility determination meeting and the student will be diagnosed. There are several possible Acronyms that may be used to diagnose the student, and again these may vary from state to state.

YCDD, or a young child with a developmental delay is used to diagnose children who are in preschool or Kindergarten with delays in communication, cognition, social emotional behavior. OHI, or Other Health Impaired is used to diagnose students who have medical diagnosis, which are causing them to have significant educational impact in the general education setting. SLD is a specific learning disability that is used to describe students that have a significant discrepancy between their learning potential, IQ, or intelligence, and their achievement. ID or intellectual disability is used to describe students who have a lower measured intelligence than the below average range. There are other acronyms for educational diagnosis, but these are the most frequently used. Of course, a student could qualify in the areas of Autism, language, speech, deafness, blindness or physical disabilities for which there are no acronyms.

Individual Educational Plan (IEP)

After a student is diagnosed with a disability a team of teacher with the parents will have a meeting to develop the educational plan for the student. At this meeting there will be a person serving in the role of an LEA, Local Education Agency. He or she takes the ultimate responsibility for the decisions made at the IEP meetings.

More Alphabet Soup

At the IEP meeting decisions will be made as to what services the child needs, and how will his/her needs be met in the LRE, least restrictive environment. This is to ensure that students are spending as much time as they can in the general education setting, and that they are not being excluded from participation in their LRE. Don't forget ESY, extended school year. Some students regress over breaks and may be eligible for ESY at no cost. Other decisions that may be made at the IEP meeting include decisions about related services like OT, occupational therapy, and PT, physical therapy.

Just remember the special education teacher did not design the system, and with as many changes that occur from year to year they may be learning the process right along with you.

Learn more about this author, Robin Hussey.
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