The list of terms below is provided to help you understand terminology you may come across when working with various agencies.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) | is a therapy based on the science of learning and behavior. |
| Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) | is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities. |
| adaptive development | the acquisition of skills that are required to meet environmental demands. Adaptive development includes, but is not limited to, activities of self-care, such as dressing, eating, toileting, self-direction, environmental problem-solving and attention/arousal. |
| adapted physical education (APE) | is specially designed instruction provided to students who are unable to participate in a regular physical education class, even with modifications, accommodations or supplementary aids and services. |
| advocate | someone who takes action to help someone else (as in “educational advocate”). |
| Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) | refers to the different ways people can resolve disputes without a trial. Common ADR processes include mediation, arbitration, and neutral evaluation. |
| American Sign Language (ASL) | is a complete, natural language that has the same linguistic properties as spoken languages, with grammar that differs from English. |
| assessment | the ongoing procedures used by qualified personnel throughout the period of an infant’s or toddler’s eligibility for early intervention services to identify the infant’s or toddler’s unique strengths and needs and the services appropriate to meet those needs. Assessment also includes the identification of the family’s resources, priorities, and concerns regarding the development of the infant or toddler and the supports and services necessary to enhance the family’s capacity to meet the developmental needs of the eligible infant or toddler. |
| assistive technology (AT) | is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities. |
| attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) | is marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. |
| at risk | a term used with children who have, or could have, problems with their development that may affect later learning. |
| attention deficit disorder (ADD) | a term describing a condition characterized by a short attention span. A combination of social, emotional, and learning difficulties and/or hyperactivity may also be experienced. |
| audiological services | related service provided by a licensed audiologist who identifies children with hearing loss and helps children with hearing losses to use their strengths and abilities. |
| Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (ADOS) | is a standardized assessment used to diagnose autism. |
| autism spectrum disorder (ASD) | is a neurological and developmental condition that can affect how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. |
| behavioral aide (BA) | is combined with a more general role as a teacher’s aide, working in the same classroom consistently and assisting not only children with behavioral issues, but also any other students who might need extra help in a particular subject or lesson. |
| behavioral intervention plan (BIP) | is a written improvement plan created for a student based on the outcome of the functional behavior assessment (FBA). |
| behavior support plan (BSP) | is a formalized document which outlines the following: the student’s interfering behaviors, reasons behind the behaviors, interventions to replace and reduce the behaviors and measurable behavior goals and strategies to teach and reinforce appropriate behaviors. |
| California Children’s Services (CCS) | is a state program for children with certain diseases or health problems. Through this program, children up to 21 years old can get the health care and services they need. |
| California Department of Education (CDE) | is an agency within the government of California that oversees public education. |
| cerebral palsy (CP) | refers to a group of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination. CP is caused by damage to or abnormalities inside the developing brain that disrupt the brain’s ability to control movement and maintain posture and balance. The term cerebral refers to the brain; palsy refers to the loss or impairment of motor function. |
| Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) | is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. |
| cognitive development | means the acquisition of learning through ongoing interactions with the environment. Cognitive development involves perceiving, thinking, problem solving and remembering information. |
| Community Advisory Committee (CAC) | a group of parents of children with disabilities, members of the community, students, and special education professionals who advise the local education agencies about special education programs. |
| deaf-blind | a disability characterized by an impairment of both vision and hearing that affects a child’s ability to learn. |
| deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) | an inability to hear normally. |
| Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) | works in partnership with consumers and other stakeholders to provide services and advocacy resulting in employment, independent living, and equality for individuals with disabilities. |
| designated instruction and services (DIS) | additional services a student needs in order to profit from his or her IEP (speech, adaptive physical education, etc.) |
| developmental | having to do with the stages in growth and development before the age of 18. |
| developmental delays (DD) | 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 are able to perform. |
| due process | the procedures used to make sure that parents and educators make fair decisions about the identification, assessment and placement of children with disabilities. |
| early childhood education (ECE) | refers to formal and informal educational programs that guide the growth and development of children throughout their preschool years (birth to age five). |
| early intervention services | those services designed to meet the developmental needs of eligible infant or toddler and the needs of the family related to the infant’s or toddler’s development. The services include but are not limited to assistive technology; audiology; family training; counseling and home visits; health services; medical services only for diagnostic or evaluation purposes; nursing services; nutrition services, occupational therapy; physical therapy; psychological services; service coordination; social work services; special instruction; speech and language services; transportation and related costs; and vision services. Early intervention services may include such services as respite and other family support services. |
| evaluation | procedures used by qualified personnel to determine an infant’s or toddler’s present level of development. |
| extended school year (ESY) | a related service that provides a summer session to assist children in meeting the IEP goals. |
| Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) | is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. |
| fine motor skills | the use of muscles that control small and detailed movements of the body, as an example, in the hand related to manual dexterity and coordination. |
| free appropriate public education (FAPE) | one of the key requirements of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which requires that an education program be provided for all school-aged children without cost to families. |
| functional behavioral assessment (FBA) | is a process for gathering information about behaviors of concern, whether the behaviors are academic, social or emotional. |
| gross motor skills | the use of large muscles groups of the body, arms, or legs, as in sitting up, walking, or balancing. |
| hearing impairment (HI) | a condition, whether permanent or fluctuating, which impairs the processing of linguistic information through hearing, even with amplification, and which adversely affects an infant’s or toddler’s development. Processing linguistic information includes speech and language reception and speech and language discrimination. |
| inclusion | the participation by individuals with disabilities in the same community and educational activities as those without disabilities. |
| Independent Education Evaluation (IEE) | an evaluation conducted by a qualified person who is not employed by the school district that serves the student. |
| Individual Program Plan (IPP) | a plan developed for persons with developmental disabilities to describe the provision of services and supports to meet the written goals and objectives. |
| Individual Education Program (IEP) | a written statement plan for each student in special education describing the student’s present levels of performance, annual goals, specific special education and related services, dates for services and how the IEP will be evaluated. |
| Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) | a written plan for providing early intervention services to infants or toddlers and their families who have been determined eligible for early intervention services. |
| Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) | amended and replaced PL 94-142 in October 1990; guarantees a free, appropriate education for children with special needs. |
| Inland Regional Center (IRC) | is an agency that provides case management and service coordination for people with developmental disabilities in the Inland Empire. |
| integration | children with and without disabilities participating in community activities together. |
| intellectual disability (ID) | refers to neurodevelopmental conditions that affect functioning in two areas, cognitive functioning, such as learning, problem solving and judgement, and adaptive functioning, which is activities of daily life such as communication skills and social participation. |
| language delay | a lag or slowness in the development of a child’s ability to use or to understand language |
| language or speech disorder (LSD) | a term used to describe a disability in the area of speech and language. |
| learning disability (LD) | is a disorder in one or more basic psychological processes that may manifest itself as an imperfect ability in certain areas of learning, such as reading, written expression, or mathematics. |
| least restrictive environment (LRE) | a term meaning children with disabilities must be educated (to the maximum extent appropriate) with children without disabilities. |
| local education agency (LEA) | the school district in which the infant or toddler resides or the county office of education or the special education local plan area (SELPA) that is responsible for providing early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities. |
| mainstreaming | placement of students with disabilities in typical classrooms under the direction of regular education teachers with support from special education teachers and/or designated instruction and services. |
| manifestation determination (MD) | is a meeting to determine whether your child’s behavior was caused by their disability. |
| mediation | a voluntary resolution process in which an impartial third party may assist the disagreeing parties to resolve issues prior to a due process hearing. |
| multidisciplinary team | two or more individuals of various disciplines or professionals, and the parent, who participate in the provision of integrated and coordinated services, including evaluation, assessment, and IFSP development. |
| natural environment | is a location at which the program would still exist if children with disabilities did not attend. Natural learning environments are the places where children experience everyday, typically occurring learning opportunities that promote and enhance behavioral and developmental competencies. |
| No Child Left Behind (NCLB) | U.S. federal law aimed at improving public primary and secondary schools, and thus student performance, via increased accountability for schools, school districts, and states. |
| nonpublic school (NPS) | a private, nonsectarian school that enrolls individuals with exceptional needs pursuant to an individualized education program. |
| occupational therapy (OT) | a related service provided by a licensed occupational therapist who assists children with fine motor activities and everyday tasks like eating, dressing, and hand use. |
| Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) | is a neutral forum for fair and independent resolution of administrative matters. |
| Office of Civil Rights (OCR) | ensures equal access to education and to promote educational excellence through vigorous enforcement of civil rights in our nation’s schools. |
| Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) | is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts. |
| oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) | is a type of childhood disruptive behavior disorder that primarily involves problems with the self-control of emotions and behaviors. |
| orientation and mobility (O&M) | a related service provided by an orientation and mobility specialist who teaches children with visual impairments how to know their position in space and how to move safely from place to place. |
| other health impairment (OHI) | a disability resulting from chronic or acute illness (e.g., heart condition, cancer, severe asthma, seizure disorder, communicable disease, etc.) |
| other health impairment (OHI) | a disability resulting from chronic or acute illness (e.g., heart condition, cancer, severe asthma, seizure disorder, communicable disease, etc.) |
| Part B | authorizes pre-school special education services for children ages 3-5. |
| Part C | authorizes Early Intervention services for infants and toddlers (ages 0-36 months) with disabilities and their families. |
| parent | a parent, guardian or person acting as a parent of an infant or toddler such as a grandparent or stepparent with whom an infant or toddler lives. Parent also means a person who is legally responsible for the infant’s or toddler’s welfare or a surrogate parent who has been appointed in accordance with 34 CFR 303.406. The term does not include the State if an infant or toddler is a ward of the State. |
| physical therapy (PT) | a related service provided by a licensed physical therapist who assists children with gross motor activities such as rolling, sitting, and walking. |
| placement | when a child is assigned to a special education classroom or to other special education services; placement occurs after the IFSP or IEP is written. |
| preschool | refers to classrooms that serve children ages 3-5 years old. |
| prior written notice (PWN) | is a legal requirement per IDEA, and is a protection afforded to parent(s)/ guardian(s) per their procedural safeguards. |
| program specialist | a specialist who is knowledgeable about special education and available programs, and is responsible for assuring that children receive needed available services. |
| related services/designated instructions and services (DIS) | a term referring to those support services children may need in order to benefit form their educational program. |
| resource specialist program (RSP) | is a program designed to help children who qualify for special education services. |
| response to interventions (RTI) | is an educational strategy used in schools to provide effective and high-quality instruction, monitor all students’ progress to make sure they are progressing as expected, and provide additional support (intervention) to students who are struggling. |
| self-help skills | a term relating to those skills associated with feeding, dressing, and toileting. |
| serious emotional disturbance (SED) | a disability characterized by behavior problems that prevent a child from learning or from getting along with other people; the behavior must occur for a long period of time and be severe. |
| Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) | a geographical region of school districts and county offices of education that provide special education services to children with disabilities. |
| service coordinator | a knowledgeable person who helps a family obtain the services needed by their child most often from the regional center or public schools. |
| speech-language pathologist (SLP) | an expert in communication who prevents, assesses, diagnoses, and treats speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults. |
| solely low incidence disability | one or a combination of low incidence disabilities which are vision impairment, severe orthopedic impairment, and hearing impairment which is the primary disability and has a significant impact on learning and development of the infant or toddler who has a solely low incidence disability shall not be eligible for services from a regional center. |
| special day class (SDC) | a classroom that is appropriate for children who would benefit from specialized services for over half the school day; the children receive most of their instruction from a special education teacher. |
| special education (SPED) | is a type of instruction designed to cater to the unique needs of students with disabilities. A SPED curriculum helps establish an inclusive learning environment where all children can thrive. |
| specific learning disabilities (SLD) | a disability characterized by problems using language, remembering, concentrating, following instructions, reading, calculating, or learning through listening or looking. |
| specific learning disabilities (SLD) | a disability characterized by problems using language, remembering, concentrating, following instructions, reading, calculating, or learning through listening or looking. |
| speech/language therapy | related services provided by a remedial language and speech therapist or speech pathologist who helps children learn to communicate. |
| transition | a time in a person’s life when he or she moves from one education program to another (e.g., changing from an early intervention program to preschool or from high school to work). |
| traumatic brain injury (TBI) | refers to a brain injury that is caused by an outside force. |
| vision impairment | a visual condition which, even with correction, adversely affects the infant’s or toddler’s development. |
| Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIAO) | is landmark legislation that is designed to strengthen and improve our nation’s public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers. |
Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list. For guidance or clarification, please feel free to reach out to us.