Special Education Vocab
Words often associated with this branch of education.
#1. IEP
Individualized Education Program. What it sounds like; written document given to eligible students who need special services because of a disability.
#2. Resource Room
Separate room where students are given help, assistance, or rest during he school day whenever he or she has needs.
#3. Collaborator
Joint educator working with another teacher to ensure students get the right resources and education.
#4. Inclusion
Rejection against allowing special needs students to be separated from regular education students.
#5. Autism
Mental condition that includes difficulty in communicating and creating relationships with others. Present from early childhood.
#6. Intellectual Disability
Disability defined by limitations in both intellectual functioning and behavior.
#7. Dysgraphia
A specific learning disability that affects a person’s handwriting ability and fine motor skills.
#8. Adaptation
The action of becoming used to the environment and atmosphere around you.
#9. Assistive Technology
Technology found in a special needs classroom or home to aid in communicating, learning, creating, and anything else a student may need help in.
#10. ADD/ADHD
- ADD- Condition, usually in children, marked by inattentiveness, dreaminess, and passivity.
- ADHD- Disorder that includes difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior and hyperactivity.
#11. Behavioral Disordered (BD)
Most common reason students need special education. Condition where people, even adults, have inappropriate feelings during situations that may stand in the way of their education.
#12. FMD
Terminology used to describe Functional Mental Disability. A deficit or delay in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior.
#13. Emotional Disturbance
Condition that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
#14. Hearing Impaired
Hearing loss that prevents a person from totally receiving sounds through the ear.
#15. Visual Impairment
Visual loss that prevents a person from totally receiving sight through the eyes.
#16. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
When an external mechanical force causes brain dysfunction; usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body.
#17. Down Syndrome
Intellectual impairment and physical abnormalities caused by a congenital disorder found in a chromosome defect.
#18. Dyslexia
Specific learning disability that affects reading and related language-based processing skills; can affect reading fluency, decoding, reading comprehension, recall, writing, spelling, and sometimes speech.
#19. Dyscalculia
Specific learning disability that affects a person’s ability to understand numbers and learn math facts.
#20. Dyspraxia
A disorder that is characterized by difficulty in muscle control, which causes problems with movement and coordination, language and speech, and can affect learning.