Analysis
The processing and understanding of patterns in a child's educational, social, developmental, environmental, medical and emotional history.
Annual Review
A meeting to review the student's current IEP, which includes his/her current educational program, modifications, accommodations, and current educational goals and objectives. This formal yearly review allows the IEP Team to revisit the terms of the IEP,
Assessment
A process that involves collecting information about a student for the purpose of making decisions. It involves gathering information about a student's strengths and needs in all areas of concern. Assessment includes many formal and informal methods of ev
Autism
A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are
Child Find
IDEIA mandates that all states identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities in the state who need special education and related services. Child find is a special education service for identifying children who are suspected of having an ed
Collection
The process of tracing and gathering information from the many sources of background information on a child, such as school records, observation, parent intakes, and teacher reports.
Committee on Special Education (CSE)
Often referred to as the "Eligibility Committee," it is the committee that determines whether a child is eligible to receive special education and related services. It is the team that oversees the identification, monitoring, review, and status of all chi
Deaf-Blindness
Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or chil
Deafness
A hearing impairment so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
Determination
The process of deciding whether the presence of a suspected disability exists (or not) using knowledge of the criteria that constitute each category.
Developmental Delay
For children ages 3 through 9, a state and local education agency (LEA) may choose to include as an eligible "child with a disability" a child who is experiencing developmental delays in one or more of the following areas: physical development; cognitive
Disability
An inability or reduced capacity to perform as other children do because of some impairment in physical, cognitive, orthopedic, sensory, or other areas of functioning.
Due Process
Under the federal law (IDEIA), due process refers to the rules of procedure for resolving disputes between parents and schools; the legal rights of a child and parent in the special education process.
Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA)
Also referred to as P. L. 94-142, the EHA was the federal law that set forth procedural safeguards for children with disabilities and their parents. This federal law required states to provide a free appropriate public education for students with disabili
Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments (1986)
These amendments, which are also known as the Early Intervention Amendments to Public Law 94-142, extended FAPE to all students aged 3 to 5 by October 1991 in all states that wanted to participate (all 50 wanted to and did, even states that do not have pu
Educational Placement Decisions
Information collected in the assessment process that can provide detailed information so that appropriate decisions may be made about the child's educational placement in the least restrictive environment.
Eligibility Committee
The committee that determines whether a child is eligible to receive special education and related services. It is the team that oversees the identification, monitoring, review, and status of all children with disabilities residing within the school distr
Eligibility and Diagnosis
The determination through the assessment process as to whether a child is eligible for special education services and what classification the child will receive.
Emotional Disturbance
A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance:
An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or hea
Evaluation
The determination of a child's strengths and limitations in specific areas, including academic, intellectual, psychological, emotional, perceptual, language, cognitive, and medical development. In special education, the evaluation will determine whether a
Fourteenth Amendment
The Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that all people must have equal protection under the law ("no state shall ... deny to any person ... the equal protection of the laws.").
Hearing Impairment
An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance but which is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
Individualized Education Program (IEP)
A written document that directs the provision of special education services to students with disabilities who need them. It sets forth the annual goals of each child who is classified in special education.
Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)
A full and comprehensive individual evaluation conducted by an outside professional or agency not involved in the education of the child.
Individualized education program (IEP)
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Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA)
The federal law that guarantees a "free and appropriate education," including special education and related service programming, to all children and youth with disabilities who require it. It ensures that the rights of children and youth with disabilities
Instructional Planning
Information collected in the assessment process that is critical in planning instruction appropriate to the child's special social, academic, physical, and management needs.
Intellectual Disability
Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child's performance.
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
Refers to the legal mandate that children with disabilities must be educated with those without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate.
Multidisciplinary Team (MDT)
A multidisciplinary team (MDT) performs the evaluation of the child for a suspected disability and then makes a recommendation to an Eligibility Committee (States have different names for this committee).
Multiple Disabilities
Concomitant impairments (such as intellectual disability-orthopedic impairment) the combination of which causes such severe educational problems that the problems cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The
Native Language
When used with reference to a person of limited English-speaking ability, means the language normally used by the individual, or in the case of a child, the language normally used by the parents of the child.
Orthopedic Impairment
A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tubercul
Other Health Impairment
Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems, such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes, that adv
Prevalence
In special education, prevalence refers to how often a specific disability occurs.
Reauthorization
The act of amending and renewing a law.
Recommendation
The professional suggestions and proposals concerning educational placement and program that need to be made to the school, teachers, and parents.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
A civil rights law that ensures students of equal opportunity to all school activities. The law prohibits discrimination against students with disabilities in federally funded programs: "Individuals with disabilities cannot be excluded from participation
Special Education
Specially designed instruction at no cost to parents to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.
Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
A categorical condition considered important for providing legal protections and entitlements. Under IDEA 2004, SLD is defined as "a disorder of one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or writte
Speech or Language Impairments
A communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment or both, and that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term applies to open or closed
Triennial Review
Under federal law, the mandated assessment battery that must be given to a child in special education every 3 years.
Visual Impairment
An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial and total sight blindness.