Raven's Guide to
Special Education
Glossary
Assistive technology device. Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability. The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of such device. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Assistive technology service. Any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. The term includes (1) the evaluation of the needs of such child, including a functional evaluation of the child in the child's customary environment; (2) purchasing, leasing, or otherwise providing for the acquisition of assistive technology devices by such child; (4) selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing of assistive technology devices; (5) coordinating and using other therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices, such as those associated with existing education and rehabilitation plans and programs; (6) training or technical assistance for such child, or, where appropriate, the family of such child; and (7) training or technical assistance for professionals (including individuals providing education and rehabilitation services), employers, or other individuals who provide services to, employ, or are otherwise substantially involved in the major life functions of such child. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
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 engagement in repetitive activities and
stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily
routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply
if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the
child has an emotional disturbance. (34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Child with a disability. A child with mental retardation, hearing
impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual
impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (hereinafter
referred to as `emotional disturbance'), orthopedic impairments, autism,
traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning
disabilities; and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related
services. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Consent. The parent has been fully informed of all information relevant
to the activity for which consent is sought, in his or her native language, or
other mode of communication; the parent understands and agrees in writing to the
carrying out of the activity for which his or her consent is sought, and the
consent describes that activity and lists the records (if any) that will be
released and to whom; and the parent understands that the granting of consent is
voluntary on the part of the parent and may be revoked at anytime. (34 C.F.R.
§300.500)
Controlled substance. A drug or other substance, or immediate precursor,
included in schedule I, II, III, IV, or V of part B of this subchapter. The term
does not include distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco, as those
terms are defined or used in subtitle E of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(21 U.S.C. §802)
Dangerous weapon. A weapon, device, instrument, material or substance,
animate or inanimate, that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death
or serious bodily injury, excluding a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2
1/2 inches in length. (18 C.F.R. §930)
Deaf-blindness. Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the
combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental
and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education
programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness. (34
C.F.R. §300.7)
Deafness. A hearing impairment that is 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. (34
C.F.R. §300.7)
Emotional disturbance.
(a) 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 which cannot be explained
by intellectual, sensory or health factors; an inability to build or maintain
satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; inappropriate
types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; a general pervasive
mood of unhappiness or depression; a tendency to develop physical symptoms or
fears associated with personal or school problems. (b) The term includes
schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted,
unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance. (34 C.F.R.
§300.7)
Evaluation. Procedures used to determine whether a child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and related services that the child needs. (34 C.F.R. §300.500)
Free appropriate public education (FAPE). Special education and related services that (1) have been provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge; (2) meet the standards of the State educational agency; (3) include an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education in the State involved; and (4) are provided in conformity with the individualized education program. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Hearing impairment. An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or
fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance but that
is not included under the definition of deafness.
(34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Homeless children and youth. Individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and includes (1) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement; (2) children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; (3) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and (4) migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (1) through (3). (42 U.S.C. §11434)
Illegal drug. A controlled substance, but does not include a substance that is legally possessed or used under the supervision of a licensed health-care professional or that is legally possessed or used under any other authority under that Act or under any other provision of Federal law. (34 C.F.R. §300520)
Independent educational evaluation. An evaluation conducted by a
qualified examiner who is not employed by the public agency responsible for the
education of the child in question. (34 C.F.R. §300.502)
Individualized education program (IEP). Individualized education program.
A written statement for a child with a disability that is developed, reviewed,
and revised in a meeting. (34 C.F.R. §300.340)
Individualized education program team (IEP team). A group of individuals
that is responsible for developing, reviewing, or revising an IEP for a child
with a disability. (34 C.F.R. §300.16)
Individualized family service plan (IFSP). A written plan for providing
early intervention services to a child eligible under this part and the child's
family.
(34 C.F.R. §303.340)
Local educational agency. A public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within a State for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for, public elementary or secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of a State, or for a combination of school districts or counties as are recognized in a State as an administrative agency for its public elementary or secondary schools. (34 C.F.R. §300.18)
Medical services. Services provided by a licensed physician to
determine a child's medically related disability that results in the child's
need for special education and related services. (34 C.F.R. §300.24)
Mental retardation. Significantly subaverage general intellectual
functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and
manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child's
educational performance. (34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Multiple disabilities (MD). Concomitant impairments (such as mental
retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the
combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be
accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments.
The term does not include deaf-blindness. (34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Native language. When used with respect to an individual of who is limited English proficient, the language normally used by the individual or, in the case of a child, the language normally used by the parents of the child. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Occupational therapy. Services provided by a qualified occupational
therapist that include improving, developing or restoring functions impaired or
lost through illness, injury, or deprivation; improving ability to perform tasks
for independent functioning if functions are impaired or lost; and preventing,
through early intervention, initial or further impairment or loss of function.
(34 C.F.R. §300.24)
Orientation and mobility training. Services provided to blind or visually
impaired students by qualified personnel to enable those students to attain
systematic orientation to and safe movement within their environments in school,
home, and community. (34 C.F.R. §300.24)
Orthopedic impairment (OI). 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, etc.),
impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.),
and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and
fractures or burns that cause contractures). (34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Other health impairments (OHI). Having limited strength, vitality or
alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that
results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that
is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit
disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a
heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic
fever, and sickle cell anemia; and adversely affects a child's educational
performance. (34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Parent. Includes a legal guardian; an individual assigned to be a
surrogate parent; a natural, adoptive, or foster parent of a child (unless a
foster parent is prohibited by State law from serving as a parent); a guardian
(but not the State if the child is a ward of the State); an individual acting in
the place of a natural or adoptive parent (including a grandparent, stepparent,
or other relative) with whom the child lives, or an individual who is legally
responsible for the child's welfare. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Related services. Transportation, and such developmental, corrective,
and other supportive services (including speech-language pathology and audiology
services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and
occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, social work
services, school health services, counseling services, including rehabilitation
counseling, orientation and mobility services, travel training instruction, and
medical services, except that such medical services shall be for diagnostic and
evaluation purposes only) as may be required to assist a child with a disability
to benefit from special education, and includes the early identification and
assessment of disabling conditions in children. The term does not include a
medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of such
device. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Special education. Specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents,
to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including (1) instruction
conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in
other settings; and (2) instruction in physical education. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Specially-designed instruction. Adapting, as appropriate to the needs of
an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology, or delivery of
instruction to address the unique needs of the child that result from the
child's disability; and to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum,
so that he or she can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of
the public agency that apply to all children. (34 C.F.R. §300.26)
Specific learning disability (SLD). A disorder in one or more of the
basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language,
spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability
to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.
The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury,
minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does
not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing,
or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of
environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Speech/language impairment (SLI). A communication disorder, such as
stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment,
that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
(34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Supplementary aids and services. Aids, services, and other supports that
are provided in regular education classes or other education-related settings to
enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to
the maximum extent appropriate. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Transition services. A coordinated set of activities for a child with a
disability that (1) is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that is
focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the child with a
disability to facilitate the child's movement from school to post-school
activities, including post-secondary education, vocational training, integrated
employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education,
adult services, independent living, or community participation; (2) is based on
the individual child's needs, taking into account the child's strengths,
preferences, and interests; and (3) includes instruction, related services,
community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school adult
living objectives, and, when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and
functional vocational evaluation. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
Traumatic brain injured (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, that adversely affects a child's
educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries
resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language;
memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving;
sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical
functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain
injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by
birth trauma. (34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Visual impairment. An impairment in vision that, even with correction,
adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both
partial sight and blindness. (34 C.F.R. §300.7)
Ward of the State. A child who, as defined by the State where the child resides, is a foster child, a ward of the State or is in the custody of a public child welfare agency. (20 U.S.C. §1401)
