Chapter 15: Glossary and Acronym List

Introduction: Special education and disability services are riddled with acronyms. You may have experienced a meeting where team members were speaking in acronyms (like IEP, FBA, BIP) and you were lost. Here is a list of commonly used acronyms that can help you understand the conversation.

Definitions:

OCECD: English/Spanish Acronym List

Frequently Used Education and Disability Acronyms/Definitions

AC-Augmentative and alternative communication device is a tool that helps people with speech or language impairments communicate. AAC devices can be used by people of all ages who have difficulty with speech or language skills.

ADD-Attention Deficit Disorder is a behavioral disorder in which a child displays an excessive degree of distractibility and impulsiveness.

ADHD-Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a behavioral disorder in which a child displays an excessive degree of distractibility, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

ASD-Autism Spectrum Disorders, sometimes called Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), are a range of neurological disorders that most markedly involve some degree of difficulty with communication and interpersonal relationships, as well as obsessions and repetitive behaviors. As the term "spectrum" indicates, there can be a wide range of effects.

AT-Assistive Technology means any item, piece of equipment or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.

BIP- A Behavior Intervention Plan is a concrete plan of action for managing a student's behavior. A BIP may include ways to change the environment to keep behavior from starting in the first place, provide positive reinforcement to promote good behavior, employ planned ignoring to avoid reinforcing bad behavior, and provide behavioral supports.

DEW-Department of Education and Workforce is the state agency responsible for overseeing education for Ohio’s children. Formerly known as the Ohio Department of Education.

DD-Developmental Disability means a chronic condition that can affect a person's physical, learning, language, or behavioral areas. They can begin during a child's development and typically last throughout their life.

ED-Emotional Disturbance means 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 health factors; An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; Inappropriate types of behaviors 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. 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.

EI-Early Intervention is the provision of services to infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth-2) and their families under IDEA Part C. Ohio’s EI program is administered by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.

EPSDT-The Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment service is Medicaid's comprehensive and preventive child health program for individuals under the age of 21. EPSDT includes periodic screening, vision, dental, and hearing services. In addition, EPSDT requires that any medically necessary Medicaid health care service listed be provided to an EPSDT recipient even if the service is not available under the State's Medicaid plan to the rest of the Medicaid population.

EL/ELL-English Learner/English Language Learner is a person who is learning the English language in addition to his or her native language.

ESY-Extended School Year Services are special education and/or related services that are provided beyond the normal school year for the purpose of providing a free, appropriate public education to a student with a disability in accordance with the child’s IEP at no cost to the family. Depending on the individual needs of the student, these services will vary in type, intensity, location, inclusion of related services, and length of time.

ETR-Evaluation Team Report is created by the evaluation team and is a summary of the findings from an initial evaluation or a reevaluation.

FAPE-Free Appropriate Public Education means special education and related services that are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction and without charge; meet the rules for the education of children with disabilities as adopted by the State Board of Education; include preschool, elementary school or secondary school education in the state; and are provided in conformity with an individualized education program.

FASD- (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) refers to the range of neurological impairments that can affect a child who has been exposed to alcohol in the womb. Children with FASD can display symptoms of ADHD, autism, Asperger syndrome, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy, mental retardation and various psychiatric disorders, but will often not respond to traditional treatments for those disabilities.

FERPA- The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

FBA- A Functional Behavioral Assessment is an attempt to look beyond the obvious interpretation of behavior as "bad" and determine what function it may be serving for a child. The process usually involves documenting the antecedent (what comes before the behavior), behavior, and consequence (what happens after the behavior) over a number of weeks; interviewing teachers, parents, and others who work with the child; evaluating how the child's disability may affect behavior; and manipulating the environment to see if a way can be found to avoid the behavior.

IAT- The Intervention Assistance Team is a school building team designed to support students, parents, and teachers. The team consists of school personnel including administrators, teachers, and counselors who will work to identify possible ways to help a child experience greater success in school. This team may also be referred to as a child or pupil study team, an educational management team, a school instructional team, a building-level committee, a collaborative consultation team or a pre-referral consultation team. Designed as a first-step alternative to referring students for special education services, the teacher assistance team can assist teachers in identifying and establishing interventions for students with academic or behavior problems.

IDEA- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a federal law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. Infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth-2) and their families receive early intervention services under IDEA Part C. Children and youth (ages 3-21) receive special education and related services under IDEA Part B.

IEE- An Independent Educational Evaluation is an evaluation of a child that is performed by personnel outside the school system. A parent has the right to an IEE at the district's expense if the school's evaluation is incomplete, or if a parent disagrees with the conclusions of the school's evaluation. The school personnel responsible for planning the child's educational program are required to consider the information presented in the IEE but are not required to act on it.

IEP- Individualized Education Program means a written statement for a child with a disability that is developed, reviewed and revised in an IEP meeting in accordance with state rules for the education of children with disabilities.

IFSP- Individualized Family Service Plan means a written plan for providing early intervention services to a child eligible under the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities which is administered by the Ohio Department of Health.

IS- Intervention Specialist is a teacher who is licensed to teach special education and provide individualized instruction.

LD- Learning Disabilities are a range of problems that can interfere with an individual's ability to understand, retain or interpret what is read or heard. While there are usually no cures for learning disabilities, there are therapies that can lessen the problems and strategies to help students work around them. See also, SLD below.

LRE- Least Restrictive Environment means that a student who has a disability is required to be educated with non-disabled peers, to the maximum extent possible. A child with a disability may only be removed from the regular classroom when the nature or severity of the disability is such that the education in regular classes cannot be achieved satisfactorily, even with the use of supplementary aids and services. A child with a disability should have access to the general education curriculum, extracurricular activities, or any other program that non-disabled peers would be able to access.

LEP- Limited English Proficient means individuals who have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English.

OCD- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder in which an individual is bombarded with unwanted and disturbing thoughts and develops compulsive or ritualistic behaviors to prevent or disarm those thoughts. These thoughts and behaviors would have to have a serious, significant and harmful effect on a child's life and functioning before an OCD diagnosis would be made. Treatments for OCD include cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication.

OT- Occupational Therapy is therapy that helps people, such as those with disabilities, live independently. Occupational therapists evaluate and treat people who have injuries, illnesses, or disabilities. They help clients meet goals to develop, recover, improve, and maintain skills needed for daily living and working.

ODD- Oppositional Defiant Disorder is a behavior disorder, often associated with ADHD, in which a child's hostility, disobedience and negative attitude are out of proportion to what would be expected for his or her age group. The extreme behavior would have to have a serious, significant and harmful effect on the child's life and functioning, before an ODD diagnosis would be made. Treatment for ODD may include psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, parent training and medication.

OHI- Other health impairment means 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: (a) 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, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and (b) Adversely affects a child's educational performance.

PT- Physical Therapy is a type of rehabilitation that helps people improve their movement, strength, and range of motion. It can help people recover from injuries or surgery or manage symptoms from health conditions or disabilities that affect movement.

PLAAFP- Present Levels of Academic and Functional Performance is a required component of the IEP, describes the unique needs of the child that will be addressed by special education and related services, and establishes a baseline of measurable information that serves as the starting point for developing goals and objectives/benchmarks.

PBIS- Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports is a framework that guides school teams in the selection, integration, and implementation of evidence-based practices for improving academic, social and behavior outcomes for all students.

PTSD- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder occurs as a result of exposure to a traumatic event or events -- whether a single ordeal, such as a car accident, natural disaster, or act of violence, or years of abuse or neglect. People with PTSD may re-experience the trauma as flashbacks, or just maintain a state of heightened alertness, leading to headaches, stomach problems and other debilitating symptoms.

RTI- Response to Intervention is a process that allows school districts to provide scientific research-based interventions to struggling students as soon as they need it and use this data to identify students with learning disabilities. It is a system of instruction and data-based decision making to maximize student learning and accelerate progress which is outcomes-driven and used for school and student improvement.

SDI- Specially designed instruction means adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this rule, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction: (a) To address the unique needs of the child that result from the child's disability; and (b) To ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the school district that apply to all children.

SLD- Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. This term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Such 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.

SLP- Speech Language Pathologist is a professional who assesses and treats people with communication and swallowing disorders. SLPs work with people of all ages, from babies to adults.

SST- State Support Team. Ohio has 16 regional State Support Teams (SST) that assist school districts in their region to coordinate, integrate and align the school improvement efforts within the following areas: The academic performance of all students; Compliance with Federal and state requirements for improving results of students with disabilities and students at risk of being identified as disabled; Early learning and school readiness; Literacy; and Deployment of other state educational initiatives.

TS- Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder which involves involuntary movements and utterances, called tics. Tics can be simple, like eye blinking or throat clearing; or complex, like jumping or repeating phrases. Some tics may be offensive, described as copropraxia (obscene gestures) and coprolalia (obscene words). While it may be possible for persons with TS to control the tics for a short time, this often leads to a bigger outburst later.

TBI- Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force or by other medical conditions, including but not limited to stroke, anoxia, infectious disease, aneurysm, brain tumors and neurological insults resulting from medical or surgical treatments. The injury results 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, as well as to other medical conditions that result in acquired brain injuries. The injuries result 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.