Accommodation: Generally, an adaptation or modification that enables a student with a disability to participate in educational programming, for example, complete school work or tests with greater ease and effectiveness, by enabling them to participate in the activity to the extent possible, as if they were non-disabled. Does not alter expectations or create a different standard for students with disabilities than for those without disabilities.

Adaptive behavior: Behavior that displays an age-appropriate level of self-sufficiency and social responsibility.   Domains of adaptive behavior include:   (a) independent functioning, (b) physical development,

(c) economic activity, (d) language development, (e) numbers and time, (f) vocational activity, (g) self-direction, (h) responsibility and        

(i) socialization.

Age of Majority: When students turn eighteen, they are legally considered adults and are afforded all educational rights previously held by parent/guardian unless conserved by a court of law.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR): refers to any method of resolving disputes without litigation

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is a method of analyzing behavior into component parts to determine where a student  fails to perform, and therefore permitting extra training to be applied to those  specific parts; a method of using simple rewards and reinforcers to help train components of behavior.

Assessment: Broader than testing and typically includes gathering and integrating information to determine a student’s current level of emotional, behavioral, academic, and intellectual functioning, resulting in educational needs and strategies for remediation to promote effective treatment programming.  Parent/guardian permission is required.

 

Assistive Technology (AT): Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a student with a disability. The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted or the replacement of such a device.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC):  Includes all forms of communication (other than oral speech) used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. An AAC device is a tool that uses a non-speech mode of communication to augment spoken language. AAC devices include electronic devices that digitize or synthesize speech and non-electronic communication aids such as manual communication boards.

Baseline: The beginning point for measurement before interventions or services is necessary to determine the effectiveness of the intervention or service.  Baseline data should include a  minimum of 3 points of baseline data.

Behavioral Emergency: Situations involving “unpredictable, spontaneous behavior which poses a clear and present danger of serious physical harm to the individual with exceptional needs, or others, and cannot be immediately prevented by a response less restrictive than the temporary application of a technique used  to contain the behavior. (Sec. 42. Section 56521.1)  Approved behavioral emergency procedures must be outlined in the Special Education Local Planning Area (SELPA) local plan.

Behavioral Emergency Report (BER): A report completed whenever an emergency intervention is used or serious property damage occurs. The parents, guardian, or residential care provider shall be notified within one school day. It is recommended that notification be made as soon as reasonably possible and before the student arrives home from school on the day of the incident. Immediately following an emergency intervention, or if serious property damage occurs, a Behavioral Emergency Report (BER) must be prepared and maintained in the student’s file. All BERs shall immediately be forwarded to and reviewed by a designated responsible administrator.

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP): A BIP is developed if the behavior impedes the learning of the student or others and if other positive behavior intervention strategies have not been successful. It is recommended that BIPs be developed in conjunction with a Functional Behavior Assessment. The plan addresses needed environmental changes, the schedule for reinforcement of a functionally equivalent replacement behavior, and how staff will respond when an interfering behavior continues.

Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA): An individual who has taken five or more courses in applied behavior analysis, fulfilled supervised field experience, and passed a comprehensive record review and written exam given by the National Behavior Analysis Certification Board. (See: http://www.bacb.com/

California Alternate Assessments for ELA/Mathematics & Science: The alternate assessment is revised for students whose IEP teams determine alternate assessment is appropriate for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP)

is a broad category of state-required assessments for all students in California. The primary purpose of the CAASPP System is to assist teachers, administrators, students, and parents by promoting high-quality teaching and learning through the use of a variety of assessment approaches and item types and is comprised of the following:

• Smarter Balanced Assessment System
• California Science Test
• California Alternate Assessments (CAAs) for English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics
• California Alternate Assessment for Science
• California Spanish Assessment
• Grade Two Diagnostic Assessments
  

English Language Proficiency Assessments for California ELPAC: is the required state for English language proficiency (ELP) that must be given to students whose primary language is a language other than English. State and federal law requires that local educational agencies administer a state test of ELP to eligible students in kindergarten through grade twelve, ages 3-21, within 30 calendar days after they are first enrolled in a California public school or 60 calendar days before instruction, but not before July 1. LEAs must administer the Summative ELPAC annually to students identified as English Learners until they are redesignated as Fluent English Proficient (RFEP). 

Alternate ELPAC: This assessment is proposed to be delivered online in a one-on-one setting. The student will interact with a trained test examiner who will collect and record responses. The Alternate ELPAC is untimed; test items will be administered to the student over the course of one or more testing sessions, as needed, for the student to complete proficiency assessment in all domains (Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening). The proposed design of the Alternate ELPAC is linear (i.e., not adaptive). The Alternate ELPAC will assess a student’s proficiency in English while allowing for a range of receptive and expressive communication modes, including assistive devices, gestures, and so forth. The Alternate ELPAC will adopt a multitiered accessibility resources model so that the assessment will measure language proficiency, not technology ability.

Community Advisory Committee (CAC): is made up of members representing the local education agencies' (LEAs) communities.  Members include parents/guardians, special and general education teachers, psychologists, consultants, students with disabilities, and various 

representatives from public and private agencies.  These members are nominated and appointed by the school boards of participating LEAs.

Child Find (Search and Serve): The requirement that places an affirmative duty on local educational agencies (LEAs) to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities within their jurisdictions 3-22. Each statewide system of early intervention services must include a comprehensive child find system that guarantees that infants and toddlers (0-2.11) who are eligible for services are identified, located, and evaluated. A requirement similar to that of the IDEA applying to school districts under Section 504  requires LEAs to annually “undertake to identify and locate every qualified individual  with a disability residing in the district’s jurisdiction who is not receiving a public education.”

Collaborative Teaching: A teaching strategy in which two or more teachers work together, sharing responsibilities to help all students succeed in the classroom. 

Community-Based Instruction (CBI): A model for delivery of instruction in which the IEP goals are met in a “natural” age-appropriate setting. For example, math, sequencing, travel, and social skills may all be developed during a trip to the grocery store.

Due Process: The process that either a parent/guardian or school district (or similar public agency) may initiate to resolve a disagreement about the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or provision of free appropriate public education (FAPE) for a student with a disability or suspected of being disabled under the  IDEA. Each public agency must establish, maintain, and implement procedural safeguards to meet due process requirements.

Early Intervention Services: Specific types of services and supports for infants and toddlers aged 0-2.11  with a disability receive.

Educationally Related Intensive Counseling Services: Educationally Related Intensive Counseling Services (ERICS) are counseling services that are provided to students receiving special education services. These 

services are provided when students have significant socio-emotional needs that impede their ability to benefit from their special education services and cannot be addressed through related service counseling and/or other supports and services to manage behavior. There must be a direct relationship between the socio-emotional characteristics and the lack of benefits from special education services. 

Eligibility Evaluation: Formerly referred to as “Triennial Review”, this meeting occurs every three years. During this meeting, the IEP team meets to discuss a student’s continuing eligibility, as determined by assessment, for special education services. It is often combined with the Plan Review (formerly referred to as an Annual Review.)

English Language Learner (EL): Students for whom parents/guardians indicate a language other than English as primary for the student on the home language survey and receive a confirmation by ELPAC assessment.

Extended School Year (ESY): Additional instruction beyond the typical school year, conducted during the school breaks. The IEP team determines individual need related to regression, recoupment patterns, and the need for ESY to ensure FAPE.  LRE must be considered when ESY services are discussed.

Facilitated Individualized Education Plan (FIEP): A meeting in which an IEP is developed by a collaborative team whose members share responsibility for the meeting process, and results and decision-making are managed through facilitation skills guided by a trained facilitator. This enables the team to build and improve strong relationships among team members, reach true consensus, focus the IEP content and process on the student's needs, and exercise an efficient, guided meeting process where effective communication and reflective listening are practiced. FIEP is a proactive ADR process.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): A federal law that regulates the management of student records and disclosure of information from those records, with its own administrative enforcement mechanism.

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE):  Entitles a public school student with a disability  to  an  educational program and related services to meet their unique educational needs at no cost to the parents based on IEP under public supervision and meeting state standards.

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA):  An evidence-based, analytical process based on observations, review of records, interviews, and data analysis. It strives to determine the immediate and immediate past antecedents and consequences supporting the problem behavior. This assessment is the first step in designing function-based interventions that promote educational success. FBA is necessary before identifying a functionally equivalent replacement behavior. 

General Education: As distinguished from special education, an established curriculum of academic subjects with age-appropriate peers. Also includes extracurricular activities, lunch, recess, etc.

Generalization: Ability to apply a skill or behavior learned in one setting to another setting or ability to use  a learned skill or behavior in similar situations.

Health Assessment: In connection with school health services, the collection and analysis of information about the health situation of a student with a disability to determine their need for health-related supportive services.

Inclusion: Generally means integrating a student with a disability in general education with their chronological age peers up to 100% of their school day.

Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE):   An evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner of a student by a non-school district employee that parents may obtain as a right under the IDEA and possibly at LEA expense. 

Individual Program Plan (IPP): An annually-reviewed record of program and service needs provided by the Regional Center (i.e., respite care, 

behavior management training, supported employment, living skills, etc.)

Individual Transition Plan (ITP): A transition plan is the section of the Individual Education Plan (IEP) that outlines a student's measurable post-secondary goals and services based on age-appropriate assessments and becomes a part of the IEP that will be in effect when the student turns 16. The ITP is the template for mapping out long-term adult outcomes from which annual goals and services are defined. The ITP is updated annually to reflect student preferences, interests, and needs.

Individualized Education Program (IEP): The cornerstone of the IDEA, a written document, ideally developed in a collaborative and cooperative effort between parents and school personnel, that describes the disabled child’s abilities and needs and prescribes the placement and services designed to meet the child’s unique needs.

Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP): Specific types of services and supports that infants and toddlers aged 0-2.11 with a disability receive.  It also includes services the family will receive. 

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004): Federal law providing special education  and related services to eligible students with disabilities.

Individualized Education Program (IEP) Meeting: The  meeting in which decision-making context for educators and parent/guardian enable them to review a student’s identified needs and develop an educational plan to provide special education programs and services that address those needs in an appropriate setting and that provide an “educational benefit.”

 

Informed Consent: Generally, consent is given after fully disclosing all the information a reasonable person would require to make an intelligent decision. 

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): Generally, the appropriate placement for a child with a disability that most closely approximates where the student, if nondisabled, would be educated, not necessarily in the regular education classroom and not synonymous with inclusion or mainstreaming. Whenever there is a reasonable likelihood that a student with a disability can be educated appropriately in a general education classroom using supplemental aids and services, then a general education classroom placement should be tried.

Low Incidence Disability:  A student who has a hearing, vision, or severe orthopedic impairment that even  with amplification, correction, or modification, adversely affects educational performance.

Mainstreaming: Not a formal term, but common jargon in the academic community typically accepted as the placement of a student with a disability alongside nondisabled students in the general education setting for a percentage of the total day; less preferred term for inclusion or full inclusion.

Manifestation Determination: The evaluation of the relationship between a student’s disability (IDEA or 504) and an act of misconduct that must be undertaken when a district proposes to take specified disciplinary actions that may result in a change of placement.

Mediation (Mediation Only): A voluntary alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process that may be requested PRIOR to filing a Due Process Complaint. It is not a prerequisite to filing.

Mediation (Formal Due Process): A voluntary alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process that may occur after filing a Due Process Complaint. The Office of Administrative Hearing (OAH) provides mediators.

Modification: Changes in the delivery, content, or instructional level of a subject or test, which result in altered expectations and create a different standard for students with disabilities than for those without disabilities.

Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team: Name used for a group of trained professionals that conduct eligibility and review assessments. 

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS): A Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) is a systemic, continuous improvement framework in which data-based problem-solving and decision making is practiced across all levels of the educational system for supporting students.

Native Language: The first language of an individual.

Non-Public Agency (NPA): A private business or individual that may be contracted by an LEA to provide related services necessary for an individual with exceptional needs to benefit educationally from the student’s educational program pursuant to an individualized education program and that is certified by the California Department of Education. The nonpublic agency shall also meet standards as prescribed by the superintendent and board.

 

Non-public School (NPS): A private school where a student whose needs cannot be served within the special education programs offered within the SELPA may be placed pursuant to an individual educational program. An NPS placement is considered one of the most restrictive placements and must be certified by the CA  Department of Education.

Occupational Therapist (OT):  A professional who addresses the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and sensory components of the performance of students with exceptional needs, through the therapeutic use of everyday activities.

Pattern of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW): A pattern of strengths and weaknesses (PSW) is one approach for determining specific learning disabilities (SLD). As opposed to the discrepancy model, which tells clinicians if a student is performing more poorly than expected, PSW seeks to determine why a student is performing poorly by looking more specifically at the various cognitive processes that contribute to cognitive abilities. 

Placement: The unique combination of facilities, personnel, location, or equipment necessary to provide instructional services to meet the goals as specified in the student’s IEP. Placement is a set of services, not a location.

Plan Review: Formerly referred to as an “Annual Review”. The yearly IEP team meeting is designed to gather all the IEP team members in one location to update one another on a student’s needs and performance by reviewing progress toward goals and looking at new data like work samples and recent testing. 

Positive Reinforcement: A principle used in behavior modification in which a student is motivated to perform a desired target behavior by receiving a reward after completing the desired behavior.

Postsecondary Education: In connection with transition services under the IDEA, a post-school activity that includes technical trade schools and vocational centers, public community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities.

Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP): A component of an individual's education program that defines a student’s strengths and weaknesses, current levels of academic achievement, and current levels of functional performance. They are sometimes referred to as Present Levels of Performance (PLOP). Goals, supports, and services are driven by the student’s needs identified in all areas of the PLAAFP.

Prior Written Notice: A written explanation of a change the school district or LEA wants to make or refuses to make in a student’s Individualized Educational Program (IEP).

Regionalized Services: Whenever an LEA does not have an appropriate placement/service option for a student with disabilities, it may refer the student, through the IEP Team, to a District of Service (DOS) in the SELPA. 

Reinforcement: Reinforcement is when a behavior is increased or maintained by its consequences. Reinforcement may either be positive or negative.

Related Services: (Formerly referred to as Designated Instructional Services) Those services as defined by Federal and State laws that students may need to make adequate progress per IEP expectations, i.e., transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services (including speech pathology and audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, social work services, music therapy, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, and medical services, except that such medical services shall be for diagnostic and evaluation purposes only).

Resolution Meeting: A meeting mandated in IDEA 2004 as part of the Due Process Complaint process where parties attempt to resolve a dispute before proceeding to a Due Process Hearing.

Response to Intervention (RTI): RTI is a tiered process of instruction that allows schools to identify struggling students early in their education and provide appropriate instructional interventions. Early intervention means increased success and less need for special education services.  RTI also addresses the needs of students who previously did not qualify for special education. This is usually a three-tiered approach in the areas of academics and/or behavior.

Reverse Mainstreaming: A program where typically developing students are brought into a special education classroom at various times to participate in activities with special education students. Such programs allow students with disabilities to remain in familiar, structured surroundings while interacting with typically developing peers.  It also increases awareness and acceptance of differences between students.

Screening: The first step in the assessment process is a fast, efficient way to identify students who may have disabilities and should undergo further testing. Screening includes “basic tests administered to or procedures used for all students in a school, grade, or class. The mass screenings used in connection with child find activities are not considered evaluations and thus are not subject to the prior parental notice and consent requirements that apply to pre-placement evaluations.

Section 504: A federal law designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). 

Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA): A consortium of school districts within a geographical service area responsible for ensuring that every student eligible for special education receives appropriate services. Each SELPA’s Local Plan, based on Federal and California laws and regulations, describes how special education services are provided.

Services Plan (aka Individual Services Plan): The IDEA regulations define a written statement describing the special education and related services the LEA will provide to a parentally-placed student with a disability enrolled in a private school.

Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI): Adapting, as appropriate to the needs of the student with a disability, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to ensure access of the student to the general curriculum so that they can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all students.

“Stay Put” Law: A legal term that states that a parent can request that a student remain in their current educational placement while an IEP or offer of FAPE is in dispute.

Summary of Performance (SOP): The SOP is a summary of a student’s academic achievement and functional performance and must include recommendations on how to assist the student in meeting their postsecondary goals. The school/LEA is required to give the SOP to any 

student whose eligibility under special education terminates due to graduation with a regular diploma or due to exceeding the age of eligibility.

Surrogate Parent: An individual assigned by an LEA (or similar public agency) to assume the rights and responsibilities of a parent under the IDEA when no parent can be identified for a particular student, the public agency cannot determine the parents' whereabouts, or the student is a ward of the state or if the educational rights have been removed from the parent. 

Transition: The term “transition services” means a coordinated set of activities for a student with a disability that—

• is designed to be within a results-oriented process that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the student with a disability to facilitate the student’s movement from school to post-school activities, including post-secondary education, vocational education, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation;
• is based on the individual student’s needs, taking into account the student’s strengths, preferences, and interests; and
• 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.