Special Education Acronyms Defined

SE Phrases and Terms Spelled Out for Parents

For parents of children currently in the Special Education system, there are many acronyms and phrases commonly used, and parents might not be aware of what they stand for or mean.

The purpose of this article is to list some common special education terms and explain them in plain language.

IEP: Individual Education Plan

Every student served by the Special Education department in any school is required by law to have this document. It will contain the educational and behavioral goals for the student for the current school year as agreed upon by the IEP team.

The team must include the student's parents, a general education teacher, a Special Education teacher and an administrative representative. The team may include other specialists, such as a counselor or speech and hearing pathologist.

FAPE: Free and Appropriate Public Education

Each student must receive, by law, the best free and appropriate public education available in their district. If it is determined there is a better, more appropriate facility further away, the current attendance center must provide transportation for the student.

LRE: Least Restrictive Environment

Each student will receive his/her free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, ie at worst a general education classroom and at best a self-contained Special Education classroom. How many steps in between will vary from district to district.

ACCOMMODATIONS:

This phrase indicates the services a student might require to receive the best possible education. This could apply to special auditory devices or enlarged script or braille for those with vision difficulties. It could also be something as simple as a word bank during tests or allowing the student to tape lectures and instruction.

RTI: Response to Intervention

RTI is a fairly new term that applies to the kind of curriculum a student receives. Frequent testing will indicate whether or not an individual student is learning at the same rate as his/her classmates.

If testing reveals a difficulty, the general education teacher will modify curriculum for that student in an effort to aid learning. This is a proactive approach to learning, to identify possible learning deficiencies and address them before it becomes necessary for the student to receive resource or Special Education aid.

BENCHMARKS:

Benchmarks are tools used by teachers, usually on a quarterly or semi-quarterly basis to see if the class as a whole is learning at the same rate as other students of the same grade in the rest of the nation.

For a complete list of acronyms and special education terms, parents might want to access the Federal Department of Special Eduation.