California Special Education Law

Advocacy Resources, Hearing & Appeal Decisions, Statistics and More for Parents

Glossary of Special Education Terms and Acronyms

504 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act
ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
ALJ Administrative Law Judge
Assistive Technology Device Equipment used to maintain or improve the capabilities of a child with a disability
BD Behavior Disordered
Behavior Plan Plan of positive behavioral interventions that is part of an IEP for a child whose behaviors interfere with his/her learning or that of others
BIP Behavior Intervention Plan
Case Law Judicial opinions issued by a court
CDE California Department of Education
DIS Designated Instruction and Services
Disability Under the ADA, an impairment that substantially affects one or more major life activities, record of having such impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment
Discovery Pre-trial process by which parties to a lawsuit exchange information with the other party
Due Process Hearing Administrative hearing before an impartial hearing officer
Early Intervention Special education and related services pursuant to the IDEA provided to children under the age of 5 years
ED Emotionally Disturbed
EI Early Intervention
ESY Extended School Year
Expert Witness Person called as a witness to testify because he/she has a recognized competence and expertise in a subject area
FAPE Free Appropriate Public Education
FBA Functional Behavior Assessment: process of identifying factors associated with the occurrence (and non-occurrence) of specific behaviors
FERPA Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA deals with confidentiality and access to student records
IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
IEP Individualized Education Program
Inclusion Educating children with special needs in regular education classrooms in their neighborhood schools
IQ Intelligence quotient. An IQ score is an artificial number that is used to indicate levels of mental development
LD Learning Disabled
LEA Local Education Agency
LRE Least Restrictive Environment
Least Restrictive Environment Concept of educating children with disabilities in an educational environment that exposes the child to children without disabilities to the maximum extent possible
Mainstreaming Placing children with disabilities in regular education classrooms to the maximum extent possible
MDE Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation
MR Mentally Retarded
NCLB No Child Left Behind
NPA Non Public Agency
NPS Non Public School
OAH Office of Administrative Hearings
Occupational Therapy Therapy to remediate motor skills
OHI Other Health Impaired: a category of eligibility pursuant to the IDEA
OT Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy Therapy to remediate gross motor skills
PT Physical Therapy
Reasonable Accommodation Adoption of a facility or program for a child with a disability that can be accomplished without undue administrative or financial burden
Related Services Services provided pursuant to the IDEA to supplement special education, such as counseling services, occupational therapy, and physical therapy
Resource Room Special education placement that is provided in conjunction with or as a supplement to a child’s regular education program
Section 504 Part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that provides that program recipients of federal financial assistance may not discriminate on the basis of a child’s disability
SED Seriously Emotionally Disturbed
SEHO Special Education Hearing Office
Specially Designed Instruction Modification or changes to the general curriculum instruction necessary to implement the goals, benchmarks, and objectives of a child’s IEP
Special Education Educational programs and placements provided pursuant to the IDEA
Transition Services A component of the IDEA to facilitate movement from school to the workplace or high education