Academic Lingo Commonly Used in Special Education

If you’ve just started learning about your child’s rights, the terms can be confusing, but it’s imperative to know the terminology to be an effective advocate for your child. Here’s a cheat sheet to the most common terms you’re likely to encounter in special education.

If you’ve only just started learning about your child’s rights (or even if you’ve been in this world for a few years), the terms can be confusing. But it’s imperative that you know the terminology if you’re to be an effective advocate for your child. Here’s a cheat sheet to the most common and important terms you’re likely to encounter, provided by Bob Cunningham, M.A., Ed.M., in-house advisor on learning and attention issues for Understood.org, a digital platform for parents of children with learning and attention issues. Check out the site’s tool “Through Their Eyes,” which lets you see the world the way your child does. 

Accommodation
A change that allows students to overcome weaknesses. Examples of accommodations include extra time on tests, a scribe, sitting in front of a classroom, being allowed to go to a quiet environment outside of the regular classroom to take exams, or being issued two sets of books, one to keep at home and one to leave in school. Accommodations do not alter learning expectations. In other words, your child still has to learn what everyone else does.