Dr Manju Antil (Counselling Psychologist and Psychotherapist)

Academic: Refers to subjects such as reading, writing, math, social studies, and science.

Access: A personal inspection and review of a record, an accurate copy of a record, an oral description of communication of a record or a request to release a copy of an educational record.

Accommodations: Techniques and materials that do not change the basic curriculum but do aid in learning and/or communication skills.

Advocacy: Recognizing and communicating needs, rights, and interests on behalf of a child; making informed choices.

Advocate: A person who represents and provides support to parents of children with disabilities.

Age of Majority: When a child turns eighteen, he/she is legally considered an adult, and is afforded all rights of being so.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR): Alternative Dispute Resolution is an informal method of settling concerns or disagreements. It is a process that encourages all parties to problem-solve to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

Annual Review: A scheduled meeting of the IEP team on at least an annual basis to review, revise, and update the IEP.

Appeal: An integral part of the due process and complaint procedures. If the party filing a complaint disagrees with the findings, the party may give input at the local board presentation of findings or request a review of the findings by the State Superintendent of Instruction. A parent or district that disagrees with a due process decision may appeal that decision through the court of appropriate jurisdiction.

Aptitude Test: A test that measures someone’s capacity, capability, or talent for learning something.

Assessment: A collecting and bringing together of information about a child’s needs which may include social, psychological, and educational evaluations used to determine services; a process using observation, testing, and test analysis to determine an individual’s strengths and weaknesses in order to plan his or her educational services.

Assessment/Evaluation: Assessment encompasses all those functions in the testing and diagnostic process leading up to the development of an appropriate, individualized educational program and placement for a child with exceptional needs. Assessment may include screening to identify potentially (i.e., high probability) handicapped children; the observation, testing, and diagnosis of those children to specifically identify each child’s handicapping condition(s) and the severity of the condition(s); interviews; and the definition of educational needs based on handicapping condition(s) and learning profile.

Assistive Technology: Any item, piece of equipment, or system that helps children with disabilities to bypass, work around or compensate for specific learning deficits.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD): A neurobehavioral disorder that causes an individual to be inattentive or hyperactive/impulsive or to display a combination of those symptoms. Attention Span: The extent to which a person can concentrate on a single task (sometimes measured in length of time).

Auditory Perception: How a person perceives or hears specific sounds.

Auditory Processing: The ability to understand and use information that is heard, both words as well as nonverbal sounds.

Autism: A disability characterized by severe language and communication deficits, lack of normal relatedness, unusual movement and self-stimulatory patterns, lack of normal handling of toys and other objects, and a lack of most normal functional skills.

Autistic-Like Behaviors: When a child exhibits any combination of the following autistic-like-behaviors: 1) an inability to use oral language for appropriate communication, 2) a history of extreme withdrawal or relating to people inappropriately, and continued impairment in social interaction from infancy through early childhood, 3) an obsession to maintain sameness, 4) extreme preoccupation with objects or inappropriate use of objects or both, 5) extreme resistance to controls, 6) displays peculiar motoric mannerisms and motility patterns, 7) self-stimulating, ritualistic behavior.

Behavioral Emergency: The demonstration of a serious behavior problem (1) which has not previously been observed and for which a behavioral intervention plan has not been developed; or (2) for which a previously designed behavioral intervention is not effective. Approved behavioral emergency procedures must be outlined in the special education local planning area (SELPA) local plan.

Behavioral Intervention: The systematic implementation of procedures that result in lasting positive changes in the individual’s behavior.

Behavioral Intervention Case Manager: A designated certificated school, district, or county staff member or other qualified personnel contracted by the school district or county office who has been trained in behavior analysis with an emphasis on positive behavioral interventions.

Behavioral Intervention Plan: A written document that is developed when an individual exhibits a serious behavior problem that significantly interferes with the implementation of the goals and objectives of the individual’s IEP. The behavioral intervention plan shall become part of the IEP and requires a functional analysis assessment...

Behavior Support Plan: Developed by the IEP team as needed; does not require a functional analysis assessment.

Blind: When a child relies basically on senses other than vision as a major channel for learning

CAHSEE (California High School Exit Examination): State law passed in 1999, passing required for diploma issuance; individual school board waivers may apply.

CAPA (California Alternate Performance Assessment): The alternate assessment to STAR (California Standardized Testing and Reporting) Program for children who cannot take part in general statewide assessment

Cerebral Palsy (CP): A disorder, not a disease, caused by damage to the brain, usually at birth. This may result in neurologically related conditions: seizures; mental retardation; abnormal sensation and perception; impairment of sight, hearing, or speech.

Certificate of Achievement: Awarded to students who do not pass the California High School Exit Examination, per individual district policy.

Certificate of Completion: Awarded to students who do not pass the California High School Exit Exam, per individual district policy.

Chronologically Age-Appropriate: Making the activities, behaviors, or settings of a disabled child as similar as possible to those of a non-disabled child of the same age.

Cognitive Abilities: The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.

Cognitive Operations (Skills): Processes involved in thinking, knowing; analytical, or logical: 1. Cognition – comprehension 2. Memory – retention, and recall of information 3. Convergent thinking – bringing together of knowing facts 4. Divergent thinking – use of knowledge in new ways (creative thinking) 5. Evaluation – critical thinking

Collaboration: Working in partnership on behalf of a child, e.g., parent and teacher or special education teacher and general education teacher.

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 in the setting of a trip to the grocery store.

Complaint: An alleged violation by a public agency of any federal or state law or regulation.

Confidentiality: Assurance that no information contained in school records be released without parental permission, except as provided by law.

Consent: Permission from the parent/student (eighteen years or older) required by law for assessment, development of a special education program, and placement.

Consent: Parents have been fully informed of all information relevant to the activity for which consent is sought, in the primary language or another mode of communication of the parent(s). The parent understands and agrees in writing to the carrying out of the activity for which the consent is sought, and the consent describes that activity including lists of the records (if any) that will be released and to whom. The parent understands that the granting of consent is voluntary on the part of the parent, and may be revoked at any time.

Core Curriculum: The LEA-defined curriculum. The core curriculum is the range of knowledge and skills that are included in the district-adopted course of study, and which must be learned for successful grade promotion and graduation. The curriculum may include academic as well as cultural, social, and moral knowledge and skills. IEP goals and objectives should reflect knowledge and implementation of the district’s core curriculum as adapted for the student with disabilities.

Criterion-Referenced Testing (or measurements): Measures which answer the question, “What can this student do?” not “How does this student's performance compare to other students?” Individual performance is compared to an acceptable standard (criterion), such as “can correctly name letter of the alphabet”, not to the performance of others as in norm-referenced testing.