Special Education Terms, Translated for Parents

The PLAAFP is the foundation of any Individualized Education Program (IEP). It describes your child's current academic achievement, functional performance, strengths, needs, and disability-related school impact. Goals, services, accommodations, and progress measures should connect back to needs documented in the present levels.

Under IDEA, eligible children with disabilities must be offered a Free Appropriate Public Education. 'Free' means provided at public expense. 'Appropriate' means the IEP is individualized to the child's needs and reasonably calculated to enable progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances.

LRE means children with disabilities should be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate. Special classes, separate schooling, or removal from general education should happen only when education in regular classes cannot be achieved satisfactorily with supplementary aids and services.

Prior Written Notice is a formal written notice the school may be required to provide when it proposes or refuses certain changes involving identification, evaluation, educational placement, or FAPE. It should explain the specific reason for the school's decision.

IDEA is the federal law that makes special education and related services available to eligible children with disabilities. It includes rules for evaluation, eligibility, IEP development, services, procedural safeguards, discipline protections, and dispute procedures.

A BIP is a written plan for preventing, teaching, and responding to behavior that interferes with learning or school access. It should be based on data, often from a Functional Behavior Assessment, and should teach replacement skills rather than only list consequences.

An FBA is a process for understanding behavior by looking at what happens before it, what the behavior looks like, what happens afterward, and what function the behavior may serve. The results should help the team choose supports and, when needed, develop or revise a BIP.

ESY services are special education and related services provided beyond the normal school year when the IEP team determines they are needed for FAPE. Teams may review regression and recoupment, emerging skills, severity of need, service interruption, and other individualized data depending on state and local rules.

An MDR is a meeting held after certain disciplinary removals to decide whether the conduct was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the child's disability, or was the direct result of the school's failure to implement the IEP.

An IEP is a written plan for an eligible student with a disability. It describes present levels, annual goals, special education, related services, accommodations, participation, progress reporting, and other supports the school is expected to implement.

SDI is instruction adapted in content, methodology, or delivery to address unique needs resulting from a child's disability and to help the child access the general curriculum. It is one key distinction between an IEP and a plan that only provides accommodations.

An IEE is an evaluation conducted by a qualified professional who is not employed by the school district. Parents can request an IEE when they disagree with the school's evaluation, then ask the district to explain the applicable criteria, timeline, and any funding or dispute process.

Section 504 is a federal civil rights law that prohibits disability discrimination. In K-12 education, a 504 plan can provide accommodations, related aids, or services needed for equal access. If the student needs specially designed instruction, the team should consider whether IDEA evaluation is also needed.

'Stay Put' (also called pendency) is an IDEA rule that may maintain a child's then-current educational placement during certain due process proceedings unless the parent and public agency agree otherwise or another exception applies.

Due process is a formal special education dispute process where a parent and school district present issues to an impartial hearing officer. It can involve disputes about identification, evaluation, placement, services, or FAPE.

The ARD Committee is the Texas-specific term for the IEP team meeting. In most states, this is called an IEP meeting or IEP team meeting. The ARD includes parents, school staff, and specialists who develop, review, and revise the IEP.

RTI is a multi-tiered approach to identifying and supporting students with academic or behavior needs. It uses targeted interventions and progress monitoring. RTI data can be useful, but it should not be used to delay or deny a special education evaluation when evaluation is warranted.

MTSS is a school framework that organizes academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports across levels of intensity. It can include RTI and PBIS, but it does not replace evaluation or IEP duties when a disability may be involved.

PBIS is a school-wide approach to teaching and supporting positive behavior through expectations, routines, data, and consistent adult responses. For an individual student, PBIS may need to be paired with an FBA, BIP, IEP services, or accommodations.

FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. It gives parents certain rights to inspect and review education records, seek amendment of inaccurate records, and control disclosure of personally identifiable information, with exceptions.

Transition services are a coordinated set of activities designed to help a student with a disability move from school to post-school activities such as education, training, employment, adult services, independent living, or community participation.

Assistive Technology is any item, equipment, software, or system used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a student with a disability. AT services can include evaluating, selecting, adapting, training, and supporting use of the tool.

AAC refers to communication methods that supplement or replace speech and writing for people who have difficulty producing or understanding spoken language. AAC can include gestures, signs, picture boards, speech-generating devices, communication apps, and other systems.

Compensatory education is a possible remedy when a school fails to provide required special education or related services. The amount and type depend on the facts, the service gap, the child's current needs, and the applicable dispute or agreement process.

Behavioral data is the systematic recording of behavior patterns such as frequency, duration, intensity, antecedents, consequences, setting events, and replacement-skill use. Teams may use this data in an FBA, BIP, MDR, or progress review.