From Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc.

Accommodations: ways to change around the classroom environment and assignments to make learning easier and help kids get involved.

Acute - a disease that comes quickly and is short, yet is extremely severe

Advocacy: making helpful choices that will help a child get rights according to his/her needs and interests

Alzheimer - a form of dementia which starts to slowly break down the parts of the brain which control memory, thought processes and judgment, and language skills. People with Alzheimers often undergo personality changes due to this change of self. This occurs when messages cannot be properly transferred in the brain. Although the cause has not been officially decided, it is believed to run through a family history.

Anemia - occurs when a person does not have enough hemoglobin in the blood. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells. It picks up oxygen from the lungs and carries it through the rest of the body. Symptoms can be constant tiredness, heavy breathing when engaging in physical activities, and a poor resistance to sicknesses. There are different causes - a body that does not have enough iron, a loss of blood due to an accident, exposure to toxic chemicals through the environment and diseases such a malaria. Anemia should be treated by a physician.

Assessment: looking at a person’s strengths and needs through testing, interviews, and observations. This will help in deciding how one’s education should be planned out.

Assistive Technology: items that can be attached to technological equipment, such as computers, to help kids with disabilities work with them. These items can help students with certain disabilities make up for their difficulty in getting around computers and other technological equipment.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD): A disorder that has to do with the way the brain affects a person’s behavior, emotion, and learning. Someone who has AD/HD has trouble paying attention for long periods of time and tends to be extremely active and impulsive.

Auditory Discrimination: having trouble telling the difference between words and sounds that are alike.

Auditory Processing: students who have trouble listening to lectures and understanding the organization of what is being said by the teacher.

Bed bound, bedridden - being struck by a disease or handicap that bounds a person to his/her bed.

Blood glucose - the sugar that a body makes, which comes from carbohydrates, fat, and protein. This sugar runs through the blood to give the body energy

Bronchitis - inflammation of the bronchi, which is the air passage of the lungs. This is caused by viruses or bacteria and the main symptom is constant coughing, sometimes accompanied by mucus which comes from the enlarged mucus glands.

Cardiac - having to do with the heart, anything that affects the heartbeat which controls the entirety of someone’s body.

Catheter (see also Foley catheter) - an instrument that is used for taking out or putting in fluids in the body, used in some cases to withdraw urine and other fluids from the bladder for operation purposes.

Chronic - a disease that lasts for along period of time and recurs every so often, sometimes never ending.

Compliant with medication (meds) - a willingness to take this medication and let it assist your medical needs. These meds work together and compliment each other in fixing your body.

Congestive Heart Failure - occurs when the heart does not pump the way it should because of a collection of fluid in the lungs. Symptoms are a shortness of breath during physical activity, trouble breathing while laying down, and/or leg/ankle swelling.

Dementia - a mental disorder that involves a loss of memory/judgment, the inability to care for oneself, and a change in personality. This can be caused, in old age, by Alzheimer’s, brain trauma, an infection to the nervous system, and a various amount of affections due to a damage to the brain.

Dialysis - a process in which a machine filters waste products from the blood. People who undergo this process usually have kidney failure or renal disease. In some instances, they must have this treatment a few times a week.

Discrepancy: a difference between two tests. This difference may be due to the student’s ability to learn and achieve.

Due Process: laws that protect the rights of parents and their children involved in special education. These rights include the right to have a hearing if there are difference between the school and the parent.

Dyslexia: a learning disability that comes from the nervous system and is language based. People who have this disorder have troubles spelling and reading words. It is difficult for a person with dyslexia to understand the concepts of what they are reading, which in turn slows the growth of their vocabulary and experience with reading. This disability can also result in troubles writing, listening, speaking, and completing math assignments.

Dysarthria: a disorder that affects the muscles which help a person speak. This disorder affects a person’s ability to speak sounds correctly.

Dyscalculia: Problems with basic math skills, such as calculating (adding/subtracting)

Dysgraphia: when a person has troubles writing clearly and writes too slow

Dysnomia: when a person has trouble remembering names or cannot think of the right words to use

Dyspraxia: difficulty with coordinating basic movements, such as buttoning

Foley catheter - a tube that is inserted in the bladder to constantly remove urine

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE): gives a student with a disability the right to belong to programs and services that will meet his/her educational needs. This guarantees that the programs will be free of charge, however the student must meet certain standards to be eligible. These standards will be based on his/her IEP and will be publicly supervised.

Incontinence (see also urinary incontinence) - inability to hold back execratory functions (feces/urine), occurs sometimes in elderly patients whose control functions are weakened, or in women who’s pelvic muscles are weakened after childbirth.

Individual Transition Plan (ITP): The section of a student’s IEP (Individualized Transition Plan) that talks about ways for a student to transition, as well as certain goals that need to be accomplished by the student to be ready for life after high school.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP): a written plan that is made to meet the needs of a student with a disability who uses special education to get the most from their general education. This applies to students who are enrolled in public schools.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): A federal law that gives special education and other special services to children with disabilities.

Informed Consent: an agreement that is made in writing from the parents of a disabled child. This states that they have been informed and understand all the elements of a special education evaluation and any decisions that will be made by the staff. The parents must also understand that it is voluntary and they can back out at any time.

Intelligence Quotients (IQ): the score that is used to demonstrate a person’s rate of intelligence and ability. The average (84 percent of the population) is 85 to 115.

Learning Disability (LD): A disorder having to do with the nervous system. It affects the way that a person who has average or above average intelligence understands information and learn the basic skills of reading, writing, and math.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): when an educational environment, such as the classroom, encourages that disabled and non-disabled children interact and communicate with each other. This environment caters to both groups of students.

Lesions - any abnormality of tissue in the body.

Modifications: changes that are made in the way that an assignment or test is delivered to a student with disabilities. The changes may be in the content or the level of difficulty. These modifications will lower the expectations of the teacher and make it easier for the student to do his/her best.

Multidisciplinary Team: Professionals involved in a team to help the students. They may have different training and are educated in various jobs, including a general education teacher, special education teacher, school psychologist, speech and language therapist, counselor, administrator, and of course, the parent.

Pressure sores - also called “bedsores”. an area of the skin that has become ulcerated (a break in the skin that may become inflamed) because of irritation and pressure on a certain area of the body. This is most common in bedridden patients, because they are always in the same position. To avoid this, the patient must be moved to different positions in the bed and kept very clean so as not to infect any skin areas.

Primary Language: a language other than English, or another form of communication such as sign language, that the child first learned, or the language that is mostly spoken in their home.

Renal insufficiency - occurs when the kidney is not working properly. As a result, waste products collect in the blood.

Urinary incontinence - the inability to hold back urine, resulting in wetting oneself. There is an extreme desire to urine that cannot be controlled.