Flashcards — Special Education Reference Book

Mainstreaming places special-needs students in regular classrooms for part of the day, often on a voluntary basis. Inclusion means special education students attend their home school with age/grade peers all day in the regular classroom, with support services brought to the child.

IDEA stands for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It requires that each special education student receive a full Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) documenting which parts of the general curriculum are relevant to that student.

FBA is the process of determining the cause of a behavior before developing an intervention. It involves observing a person in their natural environment and analyzing what preceded and followed the behavior to create appropriate interventions.

Norm-referenced tests compare a student's performance to a national/local sample of same-age peers. Criterion-referenced tests measure whether a student has mastered specific curriculum content or instructional objectives.

An IEP must include: present levels of educational performance (test scores), measurable annual goals with benchmarks and short-term objectives, ways to measure progress, and a clear link between what the student was taught and what assessments measured.

Section 504 prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities by entities receiving federal funds and requires accommodations. IDEA specifically governs special education services and requires individualized plans (IEPs), while 504 provides broader protections and accommodations without requiring an IEP.

Full inclusion means full-day placement in the regular education classroom for all students, regardless of their handicapping condition, with support services brought to the child rather than pulling the child out.

A full-service school is a model that coordinates diverse agencies to provide integrated education, health, and social services to eligible families, creating a 'one-stop shop' that eliminates barriers to student achievement through community partnerships.

RTI is a multi-tiered instructional approach that uses a test-teach-test format to identify students who need support and measures their response to specific interventions, helping distinguish between students who need special education and those who need instructional adjustments.

UDL is a curriculum framework that proactively designs instruction to be accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities, by providing multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression.

Child Find is a program that disseminates information through pamphlets, newspaper articles, and local presentations to promote screening procedures for all incoming students, aiming to identify children with potential learning problems before they manifest in academic settings.

PL 94-142 is the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. The '94' refers to the 94th session of Congress when it was passed, and '142' means it was the 142nd law enacted during that session.

Dual exceptionalities refer to students who are both gifted and have a disability (e.g., a hearing-impaired gifted child or a learning-disabled gifted child). These students are often underserved because the disability may overshadow recognition of their superior intellectual ability.

Community-Based Instruction is a curriculum approach that takes learning outside the classroom into real-world community settings, allowing students—especially those with significant disabilities—to practice skills in the actual environments where they will use them.

The IEP team is a multidisciplinary group responsible for developing, reviewing, and revising a student's IEP. It documents which parts of the general curriculum are relevant to the student and determines appropriate goals, services, and placements.

Parents must be notified when a referral is made and must give consent before any individual assessment is administered. If parents disagree with an evaluation, they can bring the case to a mediator. Parents also have the right to participate as partners in their child's educational team.

Learning Potential Assessment examines the process of learning using a test-teach-test format. It assesses a student's response to intervention and focuses on how to meet a student's needs rather than just identifying eligibility for special education.

The REI is a position held by some special educators that students with disabilities should be served exclusively in regular education classrooms and should not be 'pulled out' to attend special classes.

The CFR contains detailed federal regulations that interpret and guide the implementation of laws passed by Congress. States and agencies must comply with CFR requirements, and states must meet these federal minimum standards to receive federal special education funding.

Assessment and evaluation focus on: (1) ability to learn, (2) achievement, (3) specific learning problems, (4) giftedness, (5) creativity, and (6) socioemotional adjustment.

The Fourteenth Amendment requires states to provide education on an equal basis and requires due process before denying equal educational programming. It laid the groundwork for special education laws by securing rights for all persons regardless of creed, color, or condition.

Factors include: (1) benefits to the student of placement in the least restrictive setting, (2) the student's ability to function in the setting, and (3) the intensity of services needed by the student.

Formal assessment includes standardized tests of intellectual ability, achievement, motor and language skills, and social adjustment. Informal assessment includes systematic observation, work sample analysis, task and error analysis, interviews, and questionnaires.

The WISC-III is an individual test of intellectual functioning used to assess cognitive abilities in children. It is one of the primary tools used in special education evaluations to determine intellectual ability and eligibility for services.

The National Association of State Boards of Education found poor outcomes with mainstreaming, including unnecessary segregation and labeling of children, and described mainstreaming as an 'ineffective practice' that splintered the school life of many students both academically and socially.

The VABS is used to assess adaptive behavior—a student's ability to perform daily living skills and function independently. It is one of the key tools used in evaluating students for intellectual disabilities and determining appropriate programming.

Alternate assessments are modified evaluations designed to reflect the individual circumstances of students with disabilities. They are used when a student's curriculum goals are unique and not covered by general assessments, and are intended to provide access to testing without altering essential elements.

Technology, including adaptive input and output devices, can be integrated into curriculum to facilitate learning objectives and keep students with disabilities involved in the regular classroom, supporting their participation without requiring removal from the general education setting.

Head Start is a federal early childhood program developed in the 1960s under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It was created based on the belief that early educational intervention increases the likelihood of later school success, and it included provisions for young children with disabilities.