Legal Files Archives

Glossary of Special Education Terms & Acronyms
By Phil Stinson, Esq.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The most dangerous weapon in a parent’s advocacy arsenal is knowledge. Below are informal definitions of many terms and acronyms used by educators in their conversations with parents of children with special needs. Any parent attending an IEP meeting should have a working familiarity with these terms and acronyms.

ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act.

ADHD - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

AIDS - acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Amicus Curiae - friend of the court.

Appeal - a process whereby a superior court or tribunal reviews the records, proceedings, and judgment of a lower court to determine if errors of law were made by the lower court or tribunal.

Assistive Technology Device - equipment used to maintain or improve the capabilities of a child with a disability.

BD - behavior disordered.

Behavior Plan - a plan of positive behavioral interventions that is part of an IEP for a child whose behaviors interfere with his/her learning or that of others.

Case Law - judicial opinions issued by a court.

Cert. Denied - an abbreviation indicating that a superior court – usually the United States Supreme Court – has declined to review a decision of a lower court.

Certiorari - a discretionary writ giving an appellate court jurisdiction to review the decision of a lower court.

CFR - code of federal regulations.

Class Action - a civil action filed in a court on behalf of a named plaintiff and on behalf of other individuals similarly situated.

Common Law - law developed over time by usage and custom.

Complaint - a legal document filed in court commencing a case. The complaint outlines a plaintiff’s claim against a defendant.

Dicta - a term referring to any language in a court’s decision that is not essential to the disposition of the case or to the reasoning of the court.

Disability - under the ADA, an impairment that substantially affects one or more major life activities, record of having such impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment.

Discovery - the pre-trial process by which parties to a lawsuit exchange information with the other party.

Due Process Hearing - an administrative hearing before an impartial hearing officer.

Due Process of Law - a right to have any law applied reasonably and with sufficient safeguards, such as hearings and notice, to ensure that an individual is dealt with fairly. Due process is guaranteed pursuant to the Fifth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

EAHCA - Education for All Handicapped Children Act. In 1990, the EAHCA was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Early Intervention - special education and related services pursuant to the IDEA provided to children under the age of 5.

ED - emotionally disturbed.

EHLR - Education for the Handicapped Law Reporter. Now known as the IDELR.

EI - early intervention.

EMR - educable mentally retarded.

Equal Protection of Law - a right not to be discriminated against for any unjustifiable reason, such as because of race or disability. Equal protection is guaranteed pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

ESY - extended school year services.

Expert Witness - a person called as a witness to testify because he/she has a recognized competence and expertise in a subject area.

FAPE - free appropriate public education.

FERPA - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA deals with confidentiality and access to student records.

F.2d or F.3d - refers to the West Reporter publishing decisions of the various United States Court of Appeals.

F. Supp. - refers to the West Reporter publishing decisions of the various United States District Courts.

HCPA - Handicapped Children’s Protection Act of 1986. HCPA was an amendment to the EAHCA allowing reimbursement of attorney’s fees and costs to parents who succeed on the merits of a claim pursuant to the statute.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

IDELR - Individuals with Disabilities Law Reporter.

IEP - individualized education plan.

Inclusion - the practice of educating children with special needs in regular education classrooms in their neighborhood schools.

Infra - Latin for "later."

Injunctive Relief - a court-ordered remedy forbidding or requiring some action by the defendant.

IQ - intelligence quotient. An IQ score is an artificial number that is used to indicate levels of mental development.

Judgment - an order by a court after a verdict has been reached.

L. Ed. - Lawyers’ Edition of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court (contains the same decisions as U.S. and S. Ct. reporters).

LD - learning disabled.

LRE - least restrictive environment. LRE is the concept of educating children with disabilities in an educational environment that exposes the child to children without disabilities to the maximum extent possible.

Mainstreaming - the practice of placing children with disabilities in regular education classrooms to the maximum extent possible.

MDE - multidisciplinary evaluation.

MR - mentally retarded.

Occupational Therapy - therapy to remediate fine motor skills.

OHI - other health impaired - a category of eligibility pursuant to the IDEA.

Physical Therapy - therapy to remediate gross motor skills.

P.L. 94-142 - the original public law number of the EAHCA.

Reasonable Accommodation - an adoption of a facility or program for a child with a disability that can be accomplished without undue administrative or financial burden.

Related Services - services provided pursuant to the IDEA to supplement special education, such as counseling services, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

Resource Room - a special education placement that is provided in conjunction with or as a supplement to a child’s regular education program.

S. Ct. - United States Supreme Court Reporter (published by West Group). (Contains the same case decisions as U.S. and L.Ed. Reporters.)

Section 504 - part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that provides that program recipients of federal financial assistance may not discriminate on the basis of a child’s disability.

SED - seriously emotionally disturbed.

Specially Designed Instruction - modification or changes to the general curriculum instruction necessary to implement the goals, benchmarks, and objectives of a child’s IEP.

Special Education - educational programs and placements provided pursuant to the IDEA.

Stare Decisis - legal precedent.

Supra - Latin for "before."

Tort Law - the law of civil wrongs arising from a violation of a duty rather than a contract.

Transition Services - A component of the IDEA to facilitate movement from school to the workplace or high education.

TMR - trainable mentally retarded.

U.S. - United States Reporter is the official reporter of case decisions of the United States Supreme Court. (Contains the same case decisions as L. Ed. And S. Ct. reporters.)

USC - United States Code.

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Phil Stinson, Esq. is a senior partner at Stinson Law Associates, P.C., a Philadelphia-based law firm dedicated to representing parents of children with special needs in federal courts throughout the country, is Director of the Special Education Law Clinic in Chester, Pennsylvania, is President and General Counsel of the Center for Education Rights (http://www.edrights.org) and is the editor of SpecialEdLaw.net, a multidisciplinary Internet resource portal (http://www.specialedlaw.net). Parents of children with special needs may contact Phil Stinson by e-mail at stinson@specialchild.com.

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