Top Five Special Education Acronyms

December 17th, 2008 By: Diane Trim in Articles, Special Needs

---

Special education is an alphabet soup of acronyms and these five are just the ones that floated to the top of the broth. The good folks at NICHCY, or the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (http://www.nichcy.org/Pages/Home.aspx), have come up with a list of five special education acronyms that classroom teachers should know.

1. IDEA = Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It’s a catchy acronym and the name for the nation’s special education law. You might hear someone spell it out like I – D – E – A or you might hear someone say IDEA ’97 or IDEA 2004, which are the years in which the law changed and was authorized.
2. FAPE = Free Appropriate Public Education. This one’s pronounced fay-p. FAPE is a concept in IDEA that ensures that all students’ public education will be Free, including education and services for special needs students.

   Public education will be Appropriate, which means that a student’s education will be suited to her, specifically. It will fit that particular student’s needs, strengths, and goals. It also means that the student will receive the support she needs to be successful. In other words, Appropriate means that each special education student will have an education and services tailored to her needs.

   Public means that our public funds pay for educating these special education students. In general, this means that special education students will attend the same schools as other students do, even if their disabilities are severe. However, sometimes this means that the public funds the education of a student enrolled in a private school, too.

   The E stands for Education, which is what the IDEA law is all about. However, Education goes beyond textbooks and field trips. In terms of IDEA, Education also includes all the special education services that a child needs for her Appropriate Education.

3. IEP = Individualized Education Program. When you hear this term, people will say it by spelling it: I – E – P. The IEP is the appropriate part of FAPE, in other words, it’s the instructional plan that’s tailored to each special education students’ individual needs. The IEP contains information about the student’s disability and the special education services the student will receive. Periodically, a team of teachers and the parents meets to review the IEP and revise it, if necessary.
4. LRE = Least Restrictive Environment. IDEA requires that the public give special education students a public education in the least restrictive environment possible, which can mean different things to different students, depending on their IEPs. Often it means that the special education student receives as much of the education and services in her IEP as possible while seated alongside her nondisabled peers. This means that the special education student could be in regular education classes with either a support teacher in the classroom or pull-outs with the special education teacher during the day.
5. TA&D = Technical Assistance & Dissemination Network. This mouthful is spelled out: T – A – and – D. You don’t hear it often but NICHCY thinks it’s important. TA&D is the network of government projects that support IDEA. NICHCY is one of them, but there are 39 others. Some of these projects focus on early childhood education, others on behavioral interventions. You can visit the network here: http://www.rrfcnetwork.org/content/view/137/192/ and even download a placemat with all of the projects and contact information on it. It’s a good acronym for teachers who are searching for resources for helping families, students, and fellow staff members. And it’s a placemat, which would be great to put in the teacher’s lunch room on the tables.

You’ll notice that NICHCY didn’t make it onto its own list, but you might want to look it up on the Internet all the same. They have great resources for working with special needs students.

Tags: IDEA, special education

---

Topics

• Administration
• Adolescent Development
• Classroom Management
• English Language Learners
• Higher Education
• Learning Community
• Lesson Planning
• School Law
• School Safety
• Special Needs
• Student Motivation
• Teaching Strategies
• English Teaching Strategies
• Math Teaching Strategies
• Reading Teaching Strategies
• Science Teaching Strategies
• Social Studies Teaching Strategies
• Technology in the Classroom