Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA)
The American with Disabilities Act is a federal law that gives civil
rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those
provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin,
age, and religion. The ADA guarantees equal opportunity for individuals
with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation,
state and local government services, and telecommunications.
Assistive Technology
Physical equipment or software that is used to enhance the ability of
students with learning disabilities to be more efficient in the completion
of a given task. Text-to-speech software is a common example of the
use of assistive technology in schools.
Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD)
Developmentally inappropriate behavior, including poor attention skills,
impulsivity, and hyperactivity. ADHD is often characterized by difficulty
with executive function skills (see below). ADHD may be present with
other specific learning disabilities.
Auditory Discrimination
The ability to perceive differences in sounds, particularly as this
ability relates to distinguishing between language sounds. Distinguishing
between /m/ and /n/ is an example of the need for auditory discrimination
skills. Students with reading disability or dyslexia often experience
auditory discrimination problems.
Auditory Figure-ground
The ability to distinguish and attend to one sound among other background
sounds (e.g., the teacher's voice among classroom noise). Students with
reading disability or dyslexia often experience auditory figure-ground
difficulties.
Auditory Memory
The ability to retain and recall information that has been presented
orally.
Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)
Difficulty accurately processing and interpreting auditory information.
Individuals with APD often do not recognize subtle differences between
sounds in words.
Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)
A disorder that affects the ability to interpret sounds quickly and
accurately. Individuals with CAPD may not demonstrate hearing deficits
on routine audiological exams but have difficulty recognizing and responding
appropriately to different sounds, including speech sounds.
Developmental Aphasia
A severe language disorder that is presumed to be due to brain injury
rather than because of a developmental delay in the normal acquisition
of language.
Differentiated Instruction
A pedagogical approach that recognizes and takes into account students'
varied learning needs.
Direct Instruction
An explicit instructional approach to that emphasizes the use of carefully
sequenced steps that include demonstration, modeling, guided practice,
and independent application.
Dyscalculia
A severe difficulty in understanding and using symbols or functions
needed for mathematics.
Dysgraphia
A severe difficulty in producing handwriting that is legible and written
at an age-appropriate speed. The term dysgraphia is sometimes used to
refer to a severe difficulty composing written language that is not
related to a difficulty with handwriting.
Dyslexia
A language-based disability that affects both oral and written language.
It may also be referred to as reading disability, reading difference,
or reading disorder.
Dysnomia
A significant difficulty remembering names or recalling words needed
for oral or written language.
Dyspraxia
A severe difficulty in performing fine motor tasks such as writing,
drawing, dressing oneself or in sequencing the movements necessary to
perform these tasks.
Executive Function Skills
Skills necessary for the monitoring and control of other skills and
behaviors. Executive function skills are particularly important for
engaging in goal-directed behavior, initiating tasks, managing motivation
and attention, and ongoing self-assessment.
Fluency
The ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with appropriate
expression. Students with language-based learning disabilities often
demonstrate problems with fluency.
Grade- or Age- Equivalent Scores
In a norm-referenced assessment, scores are ranked relative to the scores
achieved by a norm group. One way to report this is by referring to
the average age or grade in school of participants in the norm group
who received the same raw score as an individual examinee. A GE score
of 8.9 indicates a score equivalent to that achieved by norm group participants
whose grade in school averages 8.9 (ninth month of the eight grade year).
An AE score of 8.9 refers to a score equivalent to that achieved by
norm group participants whose age averages 8.9 (eight years, nine months).
Individualized Education
Program (IEP)
A plan outlining special education and related services specifically
designed to meet the educational needs of a student with a learning
disability.
Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is the federal law that
guarantees all children with disabilities access to a free and appropriate
public education. IDEA defines specific learning disability and provides
methods through which learning disabilities can be determined.
Language-Based Learning Disability (LLD)
A language-based learning disability is a disorder that affects the
comprehension and use of spoken or written language.
Metacognition
Metacognition is the process of "thinking about thinking." Metacognition
is used to refer to training in study skills, self-assessment, and self-advocacy
that requires students to identify and analyze their thought processes
during specific academic tasks.
Multiple Intelligence Theory
MI theory suggests that the traditional view of intelligence as composed
primarily of verbal and nonverbal elements (VIQ and PIQ) is too limited
to represent the range of intellectual functions now recognized as intelligence.
Howard Gardner and others have proposed eight different intelligences:
linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist. Work on identifying additional
intelligences is ongoing and is of key importance to those with learning
disabilities.
Nonverbal Learning Disability
A learning disability manifested by individuals who have poor visual-spatial
relationships, difficulties with math concepts, difficulties with spatial
organization, problems with language pragmatics or other social skills,
difficulties making connections between cause and effect, and difficulty
with understanding abstract (especially visual) concepts. Students with
NLD may exhibit strengths in those skills that rely upon verbal intelligence,
such as decoding.
Norm-referenced Assessment
A type of assessment that compares an individual's score to the scores
of others who have previously taken the same assessment. Scores on a
norm-referenced assessment convert raw scores into comparative scores
such as a percentile ranks or stanines.
Orton-Gillingham
An multisensory, alphabetic, phonetic, sequential approach to remediating
dyslexia created by Dr. Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham.
Phonemic Awareness
The ability to distinguish and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken
words. Recognizing, articulating separately, and then combining the
three sounds (/b/, /e/, and /d/) in the word "bed" is an example of
phonemic awareness. Students with language-based learning disabilities
often demonstrate problems with phonemic awareness.
Phonological Awareness
Knowledge of language sounds, words, and word parts, including individual
phonemes and graphemes, syllables, onset and rime, and other aspects
of the structure of spoken and written language. The language play of
children (rhyming games, for example) is an example of the development
of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is a broader and more
inclusive term than phonemic awareness (see above).
Reading Disability
Another term for dyslexia sometimes referred to as reading disorder
or reading difference.
Response to Intervention (RTI)
Under IDEA 2004, this model is an alternative to the IQ-achievement
discrepancy model for determining whether a student has a learning disability.
The RTI model relies upon early instructional intervention and assessment
of a student's response to that intervention. Students with learning
disabilities are identified through what is often a three-tiered process.
Self-advocacy
The development of knowledge and skills that enables students with learning
disabilities to explain their learning disabilities to others, to pursue
the accommodations and modifications necessary for their success in
various settings, and to cope with perceptions of learning disability
in those settings.
Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
Federal legislation defines specific learning disability as "a disorder
in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding
or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest
itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write,
spell, or do mathematical calculations. Such term includes such conditions
as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction,
dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Such term does not include a learning
problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities,
of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental,
cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Working Memory
A system for temporarily storing and managing the information required
to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and
comprehension. Students with learning disabilities often encounter difficulty
with working memory deficits.
