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.

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.