Module 4: Students with Disabilities and Other Special Learning Needs

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the 13 IDEA disability categories, federal legal frameworks (IDEA, ADA, Section 504), service delivery models, and instructional supports for students with special needs.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

The foundational federal special education law covering eligible children from birth to age 21, guaranteeing parental rights and a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

A legal mandate under IDEA ensuring that special education services are provided at public expense, meet state standards, and conform to the child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Present Level of Educational Performance (PLEP)

The dynamic data regarding a learner's current status, which includes assessment data, strengths, interests, and functional or academic needs used to design specialized instruction.

Comorbidity

The simultaneous existence of two or more distinct disabilities in a single learner, such as Autism occurring alongside ADHD.

Intellectual Disabilities

Disabilities characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning (reasoning, problem-solving) and adaptive behavior (everyday social and practical life skills).

Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)

A structural neurological disorder affecting basic psychological processes in understanding or using language, manifesting as an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or perform math.

Dyslexia

A manifestation of SLD involving impairments in accurate or fluent word recognition, decoding abilities, and spelling.

Dysgraphia

Complex writing difficulties that affect fine-motor handwriting mechanics and the spatial arrangement of writing.

Dyscalculia

Structural impairments in processing numerical facts, operations, and mathematical concepts.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A developmental disability affecting verbal and nonverbal social communication and environmental interaction, generally evident before age three.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, affecting cognition, memory, and physical behaviors; it does not apply to congenital or birth-trauma injuries.

Speech or Language Impairment

A communicative disorder involving speech impairments (articulation, fluency, voice) or language impairments (comprehension or expression of spoken/written language systems).

Visual Impairment Including Blindness

An impairment in vision that, even with optimal correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance, including partial sight and total blindness.

Deafness

A hearing impairment so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification.

Hearing Impairment

A permanent or fluctuating impairment in hearing that adversely affects educational performance but is not included under the legal definition of deafness.

Deaf-Blindness

Concomitant hearing and visual impairments that cause severe communicative and developmental needs which cannot be met in programs solely for deafness or blindness.

Orthopedic Impairment

A severe physical impairment affecting educational performance, including those caused by congenital anomalies, disease (e.g., poliomyelitis), or other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy).

Multiple Disabilities

Concomitant impairments (e.g., intellectual disability-blindness) causing severe educational needs; this category does not include deaf-blindness.

Other Health Impairment (OHI)

Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, ADHD, diabetes, epilepsy, or Tourette syndrome.

Emotional Disturbance

A condition exhibiting characteristics such as an inability to build relationships, inappropriate behaviors, or pervasive unhappiness over a long period that affects educational performance.

Accommodations

Adjustments to the environment, instruction, or testing format that provide equal access without altering the content, academic standards, or performance expectations.

Modifications

Changes that alter the core content or lower the performance standards being assessed; these change what the student is expected to learn.

SETT Framework

A collaborative framework used to make assistive technology decisions by analyzing the Student, Environment, Tasks, and Tools.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

A federal civil rights statute protecting individuals with disabilities from discrimination in all public and private settings including workplaces and colleges.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

A law prohibiting disability discrimination in institutions receiving federal funding, often utilizing a 504 Plan to outline environmental or testing accommodations.

Child Find Mandate

A requirement under IDEA for school districts to locate, identify, and evaluate all children suspected of having a disability at no cost to families.

Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)

A specialized developmental blueprint for infants and toddlers (birth to age three) that outlines achievement metrics, family resources, and transition timelines.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

A formal, legally binding document detailing a student's performance levels, measurable annual goals, and the specific accommodations or modifications required.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

A mandate requiring students with disabilities to be educated alongside non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate, determined by data rather than diagnosis.

Annual Review and Dismissal (ARD) Meeting

A yearly meeting where the IEP team analyzes data to review student progress and adjust, add, or remove accommodations.

Response to Intervention (RTI)

A multi-tiered proactive framework used to deliver evidence-based interventions to students showing academic or behavioral gaps before a formal special education referral.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

An evidence-based framework integrating data and practices to improve behavioral outcomes by prioritizing positive reinforcement over punitive consequences.

IEP Annual Goal Formula

$$\text{Annual Goal} = \text{Time Frame} + \text{Condition} + \text{Behavior} + \text{Criterion}$$

Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) Services

A service model where a certified special education teacher and a general education teacher co-deliver instruction to a blended group of peers in a single classroom.