Terminology S-Z

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SBS/SIS (SeeShaken Baby Syndrome/Shaken Impact Syndrome)

Screening

The process of looking at a child’s development to find out if there are any areas of concern. It is used to recommend children for more in-depth evaluation

Section 504

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a part of federal law that protects the civil rights of individuals with disabilities. This law is closely intertwined with IDEA. Children with disabilities who are not eligible for special education may qualify for accommodations under Section 504.

Section 619

Section 619, of Part B of IDEA, requires States to provide preschool services to children with disabilities, ages three to five.

SEE

Signing Exact English

Self-Help Skill

The ability to care for oneself; usually refers to basic habits of dressing, eating, etc.

Self-Concept

A student’s self perception.

Self-Esteem

The level of a student’s self perception.

Self-Stimulation

Often referred to as stemming, Self-Stimulation is abnormal behavior (such as head banging, watching the fingers wiggle, or rocking side to side) that interferes with a child’s ability to "sit still" and pay attention to, or participate in, an activity.

Semantic

Pertaining to the meaning and interpretation of words and phrases.

Sensorimotor

Involving a combination of sensory inputs and motoric outputs.

Sensory Integration Disorder (SID or SI)

Sensory Integration Disorder (SID or SI) is also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction. It refers to an inability to process information received through the senses, causing problems with learning, development, and behavior.

Sensory Integration Treatment (SIT)

A technique of occupational therapy that provides playful, meaningful activities that enhance an individual’s sensory intake and lead to more adaptive functioning in daily life.

Sensory Perception

The direct awareness or acquaintance through the senses.

Sensory Processing

Sensory Processing is the ability to take in information through the senses (touch, movement, smell, taste, vision, and hearing) to put it together with information, memories, and knowledge stored in the brain, and to make a meaningful response. Difficulty in processing and organizing sensory information causes dysfunction.

Sensory Processing Disorder

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a complex disorder of the brain. One way to understand SPD is to see it as a misfiring in the nervous system. People who have SPD may misinterpret everyday sensory information, such as touch, sound, and movement.

Sensory-Motor

A term applied to the combination of the input of sensations and the output of motor activity. The motor activity reflects what is happening to the sensory organs such as the visual, auditory, tactual, and kinesthetic sensations.

Sensory-Motor Stage

First stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, in which children use physical senses and motor capacities to interact with and learn about the environment.

Service Coordinator

Someone who acts as a coordinator of IFSP services for children ages birth through two and works in partnership with the family and providers.

SH

Severely Handicapped (Person)

Shaken Baby Syndrome/Shaken Impact Syndrome(SBS/SIS)

An array of signs and symptoms that are the result of an injury to an infant or toddler, which caused the brain to move back and forth in the skull. SBS/SIS is a traumatic brain injury.

Short Term Objective (STO)

Part of a child’s IEP that breaks down an annual goal into small, measurable steps.

Shunt

A Shunt is a tube used to re-route cerebrospinal fluid in the brain of a person who experiences hydrocephaly.

SI

Sensory Integration

SID (See Sensory Integration Disorder)

Sign Language

Sign systems developed for education purposes which use manual signs in English word order that have been invented to represent elements of English visually.

Skill Deficit

Skill Deficit refers to a lack of skills needed to successfully perform an action. When referring to a social skill deficit, it refers to a lack of skills needed to interact with others in a socially acceptable manner.

SL

Speech Language

SLP (See Speech Language Pathologist)

SN

Special Needs

Social Perception

The ability to interpret stimuli in the social environment and appropriately relate such interpretations to the social situation.

Social-Emotional stage

Development of social relationships, social skills, and sense of self as a social and emotional human being.

Socialization

Shaping of individual characteristics and behavior through the stimuli and reinforcements that the social environment provides.

SPA

State Planning Agency

Spasm

A convulsive involuntary contraction of a muscle or group of muscles.

Spasticity

A type of cerebral palsy in which there is limited motion, primarily in bending flexor muscles, when the limb is straightened. It involves an increase of muscle tone.

Special Education

Specialized instruction tailor-made to fit the unique learning strengths and needs of students with disabilities. A major goal of special education is to teach the skills and knowledge a child needs to be as independent as possible. Special education programs focus on academics and also include therapy and other related services to help a child overcome difficulties in all areas of development. These services may be provided in a variety of educational settings but are required by IDEA to be delivered in the least restrictive environment.

Special Educator

One who is licensed to teach children with disabilities.

Specific Learning Disability

A condition within the individual affecting learning relative to potential. A specific learning disability is demonstrated by a significant discrepancy between a pupil’s general intellectual ability and academic achievement in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, listening comprehension, mathematical calculations or mathematics reasoning, basic reading skills, reading comprehension, and written expression; demonstrated primarily in academic functioning but may also affect self-esteem, career development, and life adjustment skills.

Speech Concerns, not talking

Speech Delay is fairly common in preschool age children. Most young children, by the time they enter a formal school setting, use speech that is easily understood by the majority of listeners. However, some children take longer to acquire specific speech sounds or to develop speech. It is important for both parents and early childhood educators to be knowledgeable about common causes of speech delay and speech sound acquisition, as well as signs that indicate that a child’s speech is causing delays in one or more developmental domains.

Speech Impaired

Communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, which adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Speech Language Disorders (SL Disorders)

Problems in communication and related areas such as oral motor function. These delays and disorders range from simple sound substitutions to the inability to understand or use language or use the oral-motor mechanism for functional speech and feeding. Some causes of speech and language disorders include hearing loss, neurological disorders, brain injury, mental retardation, drug abuse, physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate, and vocal abuse or misuse. Frequently, however, the cause is unknown.

Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)

A trained therapist, who provides treatment to help a person develop or improve articulation, communication skills, and oral-motor skills. A Speech Language Pathologist also helps children with speech errors and/or those with difficulties in language patterns.

Speech Pathology

The study and treatment of all aspects of functional and organic speech defects and disorders; often the same as speech correction.

Speech/Language Therapy

Therapy or treatment by a speech therapist to improve speech and/or language, communication, or oral-motor skills.

Spina Bifida

Spina Bifida is a neural tube defect that happens in the first month of pregnancy when the spinal column doesn’t close completely. For more information regarding Spina Bifida, visit the Spina Bifida Association’s website at: www.sbaa.org

SPL

Speech Language (impaired)

Splinter Skill

A skill mastered ahead of the usual developmental sequence.

SSB

State Services for the Blind (and Visually Handicapped)

SSDI

Social Security Disability Insurance

SSI

Supplemental Security Income

Standardized Tests

Tests that use consistent directions, consistent criteria for scoring, and consistent procedures.

State Board of Education

Determines public school and vocational education policy and manages and directs all public schools under provisions of applicable laws.

State Department of Education

Oversees all aspects of education in the State.

Stuttering

A disturbance of rhythm and fluency of speech by an intermittent blocking. Stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency that interrupts the forward flow of speech. Everyone is disfluent at times, but what differs between children who stutter and those with normal speech disfluencies is the kind and amount of the disfluencies. Almost all children go through a stage of disfluency in early speech development, usually between the ages of two and five. As children mature and sharpen their communication skills, these disfluencies usually disappear, but not always. We still do not know what causes stuttering; possible causes could be in coordination of the speech muscles, the rate of language development, and life stresses. For more information contact the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 1-800-638-8255, www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/stuttering.htmor Stuttering Foundation of America 1-800-364-1677 www.stuttersfa.org

Supine

The position of lying on one’s back.

SW

Social Worker

Symptom

An observable characterstic, including both the physical and psychological aspects.

Syndrome

A complex of symptoms; a set of symptoms which occur together.

Syntax

The grammar system of a language. The linguistic rules of word order and the function of words in a sentence.

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Tachycardia

An abnormal rapidity of heart action.

Tachypnea

An abnormal repetition of respiration.

Tactile

Perceptible to the sense of touch; tangible.

Tactile Defensiveness

An abnormal sensitivity to touch indicated by avoidance or rejection of touching and handling. A child who has tactile defensiveness may resist touching or being touched by something that is wet, that has an unusual texture, or that has an unfamiliar temperature or pressure.

Target Behavior

A behavior identified for change that is observable and measurable, defined so that two persons can agree as to its occurrence. This behavior has been identified by professionals and family as being in need of instruction.

TBI (See Traumatic Brain Injury)

TDD/TTY

TDD is an acronym for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf. TTY is a derivative of Teletype, which is a registered trademark of the Teletype Corporation.

TEACCH

The Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) model is a specially designed, highly structured, classroom program that specifically adapts the activities and environment of the classroom to mitigate those factors that interfere with learning. It supports the development of appropriate behavior and communication patterns and teaches basic academic skills (Mesibov, Schopler, & Hearsey, 1994). www.teacch.com

Technology Dependent

A condition where a person relies on medical equipment, such as a ventilator, to stay alive.

Therapy

The treatment or application of different techniques to improve specific conditions for the cure, allevation, or prevention of disorders.

Time-out

Time-out is a behavior management strategy that actually refers to “time-out from positive reinforcement.” With time-out, all reinforcement ceases as the student is essentially removed from a situation that is reinforcing.

Tinnitus

A noise in the ears, as ringing, buzzing, roaring, clicking, etc.

TMR

Trainable Mentally Retarded (Persons)

Token Reinforcement

Behavioral intervention that uses a token or tangible item as a reward.

Tourette Syndrome

Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder that becomes evident in early childhood or adolescence between the ages of 2 and 15. Tourette syndrome is defined by multiple motor and vocal tics lasting for more than one year. Many people have only motor tics or only vocal tics. The first symptoms usually are involuntary movements (tics) of the face, arms, limbs or trunk. These tics are frequent, repetitive and rapid. The most common first symptom is a facial tic (eye blink, nose twitch, grimace), and is replaced or added to by other tics of the neck, trunk, and limbs. For more information regarding Tourette Syndrome, visit the Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc. website at: www.tsa-usa.org

Transition

The movement from one service, location, or program to another. Young children with disabilities transition at age three from early intervention to preschool special education services or to other community settings and services (early intervention and special educaiton). Adolescents transition from school to adult services.

Transportation

A related service. If it is determined that the child needs this service to benefit from their education, the school district must provide the transportation, contract with another agency, or contract with the parents to bring their child to school. Transportation could mean round trip, home to school and school to home, services.

Trauma

Any experience which inflicts serious emotional , psychological, or physical damage to a person.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Physical damage to the brain that could result in physical, behavioral, or mental changes depending on which area of the brain is injured. TBI could impact a students education; special education services might be needed.

Tremor

A continuous quivering, an involuntary movement of part of the body, or alternate muscle movements.

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UCB

United Council for the Blind

UCP

United Cerebral Palsy

UHF

United Handicapped Federation

Unilateral

Pertaining to one side of the body.

Unique Experience

The idea that each student has a unique learning method and experience based on their own knowledge and experiences.

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Verbal Conditioning

Application of conditioning principles of speech. Verbal behavior can be controlled by the systematic application of reinforcement to specific aspects of speech.

Verbal Expression

Ability to communicate orally. Typically referred to as oral expression.

Vertigo

A sensation of whirling or dizziness from overstimulation of the semicircular canal receptors; often associated with disease of the ear and deafness.

Vestibular

Having to do with the body’s system for maintaining equilibrium.

VI

Visual Impairment

Visual Acuity

The sharpness of vision with respect to the ability to distinguish detail; often measured as the eye’s ability to distinguish the details and shapes of objects at a designated distance; involves central (macular) vision.

Visual Perception

The identification, organization, and interpretation of sensory data received by the individual through the eye.

Visual-Motor Coordination

The ability to coordinate vision with the movements of the body or parts of the body.

Visually Impaired

Any degree of vision loss that affects an individual’s ability to perform the tasks of daily life; caused by a visual system that is not working properly or not formed correctly.

Vocabulary

Refers to words used to communicate. These words are used in speaking, and are recognized in listening or in print.

Vocational Education

Organized educational programs that are directly related to the preparation of individuals for paid or unpaid employment, or for additional preparation for a career requiring other than a college or advanced degree.

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR)

A program of rehabilitation through job training focusing on the participant moving toward gainful employment.

Vowel

A conventional vocal sound produced by certain positions of the speech organs which offer little obstruction to the air stream and which form a series of resonators above the level of the larynx in the vocal tracts. Distinguished from consonant.