Plain-English glossary
The words you'll hear along the way, explained the way we'd explain them over coffee.
Special education paperwork comes with its own language. None of it is complicated once someone translates it, so that's what this page does. No acronym here goes unexplained.
Bookmark this page. Every term links back to the moment in the process where you'll actually hear it, so you can look things up in the order you'll need them, not alphabetical order.
Starting the Process
These are the words that show up before you've even sat down at the table, when you're first asking "does my child qualify for help?"
IEP
Individualized Education Program
The written plan that spells out exactly what support your child gets at school, and why. Think of it as a promise in writing, not a suggestion.
IDEA
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
The federal law that makes all of this a right, not a favor. If your child qualifies, the school is legally required to help. This law is why.
504 Plan
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
A lighter-touch plan for kids who need accommodations but don't need a full IEP, like extra test time, without changing what's being taught.
FAPE
Free Appropriate Public Education
The legal guarantee that your child gets an education designed for how they learn, at no cost to you, in the public school system.
Evaluation
The testing process the school uses to understand how your child learns, thinks, and struggles: the evidence behind whatever plan comes next.
Eligibility
The official decision, based on the evaluation, about whether your child qualifies for an IEP. This is a meeting you get to be part of, not a letter that just arrives.
Present Levels
Present Levels of Performance
A snapshot of where your child is right now: academically, socially, behaviorally. Everything else in the plan is built to move forward from this exact starting point.
Related Services
Support beyond the classroom that helps your child access learning: speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling. These ride alongside the IEP, not separate from it.
In the Meeting
The words you'll hear once you're actually sitting at the table with the school team. This is where the plan gets built, term by term.
IEP Team
Everyone at the table: you, a general ed teacher, a special ed teacher, and often a school psychologist or therapist. You are a full member of this team, not a guest.
Goals
IEP Goals & Objectives
Specific, measurable things your child is expected to be able to do by a certain date: the yardstick everyone will use to check if the plan is working.
Accommodations
Changes to how your child accesses the same material everyone else gets: extra time, a quieter room, audio instead of reading. The bar doesn't move; the path to it does.
Modifications
Changes to what your child is expected to learn: a shorter assignment, different grading criteria. Different from accommodations: this time the bar itself moves.
Placement
Where your child receives their instruction day to day: general classroom, resource room, or a specialized setting, decided based on their needs, not the school's convenience.
LRE
Least Restrictive Environment
The legal principle that your child should learn alongside their peers as much as possible, pulled out only for what they specifically need, never more.
FBA
Functional Behavior Assessment
A close look at what's driving a behavior that's getting in the way of learning, not to label your child, but to understand what they're communicating.
BIP
Behavior Intervention Plan
The action plan that comes out of an FBA: specific strategies the school will use to support your child, built from what the assessment found.
Know Your Rights
These aren't tied to one step. They protect you at every step. If you remember nothing else from this page, remember this section.
Procedural Safeguards
A document the school is required to give you, spelling out every right you have in this process. Dense to read, important to keep. Ask us if you want it translated line by line.
Prior Written Notice
A written explanation the school must give you before changing (or refusing to change) your child's services. If they want to say no, they have to say why, in writing.
Consent
The school needs your written permission before evaluating your child or starting services for the first time. Nothing moves forward without your yes.
Due Process
The formal way to challenge a school decision you disagree with: a legal hearing, used when other conversations haven't resolved things.
Mediation
A neutral third party helps you and the school work out a disagreement, usually faster and less formal than due process, and worth trying first.
Parent Input
Your observations about your child are required to be part of the record, not optional color commentary. You know your kid best. The law agrees with you.
Ongoing Support
The plan doesn't end when the meeting does. These are the words that come up once you're checking in on how things are going.
Annual Review
The yearly check-in meeting where the IEP team looks at what's working, what isn't, and updates the plan. Required once a year, but you can ask for a meeting sooner.
Triennial Review
A full re-evaluation every three years, to see if your child's needs have changed and whether the plan needs to change with them.
Progress Reports
Regular updates, usually alongside report cards, showing how your child is doing against their specific IEP goals, not just their grades.
Transition Plan
Starting around age 14-16, a plan for life after high school (college, work, independent living), folded right into the IEP.
Assistive Technology
Any tool that helps your child access learning, from a simple pencil grip to text-to-speech software. If it helps them show what they know, it counts.
Compensatory Education
Extra services owed to your child if the school didn't provide what the IEP promised. A way of making up lost ground, not a punishment or a favor.
Still feels like a lot?
That's normal. This is a lot of language to absorb at once, especially while you're also worried about your kid. You don't have to memorize any of it. That's what we're here for.
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