Definitions: Midterm Flashcards
To understand the key terms and concepts
Acceleration
an approach where students are placed in grade levels above their age/peers
Accommodations
changes in delivery of instruction, or type of assessment, that does NOT significantly change the curriculum
Acute
a serious state of illness/injury from which someone often recovers with treatment
Adaptations
changes in curriculum content, conceptual difficulty, or instructional objectives and methods
Adaptive behaviour
the social and practical intelligence used in people’s everyday lives
- often considered in making a determination of Intellectual Disability
Adaptive behaviour skills
skills needed to adapt to one’s living environment (e.g. self-care, home living, social skills, self-direction, health and safety, working, etc)
Affective disorder
a disorder of mood or emotional tone
Amniocentesis
a medical procedure that allows testing of the amniotic fluid around the fetus. Can sometimes be used for determination of abnormalities.
Anxiety disorder
a disorder characterized by anxiety, fearfulness and avoidance of ordinary activities because of anxiety or fear
Applied behaviour analysis (ABA)
highly structured approach that focuses on teaching function skills and continuous assessment of progress. This approach is grounded in behavioural learning theory.
Asperger’s syndrome
One of the five ASDs. A milder form of autism without significant impairments in language and cognition; characterized by primary problems in social interaction.
ADHD
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; characterized by severe problems of inattention, hyperactivity and/or impulsivity, often found in people with learning disabilities.
Autism savant syndrome
a condition in which the individual displays characteristics of ASD but also has remarkable skills or talents
ASD
a disability wherein symptoms fall on a continuum from relatively mild to severe; DSM-5 divides symptoms into 2 domains:
- social communication impairment
- repetitive/restricted behaviours
Behaviour management
strategies used to increase desirable behaviours and decrease undesirable ones. Can be applied in the classroom, home or other environment
Behaviour modification
systematic control of environmental events to produce specific changes on behavioural responses (e.g. consequences, reinforcement, guided practice, etc)
Behavioural inhibition
the ability to recognize and regulate inappropriate behaviours before or during their occurrence
Behavioural parent training (BPT)
parent intervention that concentrate on training parents to use behavioural principles to modify their child’s behaviour
Central coherence
the inclination to bring meaning to stimuli by conceptualizing it as a whole
Chronic
a long-lasting, non-temporary condition
Chromosomal disorder
any syndrome resulting from abnormal or damaged chromosomes
Chronological age
how old a person is, used in the calculation of IQ
Classwide peer tutoring
an instructional procedure in which all students are involved in tutoring/being tutored by classmates on skills
Cognition
the ability to solve problems and use strategies; an area of difficulty for many persons with learning disabilities
Cognitive training
a group of training procedures designed to change thoughts or thought patterns
Collaborative consultation
an approach where a general educator and a special educator collaborate to come up with teaching strategies for a student with exceptionalities
Communication disorders
impairments in the ability to use speech or language to communicate
Autistic regression
where a child develops normally but then loses some abilities; usually occurs between 1-3 years of age
Communicative function
acts of communication (e.g. requesting, rejecting, commenting, arguing and reasoning)
Communicative intent
the need to communicate for social reasons
Comorbidity
Co-occurrence between 2 or more conditions in the same individual
Comprehension monitoring
the ability to keep track of one’s own comprehension of reading material and to make adjustments to comprehend better while reading
Conduct disorder
overt, aggressive, disruptive behaviour and/or covert antisocial acts (e.g. stealing, lying, fire setting)
Congenital
a characteristic or condition that is present at birth (may or may not be due to genetic factors)
Content enhancement
the modification of curriculum materials to make them more salient/prominent (e.g. graphic organizers, mnemonics)
Contingency-based self-management
rewards based on use of self-management techniques
Continuous performance test
A test measuring a person’s ability to sustain attention to rapidly presented stimuli; can help in diagnosing ADHD
Cooperative learning
an approach where the teacher places students with similar needs together to work on assignments
Cooperative teaching
an approach where the general educator and special educator teach together in the general classroom
Coping skills intervention
parent interventions that teach parents to use strategies to cope with their responses to their child’s difficult behaviours
Decoding
the ability to convert print into spoken language. Is dependent on:
- phonemic awareness
- understanding of alphabetic principles
Deinstitutionalization
a social movement (1960’s) where large numbers of people with exceptionalities are removed from large mental institutions and into smaller, community homes or back with their families. Focus on integrating people into society
Direct instruction
a method of teaching (especially reading and math); emphasized drills and practice with immediate feedback. Lessons are precisely sequenced, face-paced and well-practiced by the teacher.
Disability
an inability to do something as a result of a specific impairment
Down syndrome
a condition resulting from an abnormality in the 21st chromosome pair; characterized by intellectual disability and physical characteristics
Dynamic assessments
an interactive assessment process that involves ongoing analysis of student leaning in response to an intervention
Dyscalculia
specific learning disabilities in mathematics in which an individual might struggle with number sense, computation and/or problem solving
Dyslexia
reading disabilities (usually used by medical field, not educators)
Echolalia
the parroting/repetition of words or phrases after they are heard (often observed in people with ASD)
Enrichment
an approach in which additional learning experiences are provided to students with special gifts/talents while keeping them in their regular grade
Exceptionality group
a group of people who share a collection of specific abilities or disabilities
Executive functioning
the ability to regulate behaviours through working memory, inner speech, emotion regulation, and problem solving
Expressive language
encoding or sending messages in communication
Externalizing behaviours
acting out, aggressive or disruptive behaviours that are observable as behaviours directed towards others
Family systems theory (FST)
stresses that behaviour is best understood in the context of the family. The family’s behaviour is best understood in the context of other social systems
FST: family life-cycle
consists of birth, early childhood, childhood, adolescence and adulthood
FTS: family interaction
refers to how cohesive and adaptable the family is
FTS: family functions
included such things as economic, daily care, educational, medical, and social needs of the family
FTS: Family characteristics
includes type/severity of the disability, family size, cultural background, SES
Family-centred model
encourages family to make its own decisions with respect to services while mobilizing resources and supports for the family’s goals
Functional academics
teaching academics in the context of daily living skills with the goal of having the student learn skills needed to function independently (e.g. reading food labels, filling out applications)
Handicap
a disadvantage imposed on an individual
Hidden cirriculum
the do’s and don’ts of social interaction that most people learn without much instruction. Not grasped by those with Asperger’s syndrome)
Inclusion (Mainstreaming)
the idea of placing students with disabilities in general education classes and activities
IEP
Individualized education program;; a plan for students with exceptionalities to ensure instructional objectives are being met
Intellectual disabilities
a disability in intelligence and adaptive behaviours
Internalizing behaviours
acting-in behaviours; anxiety, fearfulness, withdrawal and other indications of an individuals mood or internal state
IQ-Achievement discrepancy
academic performance lower than would be expected on the basis of a student’s IQ
Joint attention
the process by which one person alerts another to a stimulus via non-verbal means (e.g. gazing, pointing)
Learned helplessness
a condition in which a person believes that no matter how hard they try, they will be unsuccessful
Least restrictive environment
a legal term referring to the fact that exceptional children must be educated in as normal of an environment as possible while still having their needs met
Locus of control
how people explain their successes or failures
Internal locus of control
people believe that they are the reason for their successes/failures
External locus of control
people believe that others/outside forces influence how they perform
Mental age
age level at which a person performs on an IQ test; used to determine IQ
Metacognition
one’s understanding of the strategies they can use for learning a task and the regulatory mechanisms needed to complete the task
Modifications
changes made in instruction or assessment to make it possible for a student with a disability to respond more normally
Pervasive Developmental Disorder not Otherwise Specified
PDD-NOS
one of five ASDs; pervasive delay in development that does not fit into the other developmental categories
Phonemic awareness
one’s ability to understand that words are made ip of sounds or phonemes
Phonological awareness
the ability to understand that speech flow can be broken into smaller units of sound
Practical intelligence
ability to solve everyday problems
Progressive
a disease/condition that worsens over time and from which one seldom recovers
Receptive Language
decoding or understanding messages in communication
Response-to-Intervention (RTI)
an approach in which it is determined if a student has a learning disability. Through increasingly intensive levels of instructional intervention are given, if the student does not achieve, they are referred for special education evaluation
Scaffolded instruction
Teachers provide assistance to students when they are first learning tasks and then gradually reduce the assistance so the student is eventual able to complete the task independently
Screening instruments
quick measures administered to determine who may need further assessment
Self-determination
having control over one’s life, not having to rely on others for making choices about one’s quality of life
Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
a language disorder with no identifiable cause and that is not attributed to any other disorder (e.g. hearing impairment, intellectual disabilities, brain injury)
Theory of mind
the ability to take another’s perspective in a social situation, the ability to infer another person’s feelings, intention, desires, etc.
Working memory
the ability to remember information while also performing other cognitive operations
