The special language of special needs

If you have a child with special needs, you have no doubt heard tons of words, initials or acronyms that you did not understand. You may have had to stop and ask for clarification or a definition. Or, even worse, you did not ask and were lost as the conversation zoomed on and you kept trying to make sense of it all.

The world of special needs, including delays, disabilities, early intervention and special education, has its own language. The sooner you familiarize yourself with the many acronyms, the easier it will be to navigate your child’s world and be an effective advocate. Without this info, it is like being in a boat (or a kayak) without a paddle.

Just to drive my point home, here is an analogy. Would you ever take an upper level language class without first taking the introductory course? Would you take Algebra II without first taking basic math? Would you take your driver’s test without looking at the manual first? You’d be lost (or at least I would be), and nothing would make sense to you. This is why you need to get the basics down, especially before you go into meetings that pertain to your baby or child’s intervention services.

Help is here

Here is my blog post with tons of acronyms to use as a cheat sheet. It is appropriately called Learning the Lingo.

Next, you can find many more on the CPIR website, where the NICHCY materials have migrated. Their Alphabet Soup has an exhaustive list of words with their meanings.

Lastly, Words and terms – a whole new world breaks out the terms pertaining to early intervention and then for special education.

So check them out, click on the highlighted terms to learn more, and print out the acronym sheet for your reference. You’ll be glad to have this info in one tidy place. Then, when the conversations turn to IFSPs or LREs, you will know exactly what everyone is talking about. Soon, you’ll be paddling upstream with confidence!

 

Note:  This post is part of the weekly series Delays and disabilities – how to get help for your child. It was started in January 2013 and appears every Wednesday. While on News Moms Need, select “Help for your child” on the menu on the right side to view all of the blog posts to date. You can also see a Table of Contents of prior posts, here.

Feel free to ask questions. Send them to AskUs@marchofdimes.org.

Tags: acronyms, advocate, definitions, delays and disabilities, early intervention, special education, special language, Special needs, terms