Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!: Acronyms, Abbreviations, and ARDs: What in the world are they talking about??

One of the most confusing parts about being the parent of a child with special needs is trying to understand the lingo. Educators use a lot of acronyms and other words specific to special education when they are talking about your child and it is very important to make sure that you understand exactly what they mean when they use these abbreviations and jargon. If you are not sure, ask. I can’t guarantee that they won’t make you feel like you should have known what they were talking about but wouldn't you rather look uninformed than have your child placed in a program you didn't understand because you didn't ask? You can always ask me, too, if you aren't sure. I know what most of it means and if I don’t know, I’ll be willing to find out for you!

Let’s talk about some of the words you will hear again and again. The first one is “SPED.” SPED is an abbreviated way that teachers talk about special education. You may hear a teacher refer to themselves as a “SPED” teacher or they may say, “I’m SPED.” They might also refer to a student as being SPED. This is just a quick way of saying a teacher or a child is affiliated with special education services.

Another acronym that was tossed around a lot at Imma’s meeting is, “AU.” AU is one way of referring to autism. You may also hear, “The student has (or is) ASD.” This means “autism spectrum disorder.” When an educator uses the terms AU or ASD, they are saying that a child has been identified as having autism or one of the disabilities previously group with autism, which include Asperger’s, Rhett’s Syndrome or Rett's Disease, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (or PDD). The law has recently changed and students are now identified as having an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or not. There are no longer subcategories. That does not mean that these terms will no longer be used as it always takes a while for the correct verbiage to filter all the way through the system. Also, please keep in mind that the child should always come first when you are talking about a disability. Teachers should be saying, “a child who has autism” or “a child identified as having autism disorder” never “an autistic kid” or “he’s an autistic.” We want to put the child first.

Depending upon what the area of disability is, you may hear other abbreviations in your meeting. Sometimes teachers use the abbreviation “MR.” This means “mentally retarded.” This is a phrase that some people toss around as an insult but it should never be used that way and if you ever suspect an educator is using this word incorrectly, please say something to him or her or a supervisor. There is a clearly defined “Intelligence Quotient” ( or IQ) that determines whether or not a person is classified as mentally retarded. It is just as much a disability as any of the other disabilities we are discussing and should never be used as an insult.

Another abbreviation you may hear depending upon the area of evaluation is “LD.” LD stands for “learning disabled” or “learning disability.” This means that a child has been identified as having great difficulty acquiring skills in one or more areas due to certain factors, which the diagnostician has been able to quantify. There are a lot of diagnostic tests that go into reaching the conclusion that a child has a learning disability and diagnosticians tend to use a whole other lingo to talk about this so we won’t go into that today but you may need to know what they are talking about if the committee says, “I believe your child may have an LD.”

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, is the law that regulates who is identified as qualifying for special education, how they are identified, what services are to be provided, and how those services must be provided. You will receive information about IDEA before the testing process begins and at every committee meeting. If you do not receive a guide for IDEA, please ask for one. Once you receive it, please read it. It is not an interesting read. It is extremely wordy and boring. But you need to read it so that you know exactly what the other members of the committee are talking about.

You may be asking what committee I am talking about. This varies from state to state, but in Texas, this committee is called an ARD committee. ARD stand for Admission Review and Dismissal. This is the committee that determines: 1) if a child qualifies for special education services 2) what goals and objectives need to be worked on 3) how those goals and objectives will be taught 4) how to determine if goals and objectives are met 5) the environment the child will be learning in (or placement) and 6) if and when a child will be dismissed from special education services. This is extremely important because you are a voting member of the ARD committee. Again, the other members may vary by state but you will always have an administrator (principal or assistant principal), a general education teacher, a special education teacher, and a diagnostician or specialist in the area that was tested. All of the committee members will either agree or disagree with the recommendations. You have the right to disagree so if you think you need to use it, do so. Most of the time, the specialists are going to have all of their ducks in a row and they are going to have already determined what the qualification is, the goals, measurement of those goals, and the placement of your child. Ask a lot of questions while they are talking about the goals and the placement. If you don’t understand, ask for clarification. If the committee members cannot answer your questions to your satisfaction, ask for someone else to come in and explain things to you. This is your child and you need to know what they are talking about. Don’t let the lingo throw you off or intimidate you.

One of the most important decision the committee makes involves adopting goals for the student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). Basically, this document takes the place or supplements the regular school curriculum. The committee determines what goals your child needs to work on and in what order. This should be based on the diagnosticians report and/or your child’s class work. If you feel like your child has already mastered these goals, speak up. Sometimes children act or perform very differently at home than they do at school and if you don’t say anything, your child could waste a colossal amount of time working on something s/he already knows how to do. For example, I was once told it took 120 trials with my daughter to get her to learn what an ice cube was. I said, “My daughter knows what an ice cube is. She’s known that for a long time!” But they weren't seeing it so it “didn’t count.” They also told me she didn't know what a pond was. We have a pond in our front yard. She knows what a pond is. Children act differently and say different things at school. My child wasted a lot of time that year trying to “learn” things she already knew because she wasn't showing her teachers what she knew. Have these discussions with your child’s teachers because they don’t want to waste time either.

This is a lot of information—and believe me, there’s plenty more where that came from! But I am only going to mention one more piece of lingo to you in this article. I want to make sure you know what the phrase “least restrictive environment” means. In special education there are several choices of where your child can receive services. They can receive services in a general education classroom (regular classroom) through their general education teacher and a special education teacher who comes in to the classroom and helps support your child. This is called “inclusion” because your child is included with the other non-disabled students. It could also be a special education aid who provides these inclusion services. The next level of restrictions is called “resource.” This is when your child leaves the general education classroom for an agreed on amount of time and goes to the special education teacher’s classroom to work on the IEP goals and objectives set by the committee. Your child may have other students with him or her or s/he may be alone, depending upon the size of your campus and how many special education teachers there are. The amount of time your child spends in the resource classroom must be agreed upon by the committee, including you. If you feel like your child is spending too much time out of the classroom—or not enough!—speak up. The most restrictive environments are special classrooms, sometimes referred to as “units” where the child spends all or most of his or her day with the special education teacher and little to no time with a general education teacher. An example of a unit would be a Life Skills classroom, where moderate to severely disabled students learn the skills they need to be successful in life. This is sometimes referred to as a Functional Academics Classroom (or FAC.) There are also units for students who have Emotional Disturbances (ED) that create behavior that disrupts general education classrooms and there are Autism Units, sometimes referred to as Structured-Teach Classrooms where students who have qualified to receive special education services because they have been identified as having autism can be placed. Structured-Teach is just a type of learning where the teacher goes through a series of lessons with a student following a particular order and these lessons are usually on a one-to-one or very small-group basis. You can learn more about structured teach classrooms here. Most structured teach classrooms are set up following Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and if you hear that term used when referring to your child’s education, please do as much research as you possibly can. One source of good information is Autism Speaks and you can find the ABA link here.

So, when we say that a child needs to be placed in the “least restrictive environment” what we are saying is your child needs to be in a classroom where s/he will be able to learn what s/he needs to learn with as few changes in schedule as possible. If your child is in special education, by definition, the general education classroom alone was not sufficient enough for him or her to be completely successful. You want to consider inclusion next, followed by resource, and one of the special units as a last alternative. Never let an educator try to take these rights away from your child. If you find an educator who is unwilling to try a less restrictive environment before placing your child in a more restrictive environment, it’s probably time to call in an advocate, or possibly even a lawyer.

I’m not saying that some children don’t need to be in a restricted environment, nor am I saying that some diagnosticians can’t immediately look at test results and draw this conclusion. However, sometimes, as in my own case, the most restrictive environment was the only one considered by the other members of the ARD committee and when I refused to place my child in the most restrictive environment without trying the alternatives first, well, let’s just say I ruffled a few feathers. There is a disagreement process in every state. Know what it is in yours and don’t be afraid to follow it. Luckily, I was able to move my child to another school district and she know spends the vast majority of her day in the general education classroom. She has inclusion for part of math and part of reading. She also has 20 minutes of resource a day and she is pulled out for speech two times a week. That’s it. The rest of the time she is in the regular classroom like everyone else. The ARD committee at our previous school district told me she could not possibly be successful in a general education classroom. Like most things, Imma has proven them wrong in this as well.

Was this helpful? What other question are out there? What other abbreviations or acronyms are you hearing? What other resources would be useful? Please let me know and I will happily write some more about this topic. I have a list of some other resources available at the end of this post.