task analysis in special education ppt

What Is Task Analysis in Special Education?

Have you ever had difficulty doing a task that others thought was straightforward? Perhaps you had problems tying your shoes or writing simple sentences—some children in special education deal with these challenges regularly. However, task analysis is a helpful tool for teachers and other adults to help students. Students can succeed and develop their talents by breaking down challenging tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. In this blog post, we’ll examine the benefits of task analysis in special education and provide some sound ideas for implementing it in the classroom. So grab a seat and get ready to learn what task analysis is in special education and how task analysis could help all students reach their full potential!

What is Task Analysis in Special Education?

I’ll go into more detail about task analysis in education and how it’s applied to special education .

As a teaching strategy, task analysis entails dissecting difficult activities into simpler, more doable pieces. As it enables children who struggle with executive functioning , attention, and other learning challenges to learn and complete activities successfully, it is a widely utilized instructional method in special education.

When a teacher or therapist uses task analysis, they determine the task’s ultimate objective and then examine each step necessary to achieve that result. To better understand and identify problematic behaviors and their functions, they might conduct a Functional Behavior Assessment . For the student to use as a reference while working on the assignment, they can make a written or visual list of these steps. This list might assist the student in keeping track of their progress and self-evaluate their work.

For several reasons, task analysis is advantageous for special education pupils. First, it assists pupils in breaking down difficult activities into smaller, easier-to-follow steps, which lessens emotions of frustration and overwhelm. Students can more readily comprehend and finish the assignment by concentrating on one step at a time. Task analysis also encourages independence and self-confidence, allowing pupils to complete more tasks independently.

Task analysis can be utilized in various educational contexts, including academic tasks like writing a paragraph or solving a math problem, social skills like making eye contact or asking for help, and self-care chores like taking care of oneself (dressing or preparing a meal). In many cases, teachers may use task boxes for special education to facilitate this learning.

Overall, task analysis is a useful tool for special education instructors and caregivers to assist students to develop their skills and succeed in all facets of life. It aligns with the principles of Universal Design for Learning , which emphasize the customization of teaching to individual learning needs.

Importance of Task Analysis in Education

Task analysis is an essential tool for teachers and students since it enables pupils to divide difficult activities into smaller, easier-to-manage parts. Several factors make task analysis crucial in education, including the following:

• Reduces Overwhelming and Frustration: Complex tasks frequently feel overwhelming and stressful for kids with learning disabilities. These tasks are broken down into smaller, more manageable parts using task analysis, which lessens these sentiments and enables pupils to concentrate on one step at a time.
• Enhances Understanding: By breaking down a task into its parts, pupils can better comprehend what is expected. An improvement in confidence and motivation might result from this understanding.
• Enhances Independence: Students’ self-esteem is raised, and independence is encouraged when they can perform activities alone. Students can develop the abilities they need to succeed by using task analysis. According to the American Psychological Association , fostering independence is key to promoting self-confidence and personal growth in students.
• Gives Students a Clear Plan: Students have a clear plan to follow when given a written or visual list of the steps necessary to finish a task. They can use this plan to self-monitor their work and remind them of their progress.
• Task analysis is adaptable and can be changed to fit the needs of each student. To help students more effectively accomplish their goals, educators might modify the steps based on their strengths and shortcomings.

Task analysis is an evidence-based method that has been proven successful in assisting children with learning issues to succeed in addition to these advantages. By utilizing this tool in the classroom, teachers may give their pupils the assistance and direction they require to reach their greatest potential.

How Do You Write a Task Analysis for Special Education?

Several important steps should be considered when drafting a task analysis for special education. Task Analysis steps are as follows:

• Identify the Task: Decide the task you wish to investigate. Depending on the student’s needs, this could be an academic task, a social skill, or a self-care task.
• Break down the work into smaller, easier-to-manage steps once the work has been determined. Consider the steps necessary to finish the work successfully. For instance, the instructions for tying a shoe might say to “take the laces and make an X,” “cross one lace over the other,” “tuck the lace underneath the other,” and other such things.
• After determining the stages, arrange them in the sequence they must be carried out. Make sure that each step is required and builds on the one before it by considering the logical order of the steps.
• Make it Visual: Use images to make the task analysis easier for the student to understand. This can entail listing the processes in writing or using images or a flowchart, or another visual aid to depict the steps.
• Practice with the student while watching them, using the task analysis as a guide. Follow their development and offer advice as required. Consider simplifying a step or offering more assistance if the student struggles.

These stages will help you build a task analysis tailored to the student’s needs and offer a clear strategy for success. Always be patient and adaptable, and modify the task analysis as necessary to meet the needs of each learner.

Click on the link to view an example of writing a task analysis. [Task Analysis in Special Education ppt]

Task Analysis Examples

Here are a few instances of task analysis in education and examples of action in the classroom:

Writing in Paragraph: Writing can be difficult for many pupils, especially those in special education. Task analysis can divide The writing process into simpler, more manageable parts. Choose a topic, brainstorm ideas, make an outline, write a draft, rewrite and edit, and proofread, for instance, could be the processes in writing a paragraph.

Solving a Math Problem: Some children find math to be a challenging subject. By dividing the problem-solving process into manageable parts, task analysis can assist in making it more approachable. To solve a math problem, for instance, you might follow these steps: read the problem, figure out what you’re solving for, pick a method, solve the problem, and then verify your result.

Developing Social Skills: Task analysis is also beneficial for developing social skills. To develop eye contact, for instance, a student might “stand or sit facing the individual,” “look at their eyes,” “remain to gaze for a few seconds,” “look away briefly,” and “repeat.”

Self-Care Tasks: Special education students could also require assistance with self-care activities like dressing or meal preparation. These jobs can be easier to manage if they are divided into smaller phases through task analysis. For instance, “take off pajamas,” “put on underwear,” “put on pants,” “put on a shirt,” “put on socks,” and “put on shoes” could be the steps to getting dressed.

These are just a few applications of task analysis in the classroom. Task analysis assists in making difficult tasks more approachable and achievable for children with special needs by breaking them down into smaller pieces.

Teach the Task to Autistic Students: Task Analysis Autism Sped Classroom

Task analysis is useful for helping autistic individuals in special education classes. Several instances of task analysis being utilized to assist autistic students are provided below:

• Daily Routines: Routines might be difficult for students with autism. These processes can be divided into smaller, easier-to-manage segments using task analysis. For instance, getting ready for school could involve the following steps: waking up, brushing your teeth, washing your face, dressing, eating breakfast, and packing a backpack.
• Social Skills: Students with autism may also suffer from social skills. Task analysis can simplify these abilities, making them simpler to learn and apply. Making eye contact, smiling, saying hello, asking questions, and paying attention to the answer are some examples of conversation starters.
• Classroom Assignments: Task analysis can help students with autism complete assignments in the classroom, such as worksheets or projects. To finish a worksheet, for instance, you might follow these steps: “Read the directions,” “Look at the example,” “Do the first problem,” “Check the solution,” and “Complete the rest of the problems.”
• Lifestyle Skills: Students with autism could also require assistance with everyday tasks like cooking or laundry. These jobs can be simplified by task analysis into more manageable chunks. For instance, “take out the bread,” “take out the meat,” “take out the cheese,” “place the bread together,” and “cut the sandwich in half” could be the stages of assembling a sandwich.

Task analysis is a flexible approach that may be applied in various ways to support autistic individuals in special education classrooms. Students with autism can develop their talents and succeed in a way that suits their particular requirements by breaking complex tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. I hope you learned and enjoyed our discussion on What Is Task Analysis in Special Education.

Jennifer Hanson is a dedicated and seasoned writer specializing in the field of special education. With a passion for advocating for the rights and needs of children with diverse learning abilities, Jennifer uses her pen to educate, inspire, and empower both educators and parents alike.

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Task analysis is the process of breaking a skill into smaller, more manageable steps in order to teach the skill. As the smaller steps are mastered, the learner becomes increasingly independent in his or her ability to perform the larger skill. This module will provide information on task analysis.

Estimated Time to Complete: 2 hours

• What's Included
• Pre/post-assessments
• Optional $20 certficate
• Identify the basic parts of task analysis, including how to break a skill down into smaller parts, determine how the skill will be taught, implement the intervention, and monitor progress
• Identify resources to use when developing a task analysis
• Apply task analysis to interventions for learners at the preschool, elementary, and secondary grade levels

Module Authors

Ellen Franzone, M.S.

Ellen Franzone has a Masters degree in Speech and Language Pathology. She worked as a speech-language therapist from 1998 to 2008. She began her professional career with the Portage Project's Birth-3 program, providing home-based services to infants and toddlers, along with their families. She later worked as an SLP with an early childhood program, providing support to students in special education classrooms as well as inclusive community settings. Prior to joining the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, Ms. Franzone was employed in an elementary school, providing speech and language services to students with a variety of skills and needs. She is currently a principal in Wisconsin.

Kate Szidon, M.S.

Kate Szidon earned her M.S. in Special Education at the University of Oregon through a specialized training program in Transition. Kate joined University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center in the summer of 2009.  She works on grant funded projects supporting special education professionals and families raising children with autism spectrum disorders. Prior to this, Kate taught special education for fourteen years providing district-wide technical assistance and support, and teaching special education in a variety of settings and roles including high school transition coordinator, autism teacher, and reading and math support teacher for all levels of school-age students.

Module Contributors

National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders

The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder (NPDC) was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in the US Department of Education from 2007-2014. The work of the NPDC was a collaboration among three universities-the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the MIND Institute, University of California-Davis. The goal of the NPDC was to promote the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for children and youth with ASD, birth to 22 years of age.

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• 1-to-1 Direct Instruction A teacher-led instructional procedure that provides students with specific instructions regarding completion of a task, provides teacher-led practice, then independent practice including immediate corrective feedback.
• 3D Geometry Modeling Software Applications that allow for the creation of 2D and 3D objects that are also helpful for visualizing shapes in three dimensions.
• AAC Format (Advanced Audio Coding) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression (reducing the amount of data while still retaining a good sound quality). It was designed to be the successor of the MP3 audio format. AAC format generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 while using a similar rate of processing.
• ABA - Applied Behavior Analysis A discipline devoted to understanding and improving human behavior by focusing on defined, observable behaviors of social significance and demonstrating a reliable relationship between the procedures employed and the resulting behavioral change.
• ABC Data Chart An assessment tool used to gather information about what happens immediately before and after an interfering behavior occurs.
• Abstract Existing as an idea but not having a physical existence
• Access The method a person uses to control an activity.
• Access Utility An access utility is a software program that modifies a standard keyboard to simplify operation of the keyboard, replace the mouse, substitute visual cues for sound signals, or add sound cues to keystrokes. Many basic modifications can be made through software that already exists on your computer. Altering font size, color contrast, and adding or modifying audio alerts can all be done without purchasing additional software. "Sticky keys" are another very useful modification tool that can be made using existing software. Sticky keys allow an individual to type one key at a time, sequentially, and experience the same results as holding down multiple keys simultaneously. For example, instead of holding down CTRL-ALT-DELETE at the same time, the individual can select each key, one at a time.
• Accessibility Features Accessibility features are options that exist within products that allow a user to adjust the settings to their personal needs. Products may come with accessibility features that can adjust to the individual's visual, mobility, hearing, language, and learning needs. Accessibility features allow individuals with disabilities to use products that may not otherwise be useful. They also serve as a piece of assistive technology because adjustments are being made to help the individual.
• Accessibility Options Features available in an operating system that help a user with a disability to run and navigate programs and applications (e.g., a screen magnifier).
• Accessible Capable of being reached, used, seen, understood, or appreciated.
• Accessible Environments The environment supports the independence of students with vision, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities and is designed to be usable and barrier-free to the widest range of student variability.
• Accessible Format A text format that can be read using screen-reading programs.
• Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) Accessible instructional materials or AIM are materials that are designed or converted in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of student variability regardless of format (print, digital, graphic, audio, video). IDEA specifically focuses on accessible formats of print instructional materials. In relation to IDEA, the term AIM refers to print instructional materials that have been transformed into the specialized formats of braille, large print, audio, or digital text.
• Accessible Media Producers (AMPs) Accessible media producers (AMPs) use a variety of means to transform print materials into specialized formats such as braille, audio, digital text, or large print formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with print disabilities. States may assign source files from the NIMAC to AMPs for conversation to student-ready specialized formats. States may also designate an AMP as an authorized user (AU) so that the AMP can download files directly from the NIMAC as an agent of the state. Major AMPs supported by the U.S. Department of Education and involved in NIMAS work include the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), Bookshare, and Learning Ally (formerly RFB&D).
• Accommodate To provide something needed or suited, to adapt.
• Accommodations Adjusting for differences; supplying a need or want; In education, "accommodations" provide equal access to learning, do not substantially change the instructional level or content, are based on individual strengths and needs and may vary in intensity or degree.
• Acquisition To gain possession of; to learn or develop a skill.
• Active Application A computer application currently in use. For example, a user may have a word processor, an Internet browser, and her email open at the same time, but the active application is the one the individual is currently using.
• Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) ADLs refer to the things we normally do in daily living, including any daily activity we perform for self-care such as feeding ourselves, bathing, toilieting, dressing, grooming, getting in and out of bed, work, homemaking, and leisure.
• Activity Matrix An activity matrix displays learning goals and strategies to be implemented during daily routines and activities. The activity matrix contains information about classroom schedule(s) as well as the goals and teaching strategies that are planned.
• Activity Reinforcers Learners are allowed to participate in a preferred activity after using the target skill correctly.
• Adaptability Capacity to adjust oneself to different conditions or environments
• Adapted Calculators Calculators that include a variety of features and functions that make them valuable tools for persons with disabilities.
• Adaptive Keyboard An alternative to a standard keyboard, whose features make it easier to use, such as larger, high-contrast, or programmable keys.
• Adherence Steady support or attachment
• Adult Services After an individual reaches the age of majority (typically 18), services provided to them are considered adult services. These are governed and administered by different laws and agencies and are not generally considered to be an entitlement, but rather are made available based on need and resource availability.
• AEM Accessible educational materials, or AEM, are print- and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are designed or enhanced in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of learner variability, regardless of format (e.g. print, digital, graphic, audio, video).
• Age of Majority The age of majority is the legal age established under state law at which an individual is no longer considered a minor and, therefore, has the right and responsibility to make the legal choices that adults make. In most states, the age of majority is 18. However, the parents/guardians of youth with certain levels and types of disability may apply to delay the transfer of decision-making authority.
• Aggression A forceful action or procedure; hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior or outlook especially when caused by frustration.
• Aided Systems Alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) systems that require something other than the person's body to implement (e.g., pictures for PECS, a voice output device, a communication notebook)
• Aids for Daily Living Another category of assistive technology, these self-help aids help people with disabilities eat, bathe, cook and dress. A "low tech" example would be a fingernail brush with two suction cups attached to the bottom that could stick onto a flat surface in the bathroom. Such an ADL would allow a child with limited mobility to clean her nails without having to grip the brush. There are also "high tech" ADLS, many of which contain computerized components such electronic feeding devices, video modeling apps, etc.
• AIM Accessible instructional materials, or AIM, are materials that are designed or converted in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of student variability regardless of format (print, digital, graphical, audio, video). IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) specifically focuses on accessible formats of print instructional materials. In relation to IDEA, the term AIM refers to print instructional materials that have been transformed into the specialized formats of Braille, large print, audio, or digital text.
• Alternative Access/Input Device An alternative access/input device allows individuals to control their computers using tools other than a standard keyboard or pointing device. Examples include alternative keyboards, electronic pointing devices, sip-and-puff systems, wands and sticks, joysticks, and trackballs.
• Alternative Pencil Developed by an occupational therapist at the Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies (CLDS), an alternative pencil is defined as anything that provides a student with access to all 26 letters of the English alphabet. During each writing session, the teacher models use of the student's alternative pencil, the student writes, and the student reads back his writing - all with varying and appropriate levels of support. Writing with alternative pencils allows students with significant disabilities to develop beginning writing skills by supporting them to go through the same developmental writing phases as typically developing students. Alternative pencils also address a student's other developing abilities such as eye gaze or switch use. For example, the alphabet eye-gaze frame may be helpful for students who are learning to eye gaze. The print flip chart or onscreen keyboards may be helpful for students who are learning to use switches.
• Ambivalence simultaneous conflicting feelings
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is an American professional association of pediatricians.
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits employers from discriminating against people with disabilities and makes such discrimination a civil rights violation. Providers of public services, schools, public buildings, and public transportation services also must provide accessibility to people with disabilities.
• AMPs Accessible media producers (AMPs) produce specialized formats of instructional materials such as Braille, audio, digital text, or large print for use by blind or other persons with print disabilities. Accessible media producers are eligible to download files directly from the NIMAC as agents of authorized users. Major AMPs supported by the U.S. Department of Education and involved in NIMAS work include the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), Bookshare, and Learning Ally (formerly RFB&D).
• Analog Clock A clock representing time with hour, minute, and sometimes a second hand.
• Anatomy The science of the shape and structure of organisms and their parts.
• Android mobile operating system designed by Google.
• Anecdotal Record Brief, written account of events or incidents. An observational method used frequently in classroom or learning settings in which the observer summarizes a single developmental incident after the event has occurred. Written from memory, the anecdotal record documents a student's growth and trends.
• Anecdotal Reports Written continuous data recording that provides as much information about the behavior and environment surrounding as possible. The events contained in the report are then sequenced, identifying each behavior, its antecedent, and its consequence.
• Anhedonia A core symptom of depression, the failure to find pleasure in activities that were once enjoyable
• Anorexia An emotional disorder in which an individual obsessively attempts to lose weight
• Antecedent Control Stimulus preceding the response of interest acquires the ability to control the particular response because it has been associated with certain consequences in the past.
• Antecedent Stimulus A cue or prompt that is given to a learner to perform a target behavior.
• Antecedent-Based Intervention (ABI) Manipulating environmental factors to prevent or reduce the occurrence of interfering behaviors and to increase on-task behavior (stimulus control).
• Antecedent-based Strategies Strategies that address behaviors by removing or modifying conditions or events that have previously preceded and evoked problem behavior
• Antecedents Events that happen right before a behavior occurs.
• Anxiety An abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physiological signs (e.g., sweating, tension, and increased pulse), by doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about one's capacity to cope with it.
• Apathy Lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting
• Apgar score A measure of the physical condition of a newborn. The score is obtained by adding points (2, 1, or 0) for heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, response to stimulation, and skin coloration; a score of 10 represents the best possible condition. The Apgar score was named after Virginia Apgar (1909-1974), an American anesthesiologist who devised this method of assessment in 1953.
• Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) A discipline devoted to understanding and improving human behavior by focusing on defined, observable behaviors of social significance and demonstrating a reliable relationship between the procedures employed and the resulting behavioral change.
• Appropriate Behavior Especially suitable or compatible behavior.
• Approximations Any behavior that resembles the target skill.
• Apps (Applications) short for “application,” which is a self-contained program downloaded to a mobile device.
• Apraxia A neurological motor planning disorder that prevents or inhibits the initiation of intentional movements. A student with apraxia may understand what is expected and be willing to perform the action, but be unable to initiate the movement required to perform it. The same student may be able to perform the action spontaneously (when the motor planning is automatic) but be unable to perform it on request.
• Architectural Adaptations Architectural adaptations are physical changes in the home, school, workplace, or other area. These types of adaptations remove or reduce physical barriers and may include such things as ramps, lifts, lighting, altered counter top heights, and widened door frames.
• Articulating A movable joint between rigid parts.
• ASD Autistic spectrum, autism spectrum, autistic spectrum disorders, autism spectrum disorders and ASD are all synonymous designations for the more official terminology in DSM-IV and ICD-10, where the term Pervasive Developmental Disorders, (PDD) is being used.
• Asperger Syndrome A condition marked by impaired social interactions and limited repetitive patterns of behavior; motor milestones may be delayed
• Asperger's Disorder A condition marked by impaired social interactions and limited repetitive patterns of behavior; motor milestones may be delayed.
• Assess Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs.
• Assessment Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs.
• Assets A useful or valuable thing, person, or quality
• Assistive Listening Device (ALD) A broad term used to describe technology that helps people with hearing loss, with or without hearing aids, to hear. ALDs amplify and in some cases bring the target sound (television, telephone, communication partner, etc.) directly to the ear. They are often used when background noise and distance cause difficulty hearing.
• Assistive Technology identified in the IDEA 2004 as "Any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities. The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of such device."
• Assistive Technology Act of 1998 The Assistive Technology Act is intended to improve the provision of assistive technology to individuals with disabilities through comprehensive statewide programs of technology-related assistance.
• Assistive Technology Assessment According to IDEA (§300.6 Assistive Technology Services), assistive technology assessment is a process during which information is gathered in order to make assistive technology/service decisions. This process is designed to identify appropriate AT devices and services. The most useful assessments are generally those conducted within an individual's "customary environment" rather than in an unfamiliar testing site.
• Assistive Technology Consideration A brief conversation that the IEP team must have for each student with a disability that answers the question: Could this student benefit from the use of assistive technology? Teams must take into account the student's current performance, preferences, and previous assistive technology interactions.
• Assistive Technology Device Identified in the IDEA 2004 as "Any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities. The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, or the replacement of such device". [Authority 20 U.S.C. 1401(1)] AT devices range from low tech, such as a magnifying glass to high tech, such as a computer that responds to touch and allows a child to communicate more effectively.
• Assistive Technology Framework Underlying system or process for making AT decisions.
• Assistive Technology Guide A structure that directs the process for making AT decisions.
• Assistive Technology Implementation The process of putting into effect the functional use of assistive technology devices.
• The evaluation of the needs of a child with a disability, including a functional evaluation of the child in the child's customary environment;
• Purchasing, leasing, or otherwise providing for the acquisition of assistive technology devices by children with disabilities;
• Selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing assistive technology devices;
• Coordinating and using other therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices, such as those associated with existing education and rehabilitation plans and programs;
• Training or technical assistance for a child with a disability or, if appropriate, that child's family; and
• Training or technical assistance for professionals (including individuals providing education or rehabilitation services), employers, or other individuals who provide services to, employ, or are otherwise substantially involved in the major life functions of that child.
• Assistive Technology Specialist Assesses student needs and uses this information to identify, procure, and integrate technology into the daily routine of the student. This individual is usually the expert on AT and provides the IEP team with recommendations after completion of the AT assessment.
• Assistive Technology Team A group of individuals who work collectively to assess student needs. The team works together to identify technology solutions that will help the student in the academic setting. The AT team makes recommendations to the IEP team after the completion of the AT assessment.
• Assistive Technology Tools A technology device that enables an individual to complete a task that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to accomplish if the tool was not available.
• Asymmetrical Lacking symmetry between two or more like parts; not symmetrical.
• Asynchronous Not occurring at the same time.
• AT Assistive Technology.
• AT Competence: Functional Skills The ability to use the device functionally to accomplish the tasks for which it was intended.
• AT Competence: Operational Skills Mastery of the technical skills to operate the device.
• AT Competence: Social Skills The ability to use assistive technology appropriately with other people and in a way that is compatible with the environment.
• AT Competence: Strategic Skills The ability to know when to use an assistive technology device or strategy and when not to.
• AT Consideration A team process of determining if a child needs assistive technology.
• At-Risk A term that refers to a child who needs early intervention services in order to halt or prevent a delay in typical development.
• Ataxic The inability to voluntarily coordinate muscle movements.
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder A chronic, neurological, developmental disorder characterized by a continual pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity, as well as impulsivity, distractibility, and forgetfulness.
• Atypical Not conforming to the type; irregular
• Audio Format Audio specialized formats render content as speech to which a student listens. Audio formats include recorded human voice and synthesized electronic speech.
• Audio Graphing Calculators Tools that provide a way for students to create visual graphs of equations while also providing speech, sound, or tactile feedback regarding menus, shape descriptions, and keyboard navigation.
• Audiogram A graphic representation of one's hearing by frequency and intensity.
• Auditory Of or relating to the sense of hearing
• Auditory Cue Anything serving as a signal to do something that is presented for the student or individual to hear.
• Auditory Processing The brain's ability to interpret sound that has traveled through the auditory system, (or what happens when your brain recognizes and interprets the sounds around you). Hearing loss interrupts this process.
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) An integrated network of symbols, techniques, aids, strategies, and skills used with individuals for whom traditional or typical forms of communication (e.g., spoken language) are difficult or unavailable. An AAC system is one that increases or improves the communication abilities of individuals with receptive or expressive communication impairments. The system can include sign language, graphical symbol systems, synthesized speech, dedicated communication devices, and computer applications. AAC technology spans a wide range of products, from low-tech picture boards to high-tech speech recognition programs.
• Autism Spectrum A group of disorders characterized by impairments in social interaction, imaginative activity, verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and a limited number of interests and activities that tend to be repetitive. Includes Asperger's syndrome and autism.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder A range/variety of psychological conditions characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, as well as severely restricted interests and highly repetitive behavior.
• Autistic Leading An individual with autism takes adults or peers by the hand and lead them to a desired object.
• Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) The technology that converts the spoken word to text. Also known as voice recognition, speech recognition, or speech-to-text.
• Averse Having a strong feeling of opposition; opposed
• Aversives Consequences that are known to have a negative impact.
• Backup Reinforcers The reinforcers that learners purchase after acquiring a certain number of tokens.
• Backward Chaining An instructional process in which the steps of a task are identified and written sequentially. The teacher then prompts all steps in the task up to the last one. Once the learner achieves that step, the teacher goes backward in the chain of steps to prompt up to the step prior to the one at which the learner is proficient. In this manner, the learner is prompted/supported to complete the task and work toward independence as the teacher withdraws prompts sequentially.
• Baseline An observation of the learner's current behavior prior to beginning the intervention program.
• Baseline Data An observation of the learner's behavior prior to beginning the intervention program.
• Baseline Phase The period of time prior to introducing the intervention program in which data are gathered on the problem or interfering behavior.
• Behavior The interfering behavior.
• Behavior Intervention Plan A document describing the procedures that will be used in the treatment of problem behavior
• Behavioral Momentum Momentum towards completion of tasks at hand. Follow-thru, perseverance.
• Behavioral Principles Application of behavioral theory to learning situations, including prompting and reinforcing desired behavior.
• Behavioral Rehearsal Parents performing the intervention strategy with a child or adult to practice and perfect the intervention prior to implementing with their own child. Behavioral rehearsal is preferably combined with feedback and coaching.
• Behavioral Support A behavioral support is an intervention that assists an individual in learning an appropriate skill while accommodating for certain behavioral difficulties.
• Bilateral Hearing Loss Hearing loss in both ears that may be the same or different.
• Bilateral Motor Skills The ability to coordinate both sides of the body at the same time in a controlled an organized manner; for example, stabilizing the paper with one hand while writing with the other.
• Binaural Using or referring to both ears.
• Black Box Warnings Warnings that appear on the bottle or package of a prescription medication indicating any serious side effects associated with taking the drug.
• BlindSquare An app that assists blind people navigation inside a building. It may also be used as an accessible outdoor navigation system.
• Bluetooth short-range wireless connection for mobile devices.
• Bluetooth A short-range wireless connection.
• Boardmaker (TM) A software program that provides symbols and pictures for many words and activities that can be used to produce overlays for communication devices.
• Boards A single page with more than one symbol that can be used with an SGD (an overlay for a static screen device).
• Bold-Line paper Paper with extra thick black lines used by students with low vision to write on; younger learners who are practicing cursive writing may need more pronounced lines to stay in them while handwriting.
• BPS BPS stands for beacon positioning system, which consists of an app and beacons that facilitate indoor navigation.
• Braille Braille is a tactile system of reading and writing made up of raised dot patterns for letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Braille may be either embossed (a permanent printed document) or refreshable (electronically generated and accessed via a braille display device).
• Braille Display A device with 12 to 80 refreshable Braille cells used for reading text information displayed on a screen of a computer or a touch device connected to the Braille display via USB or Bluetooth.
• Braille Embosser A special printer that prints in Braille.
• Braille Note-Taker An electronic input and output device usually with a Braille keyboard and a Braille display for reading and writing using Braille; it has internal memory and different connections as well as utility software. an electronic input and output device usually with a Braille keyboard and a Braille display for reading and writing using Braille; it has internal memory and different connections as well as utility software.
• Break Area An area in the home, school, or community solely used for break activities; so if a child gets too upset or too overstimulated and needs a break they can utilize this space to help them calm down and successfully return to the task.
• Calculation The ability to work out answers to math problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
• Calendar A graphic representation of days, weeks, months, and/or years. Calendars come in multiple formats, such as a vertical or horizontal layout. Calendar views may include a single day, week, month, or year(s) at a time.
• CamelCase A way of beginning each word of a phrase with a capital letter. For example, #camelcase is not #CamelCase. When using hashtags on social media, #CamelCase hashtags are recommended for better accessibility. They enable screen readers and texts readers to more efficiently read the hashtags, and are also more readable for sighted individuals.
• Camouflaging Covering up characteristics of autism in certain social situations, also called masking, blending, or acting
• Card Catalog A piece of furniture with many drawers that holds listings of publications in a library. In order to locate books or references on specific subjects, users search the card catalog.
• Career Development The process of identifying and implementing career activities that cause change for the purpose of growth
• Cartooning The use of visual symbols/drawings to enhance understanding of language concepts, social information, emotions and feelings.
• CCTV Closed-circuit TV, a desktop magnifying device helping users with low vision read text or images placed under the built-in camera; it is also known as video magnifier utility software - software programs used for a variety of tasks like word processing, presentation creation, or mathematical operations.
• Central Transition Area Defined space within the classroom, home, or work setting where an individual can go to check their schedule for the next task in their daily sequence of activities.
• Cerebral Palsy A neurological condition resulting in impaired muscle coordination, usually acquired at birth.
• Chain of Behaviors Behaviors or tasks that involve a services of steps (e.g., brushing teeth, getting coat on, and washing dishes).
• Chained Behavior Behaviors or tasks that involve a series of steps (e.g., brushing teeth, getting coat on, and washing dishes)
• Chained Skill Skills or tasks that involve a services of steps (e.g., brushing teeth, getting coat on, and washing dishes).
• Chained Task Tasks that involve a services of steps (e.g., brushing teeth, getting coat on, and washing dishes).
• Chaining A sequence of behavior taught in temporal order.In forward chaining, reinforcement is delivered when the predetermined criterion for the first behavior in the sequence. Thereafter, reinforcement is delivered for criterion completion of the second behavior (and so forth) in the sequence. In backward chaining, reinforcement is delivered when the final behavior in the sequence is performed at the predetermined criterion. Thereafter, reinforcement is delivered when both the last and the next-to-last behaviors in the sequence are performed to criterion.
• Challenging Behavior Behavior that an individual may exhibit that detracts from the task at hand. This might include acting-out, aggressive behavior, rigidity, refusal to follow-directions, self-injurious behavior, withdrawn behavior, etc. The behavior can be as unique and diverse as the individual exhibiting it.
• Child / Adolescent Psychologist A medical doctor specializing in the prescription of psychotropic medication to children and adolescents.
• Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) A motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis. Instead, the brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue) needed for speech.
• Choice Board Typically uses picture symbols, objects, or text representing activity choices or rewards that can be selected as a motivator, leisure options, or simply to provide the student options throughout the day.
• Chromebook A laptop running Chrome OS as its operating system. The only software application that Chrome OS can run locally is the Google Chrome browser. The owner's applications, videos, image files, and documents are stored remotely on Google virtual servers. Files and software applications are associated with the user's Google account so they can be accessed through a Chrome browser on any computing device.
• Circle of Friends A program where socially challenged individuals are paired with a group of socially competent peers. During the group meeting time social skills are addressed and practiced.
• Cloud-Based Cloud-based (the Cloud is a network of servers) software and applications that allow users to store and access information on the Internet rather than on an individual computer hard drive.
• Co-Occurring Condition/Comorbid Condition To indicate a medical condition existing simultaneously but independently with another condition in a patient.
• Coaching Direct input provided to the parents by the practitioner regarding how to perform the intervention correctly. Feedback on correct and incorrect implementation is provided during or soon after the parents carry out the intervention with their child. Corrective strategies are outlined, allowing parents to change and improve the intervention as they go along.
• Cognition Mental activities such as thinking, understanding, learning and remembering
• Cognitive Relating to the process of acquiring knowledge through thought, experience, and the senses.
• Collaborative Produced by two or more parties working together
• Collateral Secondary; additional
• Color-Coding Using color to organize the environment or specific tasks.
• Comic Strip Conversations (TM) A conversation between two or more people that incorporates simple drawing to enhance understanding and comprehension of what is being communicated. (Gray, 1994).
• Command and Control Command and Control is also known as embedded speech recognition that only responds to a fixed set of commands. Typical applications include environmental control via spoken commands to devices (like mobile phones, wheelchairs, household appliances, and door/window openers). Command and Control is also used for control of mouse movements and other navigation movements for hands-free operation of computers.
• Communication An interactive exchange between two or more people to convey needs, feelings, and ideas
• Communicative Attempts Any behavior that may serve a communicative function, through any modality (e.g., verbalization, gesture, facial expression, vocalization).
• Communicative Competence An individual's ability to function adequately in daily communication so that they can express ideas, thoughts, and feelings to a variety of listeners across contexts.
• Communicative Exchange Any behavior that may serve a communicative function, through any modality (e.g., verbalizations, gestures, facial expressions, vocalizations).
• Communicative Functions Basic functions of communication (verbal and nonverbal; formal and informal). They include labeling/answering, requesting, protesting, and social/greetings. In PECS, the focus is on the functions of requesting and labeling/answering.
• Communicative Intent The purposeful meaning of a behavior.
• Communicative Partner The person to whom communication is addressed.
• Community Setting A community setting is any place outside of the home. Department stores, recreational complexes, restaurants, parks, libraries, and grocery stores, are examples of community settings.
• Comorbidity The presence of two disorders in a person at the same time.
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Any unproven practice that is used in place of, or in conjunction with, a treatment that has been proven through scientific research.
• Complex Communication Needs (CCN) A term used to describe an individual who cannot meet his functional daily communication needs (want/needs, transfer information, share feelings, etc.). The CCNs maybe a result of physical, intellectual, or sensory challenges.
• Compliance Conformity with a desire, demand, request or proposal.
• Composition The act and process of writing.
• Comprehensibility Factors outside of a student's level of understandability or intelligibility that seem to increase the listener's level of understanding. These factors include the communication partner's level of familiarity with the student and his or her understanding the context of the communication interaction.
• Comprehension Capacity of the mind to perceive and understand; power to grasp ideas; ability to know
• Comprehension Level The level at which an individual demonstrates an ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result).
• Comprehensive Including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something
• Compressing To press together
• Computer Access Input and output devices (voice, Braille), alternate access aids (headsticks, light pointers), modified or alternate keyboards, switches, special software, etc., that enable persons with disabilities to use a computer. This category includes speech recognition software.
• Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI) The use of (personal) computers for education and training.
• Concrete Cues An object, item, or visual prompt that signals performance is needed. An initiating cue is a signal to begin performing a task or task performance step. A terminating cue signals the end to an activity or task.
• Concrete Learner A concrete learner is a learner that takes exact meaning from what is shared or said. They might have difficulty tying previous learning to current information being presented. They tend to take the information exactly as presented, in the moment it is presented, and not apply or interpret it outside of the current situation.
• Conditional Discrimination Tasks in which reinforcement is available contingent upon responding to a combination of cues and not available to the individual components.
• Consequence-Based Strategy An action (e.g., reinforcement or punishment) that is delivered immediately following a behavior.
• Consequences Events that happen immediately or soon after a behavior occurs. For example,with prompting, the consequence is the feedback learners receive for using, or not using, the target skill correctly. The consequence is either (a) delivering reinforcement for using the target skill correctly, (b) ignoring the incorrect use of the target skill, or (c) applying a correction procedure.
• Consistent Marked by regularity or steady continuity: free from variation or contradiction.
• Consortium An association, typically of several businesses
• Constant Time Delay (CTD) A response prompting procedure that is used to teach new skills. With CTD, teachers/practitioners use a fixed interval (i.e., 3-5 seconds) between the cue and the controlling prompt. This wait time gives learners opportunities to use the skill independently before teachers/practitioners deliver controlling prompts to teach appropriate use of skills.
• Context Blindness A deficit in the ability to use context spontaneously and subconsciously to determine meanings.
• Contextual Pertaining to the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.
• Contextual Display A picture-based interface for a communication device where words or phrases are organized based upon the context where they are typically used (e.g., the word "stove" is accessed by going to the picture of a kitchen and pressing the stove).
• Contingency Mapping A contingency map provides a visual representation of the contingencies responsible for the occurrence of problem behavior but also potential contingencies that can be developed during intervention
• Continuous Schedule of Reinforcement Reinforcement is immediately provided each time the learner uses the target skill.
• Continuous Speech Speech recognition that accepts a string of words or phrases as input to be converted to text.
• Contracted Braille is a form of abbreviated Braille; the abbreviations follow spelling rules and pronunciation of the particular language, e.g. English contractions for English, French contractions for French, etc..
• Contracting To draw parts together
• Controlling Prompt Least restrictive prompt needed by a learner to use a target skill correctly.
• Conversational Speech The way we talk to one another when engaged in everyday speech.
• Coordinated Set of Activities A set of activities developed for a child with a disability that focuses on improving the child's academic and functional achievement to facilitate post-school activities.
• Core Vocabulary Important and/or frequently used vocabulary words that are present on every board/overlay.
• Correction Procedure Feedback provided to learners with ASD when they do not use the target skill correctly (e.g., interrupting learners as they begin to use the target skill incorrectly, repeating or stopping a trial).
• Correspondence Check A correspondence check is a process by which one can assess that a learner understands the connection between what they are saying and/or doing and the object(s) with which they are interacting. In requesting, this is done by having the learner identify by pointing or picking up the item that s/he has referred to in their communication.
• Countdown Tool A numbered or colored object used to count down the remaining items to be completed to finish an activity.
• Crossing Midline The ability to move one hand or foot across the body into the space of the other hand or foot.
• Cue Something in the environment selected to signal learners to use a target skill.
• Cueing The process of providing cues, prompts, hints, and other meaningful information, direction, or instruction to aid a person who is experiencing difficulty in areas such as moving to the next task, or completing steps within the current task.
• Cues Prompts that are given to encourage SGD use (e.g., pointing, verbal directions, hand-over-hand assistance).
• Curriculum Modifications Curriculum modifications include altering content, conceptual difficulty, educational goals, and instructional methods to promote learner engagement and on-task behavior.
• Curriculum-Based Measurements (CBM) Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is one way that students' academic performance can be assessed. Specifically, CBM is a method teachers use to find out how students are progressing in basic academic areas such as math, reading, writing, and spelling.
• Customized Employment (CE) Customized employment is a "negotiation" between the job seeker, his/her representative, and the employer. It is not a program, but a set of principles and strategies that seek positive community employment outcomes for people with complex challenges.
• DAISY DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) refers to a technical standard for producing accessible and navigable multimedia documents. In current practice, these documents are Digital Talking Books (DTBs), digital text books, or a combination of synchronized audio and text books.
• DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) a technical standard for digital audiobooks, periodicals and computerized text. DAISY is designed to be a complete audio substitute for print material and is specifically designed for use by people with print disabilities.
• Data Collection Data collection is collecting specific information about a student's academic or behavioral performance. Collecting data helps an instructor determine a program's effectiveness.
• Dedicated Communication Device A device specifically designed to be used for communication, but may also interface to a computer, printer, and an environmental control unit. Non-dedicated AAC devices are not specifically designed for communication and can be adapted to function as AAC devices.
• Dedicated Device A device designed specifically for people with disabilities to meet their particular needs.
• Delay Interval The amount of time between the initial cue and the controlling prompt. With both time delay procedures, teachers/practitioners use a 0-second delay when initially teaching a skill. The delay interval is increased according to the guidelines associated with each time delay procedure. With constant time delay (CTD), a fixed interval of 3 to 5 seconds is used. With progressive time delay (PTD), the delay interval is gradually increased as learners become more proficient at using target skills.
• Delayed Echolalia Individuals repeat words or phrases that they have heard previously.
• Delayed Reinforcement Providing a consequence after an initial period of time has elapsed from the occurrence of a behavior.
• Denied Access Removing or preventing access to a reinforcing item or activity following a target behavior
• Deprivation Deprivation describes the process of systematically withdrawing the use of reinforcement.
• Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) Diagnostic criteria for DCD include performance in daily activities that require motor coordination that is substantially below that expected, given the person's chronological age and measured intelligence, and interferes with academic achievement or activities of daily living and is not due to a general medical condition.
• Developmental Delays A chronological delay in the appearance of normal developmental milestones achieved during infancy and early childhood.
• Developmental Disabilities Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas that begin during the developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person's lifetime.
• Developmental Milestone Stages of a child’s maturation, usually marked by the accomplishment of a motor, language or cognitive skill.
• Developmental Pediatrician A medical doctor who has specialized in the diagnosis and management of children with a variety of developmental disorders.
• Developmental Screening Developmental screening typically involves a brief assessment to determine if a child has basic skills similar to same age peers or if he is experiencing delays that should be addressed.
• Dexterity Motor skill in performing tasks with the hands and fingers.
• Diagnosis Identification of disorders such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Diagnosis in the United States is most often based on the current edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5).
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders A list of psychiatric conditions and the characteristics of each, used by mental health professionals to guide diagnostic decision-making
• Dictation Speech recognition for text entry into word processors, email, blogs, and or any other destination that accepts text. Usually requires some training and an individual voice file for highest accuracy.
• Didactic Intended to instruct or teach.
• Differential Reinforcement Teachers/practitioners reinforce a learner's use of an appropriate, alternative behavior while ignoring the interfering behavior.
• Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA) Delivers reinforcement upon the occurrence of a behavior that is an alternative to the behavior selected for reduction but not necessary topographically dissimilar to the inappropriate behavior.
• Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI) Delivers reinforcement upon the occurrence of a behavior that is incompatible with or cannot be exhibited at the same time as the inappropriate behavior.
• Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates of Responding (DRL) Integrates a schedule of reinforcement to yield low rates of responding.
• Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO) Delivers reinforcement contingently whenever an undesirable behavior is not emitted during a specific period of time.
• Differential Reinforcement Procedure The application of reinforcement designed to reduce the occurrence of interfering behaviors (e.g., tantrums, aggression, self-injury, perhaps stereotypic behavior), resulting in a positive and humane teaching environment to facilitate learning.
• Digital Clock Electronic representation of time, denoted as a digital watch or clock.
• Digital Storytelling Using multimedia to tell a story (e.g., through picture, sounds, movies).
• Digital Text Digital text is an electronic format that can be delivered via a computer or another device. Digital text is malleable or flexible and can be easily transformed in many different ways depending upon student needs and the technology being used to display the content. To accommodate the needs and preferences of a user, various features of the technology which control how the content is presented can be manipulated such as size, fonts, colors, contrast, highlighting, and text-to-speech. The digital text format may contain both audio and visual output depending upon the way the content is developed and the technology that is being used.
• Digital/Digitized Speech Speech that is recorded and stored in a digital format, and then reproduced by a computer.
• Direct Instruction A teacher-led instructional procedure that provides students with specific instructions on a task, teacher-led practice, independent practice, and immediate corrective feedback.
• Direct Selection The process of choosing a word or phrase on an SGD by touching an icon or button.
• Direct Support Professional (DSP) A direct support professional is a person who assists an individual with a disability to lead a self-directed life and contribute to the community, assists with activities of daily living if needed, and encourages attitudes and behaviors that enhance community inclusion.
• Disclose to reveal or share information.
• Discovery Discovery is a process by which one gains a realistic and thorough understanding of the individual and is the foundation upon which all customization of employment rests.
• Discrete Skill A skill or task that involves only one step (e.g., requesting more, identifying a letter, saying "Hello" to a friend).
• Discrete Speech Speech recognition method that required users to pronounce one word at a time, each clearly separated by a small pause. This was the method of input for early versions of Dragon products. It was replaced in 1997 by Dragon Naturally Speaking, which uses continuous speech.
• Discrete Task A task that involves only one step (e.g., requesting more, identifying a letter, saying "Hello" to a friend).
• Discrete Trial A specific method of teaching that uses repeated presentations of a skill and positive reinforcement for correct answers
• Discrete Trial Training (DTT) A method based on the principle of breaking behavior down into small (discrete) steps that have a clear beginning, middle and end. This is called a discrete trial training unit.
• Discriminate The process of behaving one way in one situation and another way in a different situation as deemed appropriate by prevailing circumstances. In PECS, this is the ability to effectively choose between two or more symbols by paying attention to specific details as they relate to the desired outcome.
• Discrimination Teaching A procedure that is used to teach learners with ASD how to discriminate between two different stimuli. With self-management, learners are taught how to tell the difference between correct and incorrect use of the target behavior.
• Discriminative Stimulus An event (teacher, prompt, environmental condition that sets the occasion for the behavior) that signals to the learner with ASD that a response should occur (and usually will be followed by a reinforcer).
• Disregulation The inability to organize information from the senses and react in an appropriate way
• Disruptive Tending to interrupt by causing a problem
• Distractibility Inability to sustain one's attention, which is rapidly diverted from one topic to another
• Dorsiflexed In reference to joint position of the ankle, the ankle flexed with the toe moving up and off the flat surface.
• Down Time A time of reduced activity
• Drives A computer component that reads and often writes data onto a storage medium such as a floppy disk, CD (compact disk) or a memory stick/device via the USB port.
• DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies used by hardware and software manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders to control the use of digital content and devices after sale.
• DSM, DSM-V The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States. It is intended to be applicable in a wide array of contexts and used by clinicians and researchers of many different orientations (e.g., biological, psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, family/systems). The DSM is now in its 5th edition.
• Due Process A right provided to parents through IDEA that allows them to pursue due process to ensure their child's access to a free, appropriate, public education.
• Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Durable Medical Equipment (DME) is any piece of equipment that is used to serve a medical purpose, can withstand repeated use, and is appropriate for use in the home. It is expected to last for a substantial period of time. Durable medical equipment can include devices, controls, or appliances specified in an individual's plan for medical care. The equipment is used to help increase the individual's ability to perform various activities of daily living or to communicate with the community in which they live. DME can include items necessary for life support, supplementary supplies and equipment necessary for the proper functioning of such items.
• Duration The amount of time a particular target behavior lasts.
• Duration Data Duration data are used to record how long a learner engages in a particular behavior.
• Duration-Based Preference Assessments A type of assessment used to determine how long an individual learner with ASD engages with a variety of items. Data from the assessment are used to identify learner preferences.
• Dycem Brand name of non-slip plastic sheeting used to keep things from slipping or moving.
• Dynamic Relating to energy or to objects in motion.
• Dynamic Learning Maps The Dynamic Learning Maps™ (DLM ®) alternate assessment project offers an innovative way for all students with significant cognitive disabilities to fully demonstrate their knowledge. By integrating assessment with instruction during the year and providing a year-end assessment, the DLM system maps student learning aligned with college and career readiness standards in English language arts and mathematics.
• Dynamic Screen Devices Speech generating devices with touch screens that link to a main menu.
• Dysarthria A condition that results in distorted speech. The cause is difficulty controlling or coordinating the muscles used when speaking, or weakness of those muscles. Dysarthria often is characterized by slurred or slow speech that can be difficult to understand (Mayo Clinic Definition).
• Dyscalculia A brain-based condition that makes working with numbers and number concepts difficult.
• Dyslexia A learning disability in reading that can hinder a person’s ability to read, write, spell, and even speak.
• Dyspraxia A neurological motor planning disorder that disrupts how students plan, coordinate, and sequence motor movements. Students with dyspraxia may be able to perform some actions spontaneously but cannot perform them on request or sequence them in an activity.
• Inability to perform complex motor movements; impaired oral-motor abilities that result in poor speech production
• Early Intervention Programs for young children with special needs, from birth until the child turns three; early intervention services are authorized under IDEA Part C and may include speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, or other appropriate interventions which are typically provided in the child's home or a community setting.
• Easy-Hard Sequence Presenting tasks in a sequence that allows the individual to complete an easier task, achieving success, prior to being given more difficult tasks.
• Echolalic or Echolalia Repeating what others say. Immediate echolalia occurs when individuals repeat words or phrases immediately after they hear them. Delayed echolalia occurs when individuals repeat words or phrases that they have heard possibly days or weeks later.
• Ecological The science of the relationship between people and their environment.
• Ecological Vocational Assessment This specially-focused evaluation looks at particular employment tasks and job sites to determine whether the person with disabilities can perform necessary tasks and, if so, with what accommodations and other supports. It evaluates the degree to which the demands of a job and the skills of an individual are a good match.
• Educational Bullying When school staff members participate in or lead the bullying of students
• Electronic Aids to Daily Living (EADLs) EADLs provide independent, alternative control of devices within the environment.
• Electronic Magnification Magnification that is obtained by placing an object under a camera mounted to a visual display and controlled by special magnification software.
• Electronic Math Processing Software Computer-based software that allows for completion of math problems in the electronic format. Advanced applications include those that allow students to write math symbols, including integrals, statistical symbols, factors and derivatives, on a device. Basic applications include customization of math problems in the areas of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals by adjusting the color, text size, auditory feedback or switch access features.
• Eligibility A term used in federal legislation for special education in the United States. The term is used in the public school system. It indicates that a student has a disability and an educational need for special education supports and services.
• Emotional Readiness The feeling of being prepared ability to cope with life issues in a way that does not disrupt overall functioning.
• Employment Specialist A person hired by a vocational program, agency, or school to help individuals with disabilities find work and careers in the community. Their duties include helping individuals with disabilities learn and accurately carry out job duties. Other similar terms: employment consultant, job developer, job coach and transition specialist.
• Encephalopathy A broad term for any brain disease that alters brain function or structure.
• Encompassing To include
• Engagement A learner's active participation in the learning environment and activities.
• English Language Learner A student from a non-English speaking home or background who is unable to communicate or learn effectively using the English language and who needs specialized instruction in the English language and his/her academic courses.
• Environmental Control Systems Primarily electronic systems that enable someone with limited mobility to control various appliances, electronic aids, security systems, etc., in their room, home or other surroundings.
• Environmental Cue Environmental cues are those signals or prompts that come from the environment and often instruct or guide future actions or responses.
• Environmental Demands Any external input which the child is to respond to or process.
• Environmental Factors Aspects of the individuals experiences or surroundings such as noise, temperature, sleep schedules, light, etc.
• Environmental Modifications Adaptations to the learning environment that promote learners' active participation in classroom routines and activities and prevent/reduce the occurrence of interfering behaviors.
• Environments Refers to the various school, home, and community settings in which students function and may need to use assistive technology to improve functional capabilities.
• ePub (Electronic Publication) a format standard for digital publications and documents based on web standards.
• Ergonomic Intended to provide optimum comfort and to avoid stress or injury
• Errorless Learning/Teaching Teaching procedures that limit learners' mistakes as they acquire new skills. Constant time delay and progressive time delay are examples of errorless learning procedures, because (a) expectations during teaching activities are clearly identified through the use of cues, (b) intervals are gradually increased to reduce learners' errors, and (c) reinforcement is provided immediately following learners' responses.
• Escape Extinction Preventing avoidance or escape from an aversive task, situation, or stimuli following a target behavior
• Essential Elements DLM Essential Elements (EEs) are specific statements of knowledge and skills linked to the grade-level expectations identified in college- and career-readiness standards. EEs build a bridge from content standards to academic expectations for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
• eText Electronic text that can be modified to meet a user’s visual needs. eText is also referred to as digital text.
• Evaluate Determine the meaning of an action or behavior, or determine progress on a task or skill.
• Evaluation A nondiscriminatory, multidisciplinary, multifaceted assessment required by IDEA prior to classifying a child as having a disability and providing special education services to that child.
• Evaluation of Effectiveness Evaluation of effectiveness of the assistive technology devices and services includes data collection, documentation, and analysis to monitor changes in student performance resulting from implementation of assistive technology devices and services.
• Event Sampling A data collection process that is used to record each occurrence of a particular behavior (also known as frequency data).
• Evidence-Based Professional Practices Evidence-based practices are those supported through research in peer-reviewed journals.
• Executive Function (EF) Mental processes such as working memory, behavior inhibition, mental flexibility, planning, task initiation, performance monitoring, and self-regulation.
• Executive Functioning Skills A term for the skills needed for mental processes such as working memory, behavior inhibition, mental flexibility, planning, task initiation, performance monitoring and self-regulation.
• Expanded Core Curriculum A set of skills (compensatory or functional academic skills, including communication modes, orientation and mobility, social interaction skills and others) that students with visual impairments should learn.
• Expanding The process of adding words onto a verbalization made by a learner. For example, if the learner says, "Go," one might expand this statement with, "Go, car! Fast!"
• Expectation Considered reasonable, due, or necessary.
• Expressive Communication Communication that an individual uses, in any format, such as sign language, oral language, gestures, or through an SGD.
• Expressive Language Communicating by writing or talking with another person. Using symbols or words to express oneself.
• Extended In reference to joint position, this is the straightening of the joint from a flexed or bent position.
• Extensions Small software programs or extra features and functionality that can be easily added to a browser such as Google Chrome. An extension can modify and enhance the functionality of the browser page. An example of an extension is one that provides TTS (text-to-speech) to read the text on the web page.
• Extinction A procedure used in applied behavior in which reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior is discontinued.
• Extinction Burst An increase in the frequency, duration, and/or intensity of the behavior as a result of the learner attempting to gain access to the reinforcer previously provided to the interfering behavior.
• Extinction Burst Safety Plan A sequence of steps on how to proceed with an intervention should the interfering behavior undergo an extinction burst, or intensify in response to the extinction procedure.
• Extinction Trial The cycle of when a target behavior occurs and an extinction procedure is used to prevent it from occurring again.
• Extra-Stimulus Prompting Prompting that involves additional assistance from the teacher to correct the response from the learner.
• Eye-Gaze Frames An eye-gaze frame can be a good way to allow a child to make choices across a variety of activities and routines such as book reading, mealtime, a community outing to a restaurant, or toys. It can be made out of PVC pipe, foam core, or an empty picture frame. https://www.pinterest.com/mom2nug/eye-gaze/
• Facilitate to make easier, to help bring about.
• Fade or Fading The systematic process of gradually reducing or eliminating an instructional prompt.
• Family-Centered Planning Collaborations between families and professionals that help make decisions that will provide for the best development of the child and address concerns and priorities of families. When using family-centered planning, parents are not only involved in the process, but are also empowered to make meaningful decisions.
• Feature-Match Matching features required for a client to the specific AT device features and specifications.
• Feedback (behavior support) Feedback is provided to learners with ASD when they use target skills correctly (i.e., reinforcement) or incorrectly (e.g., ignoring response, repeating/stopping trial).
• Feedback (hearing aids) A loud whistling sound that occurs when sound that has been processed by a hearing aid is picked up by the microphone of the hearing aid and reprocessed. This tends to occur with hearing aids that need to be set quite loudly and if the hearing aid is loose in the ear.
• Fidelity Implementation of the intervention strategy or intervention plan accurately and as designed.
• Field Symbols that are presented together on a board/overlay.
• File Format A type of file that is associated with a specific medium in which information is saved (e.g., text format, graphic format, audio format).
• Finished Box A box, or specified place for the individual to place completed work jobs or tasks.
• First-Then Sequence A visual sequence that outlines tasks for an individual. An initial task, usually a less preferred, or non-preferred task is specified, and following completion of that task, usually a preferred task is presented for completion.
• Fixed DRO Schedule of Reinforcement The interval of time remains the same across trials for delivering reinforcement.
• Fixed Schedule of Reinforcement Reinforcement is provided after a specified number of correct responses or amount of time.
• Flat Affect Reduction in emotional expressiveness
• Flexed In reference to joint position, the bending of the joint from a straight or extended position.
• Flexible Spelling Allowing for phonetic spelling of words.
• FM System Frequency modulation [FM] radio signal - May be thought of as a personal radio that transmits the voice of the person wearing the transmitter/microphone directly to the ear of the person wearing the receiver. FM systems are commonly used in classrooms because they allow the student to hear the teacher's voice clearly above the background noise even when the teacher is at a distance.
• Focal Child Child with ASD who is the focus for the intervention.
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA) An organization responsible for protecting public safety and health by regulating and supervising the use of prescription medications, and other products.
• Formal Assessment A systematic process used to collect information to aid with decision-making. This type of assessment often involves standardized protocols and/or interpretation procedures.
• Forward Chaining Teaching a behavior in order from the first step, then continuing on until the task is complete.
• Framework "A basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text" (Dictionary.com).
• Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) Refers to the concept that children with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate public education that meets the unique needs of the student and may occur with children who do not have disabilities or within special education classrooms. Under the IDEA, FAPE is defined as an educational program that is individualized to a specific child, designed to meet that child's unique needs, provides access to the general curriculum, meets the grade-level standards established by the state, and from which the child receives educational benefit. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Washington, D.C., 2010.
• Frequency The number of occurrences of the target behavior within a specified period.
• Frequency Criterion Criterion used when learners with ASD are trying to increase the number of times they use target behaviors. For instance, a learner with ASD may be trying to increase the number of times he initiates with peers during small-group instruction. The frequency criterion is the benchmark used to determine whether the learner is using the target skill (e.g., initiate interactions with peers three times during three separate small group activities) frequently or not frequently (if the target behavior is an interfering behavior) enough.
• Frequency Data A data collection process that is used to record each occurrence of a particular behavior (also known as event sampling).
• Frequency Log A data collection process that is used to record each occurrence of a particular behavior (also known as event sampling).
• Frequency System With this type of system, learners with ASD record each instance of the target behavior.
• Frustration A deep, chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs.
• Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) FBA is a process for addressing interfering behaviors exhibited by learners with ASD. FBA relies on a variety of techniques and strategies to identify the purposes of a specific behavior and to help teachers and other practitioners select interventions that directly address the interfering behavior.
• Functional Communication Training (FCT) A systematic practice used to help learners with ASD replace inappropriate behavior or subtle communicative acts with more appropriate and effective communicative behaviors or skills.
• Functional Curriculum 21st-century functional curriculum develops skills taught to build independence in naturally occurring environments. These include academics, natural, domestic, vocational, community, and social environments. Development of communication skills is a key to success in all other environments.
• Functional Performance Generally, refers to everyday life skills that are not considered academic.
• Functional Vocational Evaluation During a functional vocational evaluation, a professional watches an individual as he/she performs a job or various tasks, gathering information and data to determine if the work is a good match for their interests and abilities. This type of assessment should record not only the ease or difficulty with which a person is able to complete particular tasks, but also affective information - whether the person appears relaxed and happy while doing the job or is unduly stressed and agitated during or after completing the tasks. A functional vocational evaluation might also include an individual's ability to get to and from a job and their ability to get along with co-workers. Information from a functional vocational evaluation is used to refine educational experiences, courses of study, and employment activities/strategies prior to the transition.
• Functionally Equivalent A communicative act that is used to describe behaviors that serve the same purpose as an interfering behavior. For example, grabbing cookies and asking for cookies (which are immediately given) are functionally equivalent.
• Future's Planning A person-centered approach to planning a student's program based upon his or her individual short and long-term needs, desires, and interests.
• Gamer A person who enjoys playing video games.
• Generalization An individual's response in settings where no treatment or intervention has taken place. Stimulus generalization refers to performance under conditions (e.g., in other settings, with other persons) other than those that were present during the initial learning. That is, the learned behaviors are demonstrated in untrained settings. Response generalization refers to changes in behavior similar to those directly treated. The learned behaviors appear in other related behaviors.
• Generative Spelling The ability to spell novel words, based on the elements learned from known words.
• Genre Type of writing and, as a result, the type of writing that is expected (e.g. descriptive, expository, journals and letters, narrative, persuasive or poetry).
• Georgia Project for Assistive Technology (GPAT) A unit of the Georgia Department of Education, it supports local school systems in their efforts to provide AT devices and services to students with disabilities.
• Gestural Prompt Give learners with ASD information about how to complete target skills or tasks by using gestures.
• Gestures A hand or body movement that has communicative intent, but is not part of a formal language system (e.g., pointing).
• Goal A result that one is attempting to achieve.
• Goalball A team sport for athletes with visual impairments where two teams play with a ball containing a bell. The objective of the game is to throw the ball into the opponents' goal.
• Google Classroom A blended learning platform that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments in schools in a paperless way.
• GPS GPS stands for global positioning device and is a device that is used to assist in finding a way from place A to place B.
• Grading Rubric An objective chart designating performance expectations in component parts; provides descriptions of criteria according to various levels of quality indicators.
• Graduated Guidance Graduated guidance is a process in which the amount and types of prompts needed to help the learner with ASD complete the target skill are provided, and then are immediately faded (reduced) as the learner begins to acquire the skill.
• Graphed Represented by a picture diagram to show a relationship, such as between a behavior improving or not improving
• Graphic Organizer An instructional tool used to illustrate content information. Examples of graphic organizers include: outlines, timelines, tables, charts, webs, lists, pictorial representations, etc.
• Graphic Symbols Pictures that are used to represent words or phrases, which may vary in degree of abstractness.
• Graphing Calculators Devices that enable students to create visual graphs of equations.
• Grasp To seize and hold, grip or clasp with fingers, in order to pick up objects.
• Group Area Area of classroom or space designated for group activities.
• Group Response Systems Systems that allow students to respond to questions via remote hand-held input systems. Teachers are provided data on student responses in real time.
• Group Schedule Display of planned group activities in the order in which they will occur using symbols, words, pictures, photograph, icons, or actual objects. Educators might use schedules throughout the day to orient the students to the day's activities. These group schedules might also include mini-schedules that provide a group of students with a sequenced list of tasks to complete for an individual activity.
• Gustatory Of or pertaining to the sense of taste or tasting.
• Habituation Habituation describes instances where the learner does not respond to or stops responding to a reinforcer.
• Hand-Over-Hand A cue in which adults take learners' hands in their own to help them activate the SGD.
• Hand-Over-Hand Assistance This is a level of full physical prompting in which the teacher guides the hands of the learner with his or her own. This level of prompting is often used in the initial stages of training physical tasks.
• Haptic Involvement of touch in the process of exploration.
• Heterogeneous Including a diverse number into a group
• Hidden Curriculum The unwritten social expectations that everyone knows but that are never directly taught (e.g., not telling an off-color joke in front of the principal). These expectations must usually be specifically taught to children with ASD (Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004).
• High Probability Intervention Involves quickly presenting several easy high-probability requests prior to presenting a more difficult or low-probability directive.
• High Probability Requests A familiar request that is easy for the child to perform and thus is associated with a higher probability of completion.
• High-Functioning Autism Individual is autistic with an ability to communicate, has some social impairments, and usually an average or even high IQ
• High-Tech Communication Aids Communication aids which include speech generating devices (SGDs), laptop computers with communication software, and mobile devices with technology apps. High-tech communication devices use synthesized speech output, digitized speech output, or both. They typically feature dynamic displays, in that multiple pages of symbols are possible and the communicator navigates between the various pages.
• Home/Worksite Modifications Structural adaptations, fabrications in the home, worksite or other area (ramps, lifts, bathroom changes) that remove or reduce physical barriers for an individual with a disability.
• Human Activity Assistive Technology Model (HAAT) Developed by Albert Cook and Susan Hussey (1995), this assessment model is based on a human performance model (Bailey, 1989) and recognizes that context influences the interactions between the human, activity, and assistive technology.
• Hyperactivity The condition of being highly or excessively active
• Hypersensitive High level of sensitivity to physical (sound, sight, touch, or smell) and/or emotional stimuli.
• Hypersensitivity An excessive or abnormal sensitivity to stimuli.
• Hyposensitive A lack of sensitivity to and awareness of environmental stimuli.
• Hyposensitivity A lower-than-normal sensitivity to stimuli.
• Hypothesis Statement A tentative statement that outlines a possible explanation for why a learner with ASD may be engaging in a particular interfering behavior.
• Hypoxic A condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply.
• Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) Neurological impairments or injuries in a baby caused by low oxygen. Lack of oxygen frequently damages not only the brain but other organs as well, so that the baby may demonstrate signs of more than brain injury.
• iBeacon Wireless transmitters used as landmarkers compatible with the BlindSquare navigation app. iBeacons continuously broadcast a signal (similar to a radio station) to create a network connected to BlindSquare, thus providing (indoor/outdoor) positioning, proximity detection, and personal interaction systems.
• Icon A sign (as a word or graphic symbol) whose form suggests its meaning; a usually pictorial representation.
• Icon Sequencing Selecting multiple icons in a specific order to indicate a single word; process is designed to speed word access from a large vocabulary.
• IDEA The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA is the federal legislation for special education in the United States.
• IDEIA 2004 The 2004 Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the federal legislation for special education in the United States.
• Idiosyncratic An unusual feature of a person, not typical.
• Idiosyncratic signs/gestures These are signs or gestures that the student uses as a means of communicating. They are nonconventional signs/gestures that the communication partners have interpreted as having communication meaning.
• Immediate Echolalia Individuals repeat words or phrases immediately after they hear them.
• Impairment The condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness
• Implementation To put into effect by means of a definite plan or procedure.
• In Vivo In real life conditions
• Incidental Teaching Involves structuring and sequencing educational objectives so that they occur within ongoing, typical activities and take advantage of student interests and motivation
• Incorporating To include as part of the whole
• Increment A defined scope or proportion of data or amount of time presented to the individual to assist in gaging what needs to be completed, or how long prior to the beginning or until the end of an activity.
• Independent Level The independent level is the first level of a prompt hierarchy. At the independent level, learners use the target skill without additional assistance.
• Independent Living Independent living is a philosophy and movement of people with disabilities who work for self-determination, equal opportunities and self-respect. It does not imply wanting to do everything for one's self, but demands the same choices and control in everyday life as non-disabled peers.
• Individual Schedule A sequential list of activities designed for specific purposes and specific individuals. The format for these schedules will vary across age and situation, as well as the materials used to construct them. Individual schedules can be used in the home, school, work, and community environment. They can encompass an entire day or a short activity.
• Individual Work Area An area of the home, school, or work environment specifically allocated to the tasks of a single individual.
• Individualize To adapt to the needs or special circumstances of an individual.
• Individualized Education Program (IEP) The Individualized Education Program is a document that describes the student's strengths and needs, goals and objectives, placement, and measures of the student's progress toward achieving annual goals. Each public school child who receives special education and related services must have an individualized education program (IEP). The IEP should be a truly individualized document and should include such information as present levels of functioning, future goals, and services to be provided. By law, the IEP process must consider the need for assistive technology.
• Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) Stands for Individualized Family Service Plan. This document is used in early intervention to guides process for children with disabilities and their families.
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. The law was initially passed in 1975 as P.L. 94-142. That law, known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, or the EHA, guaranteed that eligible children and youth with disabilities would have a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) available to them, designed to meet their unique educational needs. P.L. 94-142 has been amended many times since passing in 1975, most recently in 2004.
• Infer To derive by reasoning; to guess or speculate
• Informal Assessment Evaluation methods that do not utilize standardized procedures, this type of assessment is casual, determined by the evaluator, and is usually created to fit the context of a given situation.
• Information Overload Information overload is also referred to as cognitive overload. This refers to situations when the information received is too much for one’s brain to process all at once.
• Informational Interview An informational interview is a meeting in which a job seeker asks for career and industry advice rather than employment. The job seeker uses the interview to gather information about the field, and to find employment leads and expand their professional network.
• Inhibition Blocking or holding back of
• Initial Criterion The first benchmark against which a learner's progress is evaluated. With self-management systems, the initial criterion is set low enough so that learners experience success with little effort.
• Instructional Sessions When using simultaneous prompting, instructional sessions are implemented to teach learners with ASD target skills. During instructional sessions, teachers/practitioners provide the cue/task direction and controlling prompt at the same time.
• Instructional Technology "The theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning".
• Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Instrumental Activities of Daily of Living (IADLs) - which include household chores, meal preparation, business activities, shopping, telephone use and mobility outside the home.
• Integrated Employment This is a category of employment in which a person with disabilities works alongside people without disabilities without major systemic support.
• Integrating To bring together or incorporate parts into a whole; to unite or combine
• Intelligence Tests A standardized test, also commonly referred to as an IQ test, that is used to establish an intelligence level by measuring the examinee's ability to form concepts, solve problems, acquire information, store information, reason, and perform other intellectual operations.
• Intelligibility The degree to which an individual's speech can be understood by a listener.
• Intensity The magnitude or strength of the behavior.
• Interaction A mutual interaction between people
• Interactive Notebook Designed to be “interactive with,” consists of a blank notebook into which all teacher handouts or worksheets are glued. This helps keep papers in one place. Students are typically expected to highlight, write short answers, or fill-in-the-blanks to participate in lessons. These interactive notebooks often serve as a study guide for instruction.
• Interdependent Relationships Depending on another for survival; a partnership or connection with another person.
• Interdisciplinary Professionals from varied disciplines working in a collaborative manner to integrate information for diagnostic and programming decisions.
• Interdisciplinary Team A group of professionals from varied disciplines working in a collaborative manner to integrate information for diagnostic and programming decisions.
• Interfering Behaviors Any aggressive, stereotypic, or developmentally inappropriate behavior that interferes with the student's ability to attend to and engage in the environment.
• Intermittent Reinforcement A schedule in which reinforcement is provided after a specific number of correct behaviors (e.g., reinforcement for every three correct behaviors) or after a specific period of time in which correct behaviors occur. This is in contrast to a continuous schedule of reinforcement in which every occurrence of the behavior is reinforced.
• Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement A schedule of reinforcement in which only some occurrences of the behavior are reinforced.
• Internal Motivation The desire to attend to and engage in the social world.
• Internalize Make attitudes or behavior part of one's nature by learning
• Internship A student or trainee who works at a trade or occupation in order to gain work experience
• Interoception Body awareness; the eighth sensory system, involving the ability to read internal signals from the body
• Interpretive Information that is explanatory or provides interpretation of content.
• Interspersing Maintenance Trials with Acquisition Trials Acquisition trials (tasks that are new or currently being learned) combined with maintenance tasks (previously mastered items) to promote learning.
• Interval For interval-based self-management systems, the period of time during which learners are required to self-monitor their behavior. At the end of this interval, learners should be able to accurately self-record whether or not they correctly demonstrated the target behavior for the entire length of the interval. For instance, a learner may record whether or not he is on task with his work every five minutes. Therefore, this learner must stay on task for a five-minute interval in order to accurately self-record that he/she was on-task. If this learner was off-task at any point during the five-minute interval, he/she should self-record that the target behavior was not correctly demonstrated. Initially, intervals are set low enough so that learners experience success easily.
• Interval Data A data collection process that is used to record the occurrence of a particular behavior at specific time intervals (e.g., every 15 seconds, every 30 seconds).
• Interval DRL Divides the total amount of time or session into equal intervals of time, and reinforcement is provided after each interval if responding during the interval was equal to or below a criterion limit.
• Interval Schedule of Reinforcement Reinforcement occurs following a specific length of time and the occurrence of an appropriate response.
• Interval System System used to record high-frequency behaviors such as staying on task, staying seated, and conversing with peers. With this type of system, learners self-record their engagement or non-engagement in the target behavior (if it is a behavior that teachers/practitioners are trying to decrease) after a certain period of time (i.e., an interval). An interval can be seconds or minutes long; however, learners with ASD most often record their behavior after a certain number of minutes.
• Intervention Plan A detailed plan that provides step-by-step directions for addressing the child, parent, and family goals. The intervention plan includes (a) the instructional strategy, (b) how to provide instruction, (c) frequency and duration of instruction, and (d) when and where to provide instruction.
• Interventions Specific services, activities or products developed and implemented to change or improve program participants' knowledge, attitudes, behavior or awareness.
• iOS the operating system of any of Apple's mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, iPad mini, iPod Touch). The iOS is generally updated several times a year. A notification of the new or updated iOS availability is automatically sent to the device. The user can choose to update or ignore the update. iOS updates dol not occur unless the user initiates the process in the "General Settings" menu.
• iPad A tablet computer designed and marketed by Apple, Inc., running apple's iOS operating system.
• Job Carving A process whereby a job description is created by modifying an existing job description. The carved job description contains one or more, but not all, of the tasks from the original job description.
• Job Coach Any person who provides on the job training to disabled people and helps them adjust to the work environment
• Job Creation A newly created job description negotiated based on unmet workplace needs.
• Joint Attention The ability of a learner to engage another's attention to share enjoyment of objects or events.
• Joint Attention Skills The ability of a learner to engage another's attention to share enjoyment of objects or events.
• Joystick A device consisting of a hand-held stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two dimensions to a computer. Joysticks are often used to control games as well as wheelchairs.
• Kerning Distance between letters in a word.
• Keyguard A plate or shield with a set of holes that fits over a keyboard. This feature prevents keys from being pressed by accident.
• Keystroke A keystroke is a single depression of a key on a computer keyboard. Sometimes single keystrokes can be combined to enact different computer commands (e.g. Ctrl + C copies selected text).
• Knowledge: Theoretical or textbook knowledge
• Skills: Practical application of theoretical knowledge
• Abilities: Innate traits or talents that a person brings to a task or situation
• Label A visual tool that can help to organize the environment for an individual with ASD. Labels are used to identify important features in the environment.
• Landing Zone (a.k.a. Drop Zone) A designated, organized space typically near the entry door for the things you carry around and that are usually in your hand or on your person when you walk through the door. Examples of items that fit into a landing zone include hats, coats, gloves, backpacks, keys, instruments, and athletic gear. Family members are encouraged to put their belongings in the landing zone upon entering the home and put them back after homework completion, etc.
• Language of Mathematics The ability to learn, sort through, and use the vocabulary of math.
• Language Sample/Sampling A listing of the exact words of an interaction between learners and a partner. An assessment method frequently used to analyze the complexity of an individuals’ spontaneous language use.
• Large Print Large print is paper based and is generally defined as print that is larger than the print sizes commonly used by the general population (8 to 12 points in size). Some use a guideline for defining large print as 18 point or larger. A document rendered in large print format usually has more white space and may or may not look like the original document but contains the same information. Large print may be printed on pages that are the same size as a standard textbook page or on pages of a larger size.
• Large-Key Calculators Calculators that have large buttons and keys that allow for physical access.
• Lateral On the outside of a body segment.
• LaTex A document preparation system that allows for programming complex mathematical expressions accessible for blind learners who work with screen readers.
• LEA Local Education Agency
• Leadership The purpose of leadership is the improvement of instructional practice and performance, regardless of role.
• Learner Response Learner response is essentially the target skill that teachers/practitioners want learners with ASD to acquire. Learner responses can be either correct or incorrect.
• Learner-Initiated/Directed The learner begins and chooses the learning experience.
• Learning Environments An assessment method frequently used to analyze the complexity of an individuals' spontaneous language use.
• Learning Management System (LMS) A software application that provides an environment for accessing online courses. The systems often provide a place for students to access quizzes, multimedia presentations, discussion boards, webinars, website links, grades, etc. Students can work collaboratively and/or independently, participating in synchronous and asynchronous activities.
• Least Intrusive Prompt The prompt that provides the least amount of assistance for the learner, while still resulting in the learner's use of the desired behavior.
• Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Refers to the concept that children with disabilities should be educated, to the maximum extent possible, with children who do not have disabilities while meeting all their learning needs and physical requirements. The type of setting is stipulated in a child's IEP.
• Least Restrictive Prompt The prompt which provides the least amount of assistance for the learner, while still resulting in the learner's use of the desired behavior.
• Least-to-Most Prompt Procedure With least-to-most prompting, a prompt hierarchy is used to provide increasing amounts of assistance to learners with ASD when teaching target skills. Also referred to as the system of least prompts or increasing assistance.
• Leisure Skill Activities done during free time for enjoyment
• Liaison A person who acts as a link to assist communication or cooperation between people or organizations
• Linguistic Communication that is symbolic (e.g., words, signs) is considered linguistic. Early communication occurs without the use of formal linguistic symbols (pre-linguistic) and is characterized by body movements, facial expressions, vocalizations, and natural gestures.
• Linguistics The study of language form, meaning, and context which includes the social, cultural, historical, and political factors that influence language.
• Local Education Agency (LEA) The school district that is legally responsible for the student's program of specially designed instruction.
• Locator A visual tool that indicates where a person or object resides.
• Low-Probability Directive or Request Low-probability requests are directives are questions that an individual is not likely to follow or respond to appropriately. An unfamiliar or difficult request for the child to perform and thus associated with a lower probability of completion.
• Low-Probability Requests An unfamiliar or difficult request for the child to perform and thus associated with a lower probability of completion.
• Low-Tech Communication Aids Simple communication aids with no power source. These include communication boards, tangible symbol systems, and other aids that do not rely on electricity/batteries.
• Luminosity The relative lightness or darkness of a screen.
• Maintenance The ability to use a newly acquired social or other skill (e.g., exchanging materials, initiating interaction) after formal intervention has ended. The learner continues to engage in the desired behavior after active teaching of the skill has ended.
• Maintenance Trial A trial that is used to determine learners' use of target skills after they have already been mastered; most often used when implementing discrete trial training.
• Maladaptive Behaviors that are dysfunctional, behaviors that limit the ability to adjust to situations
• Malleable Easily modified for use in a variety of ways.
• Mand A word used as a demand to receive an item or activity
• Mand-Model Mand-model procedures incorporate a question, choice, or direction (mand) into the activity prior to initiating a modeling procedure.
• Mandated Required to be done
• Manipulatives Objects that children can use to learn concepts through hands-on experience and exploration.
• Mannerisms An exaggerated habit
• Map Representation, usually on a flat surface of the whole or a part of an area.
• Massed Trial Repeated use of the same learning trial several times in a row, ensuring that the learner is successful multiple times at whatever step of the skill is being taught.
• Math Anxiety An emotional issue that causes students to question their ability to be successful in math even when they are skilled in the area.
• Math Modeling/Graphing Software Applications that provide tools that allow for the creation of 2D and 3D objects and visual representations of constants and variables.
• Mathematics The study of numbers, equations, functions, and geometric shapes and their relationships.
• Measurement Skills The ability to figure out the size, distance, or amount of something.
• Medial On the inside of a body segment.
• Meltdown When a student reaches the point of losing control and acts impulsively, emotionally, and sometimes explosively. Behaviors observed during a meltdown may include kicking, hitting, biting, screaming, pinching, destroying property, self-injury, as well as completely withdrawing, or becoming incapable of speaking.
• Memory Skills The ability to remember procedures or combinations of basic facts. Memory skills involve being able to take in, hold on to, and recall information as needed.
• Mentor An experienced person in a company, college, or school who trains and counsels new employees or students
• Meta-Analysis Quantitative statistical analysis that is applied to separate but similar experiments of different and usually independent researchers and that involves pooling the data and using the pooled data to test the effectiveness of the results report
• Microenterprise A microenterprise is a small business that employs only a few employees. For example, a microenterprise usually operates with fewer than 10 people and is started with a small amount of capital.
• Mid-Tech Communication Aids Communication aids which typically have replaceable or rechargeable batteries and allow the user to access picture-symbols, letters, words, and phrases to create messages. Many have speech output in the form of recorded, digitized speech.
• Milieu Teaching A form of teaching in which the teacher takes advantage of the learner's interest in the things around him, the ‘milieu', to provide learning opportunities for the learner. Prompting and questioning are used to encourage the learner's interest
• Mindblindness Difficulty understanding the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of others.
• Mini-Schedule A visual schedule used to guide individuals through short segments of their day such as steps for brushing teeth, steps for completing a worksheet, activities for the speech lesson, etc.
• Mobility The ability to move physically.
• Model or Modeling Demonstrating an action for a learner or to produce a representation or simulation of.
• Model Prompt With model prompts, teachers/practitioners demonstrate how to use or complete the target skill/task.
• Modifications Changes in the form or quality; amendments
• Modulate To regulate or adjust to the circumstances
• Motor Planning The ability to plan and execute skilled nonhabitual tasks.
• Motor Stereotypy A repetitive or ritualistic movement or posture (e.g., hand flapping, body rocking).
• Multi-Sensory Approaches Instructional strategies that incorporate the use of multiple sensory organs such as visual, olfactory, tactile, and auditory.
• Multi-Step Direction A direction presented in a series of steps that either scaffold on one another, or are completely separate in scope. The key is that the directions are all delivered to the individual at the same time.
• Multidisciplinary Professionals from varied disciplines working separately. The results are compiled and decisions are made with little collaboration.
• Multimedia Learning Supports Videos and interactive activities that provide instruction, repetition, and practice to help students learn.
• Multiple Cue Discrimination Training Tasks in which learners respond to additional cues, such as color, size, type and/or location, of a single stimulus.
• Muscle Tone The internal state of muscle fiber tension within individual muscles and muscle groups. Muscle tone is an unconscious low-level contraction of muscles while they are at rest.
• Narration The act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events.
• Narrative A story or account of events or experiences
• National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC) A national technical assistance and dissemination center funded by OSEP that provides extensive information and resources related to secondary transition services.
• Natural Communication Opportunities Daily routines and activities where learners can communicate.
• Natural Environment Home or community setting (such as a child care program) in which the child spends the majority of his or her time. This is a typical setting in which children without disabilities also participate.
• Natural Reinforcers/Reinforcement Positive consequences that routinely occur during typical routines and environments when a learner uses a particular skill (e.g., receiving more food after asking for it, increased attention from the teacher when learner raises hand rather than shouting out in class).
• Natural Routine An environment that is close to its natural state and not artificially structured or contrived. The natural environment for parent-implemented intervention is the typical daily routines and activities of the home environment.
• Natural Supports A system of supports embedded in the workplace, as opposed to supports provided by a job coach. Natural supports are permanent parts of the workplace and allow a person with autism to safely anchor routines upon them. When the job coach leaves, the natural supports remain.
• Naturalistic Intervention A collection of practices that create the best possibility for children to produce target behaviors including environmental arrangement, interaction techniques, and behavioral strategies. Naturalistic intervention builds upon learner's interests and abilities to produce behaviors that are naturally reinforcing and appropriate to the interaction.
• Naturalistic Observation Observing and recording a child's behavior in real life social situations
• Naturalistic Teaching Strategies Any spontaneous, individualized instruction that occurs when a learner and an adult verbally interact during a naturally occurring activity.
• Negative Reinforcement The removal of a stimulus immediately following a behavior increases the likelihood that the behavior will occur again under similar stimulus conditions.
• Negotiation Merriam-Webster's Dictionary: a formal discussion between people who are trying to reach an agreement: an act of negotiating.
• Nemeth A standard for a mathematical and technical braille notation in use in the USA.
• Network An interconnected group of people, such as friends.
• Neurology Brance of medicine that deals with and treats disorders of the nervous system.
• Neuromuscular Pertaining to the relationship between nerves and muscles.
• Neurotypical People whose neurological development is consistent with what most people would perceive as normal in terms of the ability to process language information and social cues; originally coined among the autistic community as a label for non-autistic persons
• Neutral In reference to joint position, neutral is neither flexed or extended.
• Neutral Stimulus A stimulus that produces no specific response other than focusing attention
• News Literacy Also referred to as media literacy or digital literacy, it seeks to educate and empower students to discern fact from fiction in news articles using specific critical reasoning skills.
• NIMAC The National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) is a central national repository established at the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) to store and to maintain NIMAS filesets. It features an automated system for allowing publishers to deposit NIMAS-conformant files within the repository. Files are checked to confirm that they are valid NIMAS-conformant files and then cataloged in a web-based database. Those who have been authorized for access have user identifications and passwords. These authorized users may search the NIMAC database and directly download or assign fileset(s) for conversion to accessible instructional materials for those elementary and secondary students with qualifying disabilities.
• NIMAS NIMAS is the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard specified in IDEA. It is a technical standard used by publishers to produce source files that may be used to develop multiple specialized formats (such as braille, large print, audio or digital text) for students with print disabilities.
• Noise Canceling Microphone A microphone that is designed to filter out ambient (room) noise as much as possible. When using ASR software, accuracy is improved by working in a quiet environment and using a high-quality, noise-canceling microphone to limit the amount of background noise. Headset microphones are preferred because they can be placed a consistent distance from the user's mouth. Desktop and other types of microphones may also be used, but the input volume may vary, which would affect accuracy.
• Noncontextual A behavior that is not compatible with, or does not appear to match the environment or activity.
• Noncontingent Reinforcement Noncontingent reinforcement is a procedure often used when trying to reduce or eliminate interfering behaviors. With noncontingent reinforcement, teachers/practitioners get rid of the functional relationship between an interfering behavior and its consequence by delivering the reinforcers for the behavior periodically across the day, usually at specific time intervals.
• Nonverbal Communication Those aspects of communication, such as gestures and facial expressions, that do not involve verbal communication but which may include nonverbal aspects of speech itself
• Nonverbal Prompt Any prompt that does not utilize verbal communication. Examples include gestural or physical prompts.
• Novel Activity An activity being introduced to the individual for the first time.
• Number Sense The ability to count and make a connection between the word for a number and the quantity it represents, to recognize and write numbers, and to sort things into groups by common characteristics.
• Nurse Practitioner A registered nurse who has completed additional training and is considered to be an advanced practitioner.
• Object Board Part of a communication board, it typically utilizes miniature objects (e.g., a toy car) to represent a taught association (e.g., toy car = ride in the car). It is one of several types of symbol sets (photographs, line drawings, etc.) that may be used in communication boards.
• Objective Interpretation that is free of opinions and feelings, based on data and facts.
• Obsession A compulsive preoccupation with something or someone
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder A psychiatric anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts and the completion of related rituals in effort to counteract the obsessions.
• Occurrence Data Documentation of whether a target behavior occurred or did not occur during a specified interval of time.
• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) the conversion of an image of text characters into malleable printed text characters by a software program or app. This involves the program photo scanning the text character-by-character, analyzing the scanned-in image, and then translating the character image.
• Off-label Medication Use Prescription of a medication in a way that has not been approved by the FDA. This can include prescription to an unapproved age group, for an unapproved use, or an unapproved dosage level.
• Off-Task Behavior A student engages in a behavior that is unrelated to the learning environment and task at hand.
• Olfactory Of or pertaining to the sense of smell
• On-Screen Calculators Software/application-based representations of calculators, including those that perform basic through advanced math functions.
• On-Task Behavior When a learner is engaged in or working on a specific task or activity.
• Operating Systems The infrastructure component of a computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and resources on the computer, and enables software to be run on the computer [Most school computers operate with some version of Windows (PC) or Mac OS (Apple)].
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder A disorder in which children display angry and irritable behaviors directed at authority figures
• Oral Motor Functioning The area of assessment which looks at normal and abnormal patterns of the lips, tongue, jaw, and cheeks for eating, drinking, facial expression and speech to determine which functional skills a person has to build on, and which abnormal patterns need to be inhibited or for which compensation is needed. Oral - motor functioning is the area of assessment which looks at normal and abnormal patterns of the lips, tongue, jaw, and cheeks for eating, drinking, facial expression and speech to determine which functional skills a client has to build on, and which abnormal patterns need to be inhibited or for which compensation is needed.
• Organization System A system designed to structure or provide order for an individual with an autism spectrum disorder.
• Organizational Skills The ability to sort through information, create categories, and follow rules and procedures.
• Orienting Response The orienting response (OR), also called orienting reflex, is an organism's immediate response to a change in its environment when that change is not sudden enough to elicit the startle reflex. By eliciting the OR in a child, you open the window to learning.
• Orthographic Motor Integration The ability to remember how a letter or series of letters (a word) are formed and then retrieve them from memory and form them motorically onto a piece of paper.
• OSEP United States Office of Special Education Programs
• Outcomes Something that happens as a result of an activity or process.
• Overlays Boards that are developed for static screen devices.
• Page Fluffer A simple, low-tech modification to the pages of a book that makes pages easier to grasp and turn.
• Pairing Delivering two types of reinforcement simultaneously (e.g., smile with a sticker).
• Paleontologist A person who specializes in the study of forms of life existing in prehistoric times
• Paper-Based Computer Pen a pen that captures audio and writing simultaneously. These pens use a camera and specially designed paper to convert written notes and audio files into PDF documents. The user can then review the notes via the audio from the pen or can download the file to a computer and watch as the notes are written in conjunction with the audio. These videos are known as pencasts.
• Paraeducator An assistant to the educator in the classroom. Also referred to as instructional assistant, paraprofessional, and similar terms.
• Parallel Play A form of play where children play adjacent to each other, but do not try to influence one another's behavior. Parallel play usually involves two or more children in the same room. The children are interested in the same toys and both see the toy as belonging to them. The children do not play together, but alongside each other simply because they are in the same room.
• Paraprofessional People who work alongside professionals to implement individualized education programs (IEPs). Paraprofessionals are sometimes referred to as paraeducators.
• Parent-Implemented Intervention Parents are taught to use individualized intervention practices with their child to increase skills or to decrease interfering behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorder.
• Part B of IDEA Part B of IDEA governs how special education and related services are provided to school-aged children with disabilities.
• Part C of IDEA Part C of IDEA regulates early intervention (EI) services to children aged birth to three with developmental delays or a medical condition.
• Participation Models Participation models were created by Beukelman and Mirenda (2000) to provide an organized, consistent, and systematic way to undertake assessments related to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The model looks at the things that typically developing peers of the same age as the person with complex communication needs (CCN) need to be able to do to join in the various communication situations they are likely to encounter. This information is then used to determine what communicative interaction the person with CCN could or may need to engage in, as well as how interactions could be made more effective.
• PDD-NOS Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified
• Peer Typically developing child.
• Peer Social Network A peer-mediated approach that can be used with older children and adolescents. With this approach, peers are taught to provide ongoing social support (e.g., initiating interactions, maintaining physical proximity) throughout the day to students with ASD.
• Peer-Initiation Training A peer-mediated approach that can be used with young children ages 3 to 8 years. With this intervention, peers are taught specific skills (e.g., organizing play, sharing) that they use to engage children with ASD in social interactions.
• Peer-Mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII) Instructional strategies that involve training typically developing peers to direct and respond to the social behaviors of children with ASD.
• Pelvic Stability A function of the pelvis to transfer the loads generated by body weight and gravity during walking or sitting. Stability requires the load transfer of passive, active, and motor control for optimal function.
• Performance Criteria A description of the characteristics that will be considered when a performance task is judged are called performance criteria. Performance criteria are often defined in a rubric or scoring guide.
• Performance Deficit Skill or behavior that is present, but not demonstrated or performed
• Periphery On the outside of something, on the margin
• Perseverative The repetition of a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence of a clearly observed reinforcing consequence; usually caused by an organic brain disorder.
• Persistence The act of continuing to seek a desired outcome or not giving up. In PECS, the goal is to equip the learner with the strategies and skills to use the exchange in a persistent and generalized manner.
• Persistent Constantly repeated and continued
• Person-Centered Planning The person-centered planning process assists the student, the student's family, educators, and advocates chosen by the student to identify dreams, goals, and concerns for the future.
• Personal Assistance Services (PAS) Personal assistance services help people with disabilities complete daily tasks needed for successful participation in school, work, and community living. They include, but are not limited to, dressing, eating, personal hygiene, shopping, and home/office organization.
• Pervasive To become spread throughout all parts of
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder - NOS Pervasive developmental disorder is the umbrella category used in the DSM IV for autism, Asperger's disorder, and a few others. For individuals who seem to have some type of autism but do not quite fit the exact diagnostic formula, the DSM IV uses PDD-NOS (Not Otherwise Specified). A person with PDD NOS is not necessarily "lower functioning" than someone with a formal autism diagnosis.
• Phenomenon A fact or situation
• Phonemic Awareness The smallest bits of sound that can have meaning. For example, if a student is attempting to spell the word cat, it is broken down into three distinct phonemes, /k/, /æ/, and /t/.
• Photosensitivity / Photophobic Sensitive to light, intolerant of light. When referring to individuals with vision concerns, there is not much difference between being photophopic and having a photosensitivity.
• Physical Blocking Physically preventing a learner with ASD from engaging in an interfering behavior (e.g., placing hand in front of learner's mouth to prevent hand mouthing).
• Physical Manipulatives Objects that can be viewed and physically handled by students in order to model and learn abstract math concepts.
• Physical Organization The use of visual supports such as furniture, labels, icons, etc., to make environments comprehensible and manageable.
• Physical Prompt Physical prompts are used when teaching motor skills and may include guiding a learner through the task (e.g., hand-over-hand) or providing minimal physical assistance (e.g., taps, nudges, light pushes).
• Physician Assistant A licensed medical professional who works with a physician in the medical field. Responsibilities may include physical examinations, medication management and diagnostics.
• Pica A pattern of eating non-food materials (e.g., dirt, paint, play dough).
• Picture Cue Picture cues are used to prompt peer social behavior through the use of pictures of children interacting. Picture cues often are provided on note cards making them portable and available to peers throughout the peer social network activity.
• Picture Exchange Unaided assistive/augmentative communication system involving a learner handing over a picture to a communicative partner.
• Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) A low-tech aided AAC system in which individuals hand pictures to their communicative partners (Frost & Bondy, 2002).
• Picture Supported Text Text that is accompanied with pictures/symbols. Picture supported text provides accessibility to text. More information about the use of picture supported text can be found in a white paper from News2You called The Role of Symbols in Developing Communication and Language Skills.
• Pivotal Behaviors Behaviors that, when targeted, lead to large collateral changes in other, often untargeted, areas of functioning and responding.
• Pivotal Response Training (PRT) A method of systematically applying the scientific principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to teach learners with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). For more information, please access the AIM module on PRT.
• Plain Language Easy-to-read, understand, and use language that avoids jargon and abbreviations in social media to increase accessibility for all social media users.
• Plan to Achieve Self Support (PASS) A PASS Plan allows individuals to save some of their monthly disability stipend in order to purchase high cost items such as wheelchairs, computers, and Braille notetakers. The PASS plan rules are defined in each state and can be developed with the help of a case coordinator or Services and Support Administrator (SSA).
• Planned Ignoring Withholding all forms of reinforcing attention following a target behavior (e.g., no eye contact, no verbal interaction, no physical interaction, no emotional reaction)
• Planner An integrated system featuring a calendar designed for planning purposes. May also include other features such as lists, important dates to remember, past and present. Typically, the use of planners includes making notes for planning, either written in a paper system or annotated in a mid- or high-tech application.
• Play Area An area in the home, school, or community solely used for play activities.
• Play Organizer Initiations in which the peer organizes the play activity by telling other children including the focal child to do specific behaviors (e.g., "Build a road"), how to use materials (e.g., "Put the block on top of this one"), or roles (e.g., "You're the mommy. I'm the baby.").
• Playaway A battery-operated pre-recorded audio player of an audiobook. Easy to use, small (size of a deck of cards), with earbuds. Acts as an individual audiobook.
• Plug-Ins A software or browser component that adds a specific feature to an existing application. Common examples are the plug-ins used in web browsers such as the Adobe Flash Player and QuickTime Player.
• Podcast A series of audio recordings saved in a digital format that can be automatically downloaded from an online service.
• Positive Reductive Procedures Techniques using reinforcement to decrease or eliminate disruptive behaviors rather than reducing opportunities for additional reinforcement, removing already acquired reinforcers, or embedding punishment procedures in response to unwanted behavior.
• Positive Reinforcement The presentation of a stimulus immediately following a behavior that increases the likelihood that the behavior will occur again under similar conditions.
• Positive Routines Routines that support what should happen in a task, transition, etc. With these set in place, the individual will learn what is expected, prior to engaging in less acceptable behaviors.
• Postpubertal The time after a person reaches sexual maturity
• Postsecondary After the completion of secondary (high) school programs.
• Postural Control The act of maintaining, achieving, or restoring a state of balance during any posture or activity.
• Potential Capable of being or becoming
• Power Cards A visual aid that utilizes an individual's special interest, character or hero to teach an important social behavior. (Gagnon, 2001).
• Powered mobility A motorized device used by someone who is unable to walk, allowing the person to move from one location to another.
• Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) PODD is a means of selecting and organizing symbols so people with complex communication needs can communicate easier. PODD communication books were developed in Australia by Gayle Porter to help children learn vocabulary and how to “think” through language. PODD organizes the AAC vocabulary with an emphasis on pragmatics, or social communication, and is meant to support both expressive and receptive language development.
• Predict The skill of explaining new events based on observations or information.
• Predictability The extent to which future tasks, activities, etc. may be predicted based on knowledge of current and past task, activities, etc. This appears to provide a sense of control and comfort to individuals with ASD.
• Preference Assessment An observation-based assessment used to identify highly-preferred items and activities for individual learners with ASD.
• Prelinguistic The time from when an infant first utters sounds until the first word is spoken. Communication that is presymbolic (e.g., gestures, vocalizations).
• Premack A person will perform a less desirable activity to get to a more desirable activity
• Preoccupation The absorption of attention or intellect
• Prerequisite Skill Skills that a learner must already have in their repertoire before a given task can be taught successfully.
• Presbycusis Hearing loss typically associated with aging.
• Preschool Programs for children aged 3-5 years; special education services for preschool-aged children are authorized under IDEA Part B and are typically provided in a public school setting.
• Primary Modality The preferred modality for learning or "taking in" essential information.
• Primary Reinforcer Items or activities that meet basic physiological needs (e.g., food, drink, sleep).
• Priming To provide (a person) with information and answers before they are presented with a stimulus.
• Priming Through Print Preparing individuals for transitions to novel events, or change in expected routines through the use of written stories.
• Proactive Controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens.
• Probe When using simultaneous prompting, probe sessions are implemented to evaluate learners' acquisition of target skills. During probe sessions, teachers/ practitioners provide the cue/task direction and then wait for the learner to respond.
• Probe Sessions When using simultaneous prompting, probe sessions are implemented to evaluate learners' acquisition of target skills. During probe sessions, teachers/practitioners provide the cue/task direction and then wait for the learner to respond.
• Progress Monitoring "Progress monitoring is a scientifically based practice that is used to assess students' academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Progress monitoring can be implemented with individual students or an entire class" (Office of Special Education Programs [OSEP], 2011). This definition and more information about progress monitoring can be found at: http://www.studentprogress.org/
• Progressive Time Delay (PTD) Gradual increase of the wait time between the initial cue and the controlling prompt using 1-second intervals until the delay is faded out completely (usually when a 5- or 6-second interval has been reached).
• Prompt Prompts are any help given to learners that assist them in using specific skills. Prompts are generally given by an adult or peer before or as a learner attempts to use a skill. Prompts can be verbal, gestural, or physical in nature.
• Prompt Dependence Prompt dependence limits a learner's ability to generalize the use of skills to new situations, activities, and with a variety of individuals. When learners become dependent on prompts, they may not use target behaviors unless a specific prompt is used.
• Prompt Hierarchy Prompt hierarchies are comprised of at least three levels. The first level provides the learner with the opportunity to respond independently. Subsequent levels provide increasing amounts of assistance as needed by the learner to use the target skill correctly.
• Prompt Types Used within the prompting procedures to provide assistance (e.g., model, visual, verbal) to learners with ASD to use target skills correctly.
• Prompting Techniques for providing instruction on how to perform a specific behavior.
• Prompting Procedures Used to teach a variety of skills and include any help given to learners with ASD to use target skills correctly.
• Prone Having the front or ventral part downward; lying face downward.
• Proprioception Proprioception provides information about our position in space and general body awareness.
• Prosocial One of the functions of communication; to express "acts of kindness" when interacting with others; for example, please or thank you
• Prosthetics and Orthotics Each public school child who receives special education and related services must have an individualized education program (IEP). The IEP should be a truly individualized document and should include such information as present levels of functioning, future goals, and services to be provided. By law, the IEP process must consider the need for assistive technology.
• Proximity Nearness in place, time, or order
• Psychiatry Branch of medicine that deals with ad treats mental disorders.
• Psychotropic Medication A type of medication that affects the central nervous system and influences brain function.
• Punishment A consequence that decreases the probability of subsequent occurrence of the behavior it follows.
• Pursuit An activity, such as a hobby, engaged in regularly
• QIAT Quality indicators for assistive technology.
• QR Code A code made up of black and white squares, normally used for storing URLs or other information; it can be read by the camera on a smartphone.
• Ratio Schedule of Reinforcement Reinforcement is provided based upon a specific number of correct or appropriate responses, or after a specified amount of time.
• Re-SETT Re-SETTing means revisiting the information collected during the consideration and evaluation process using the SETT framework to discover what actions need to be taken during implementation. It does not mean starting over but adding to the body of information about a student.
• Readability The number of words, characters, paragraphs, and sentences in a piece of writing averaged to get a score. Scores are presented as grade levels. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level.
• Readability Status A method of assessing text to match it with grade-level reading requirements.
• Receiver This is a device that a student wears that collects the radio signal from the transmitter the teacher is wearing. It allows the child to hear the teacher's voice.
• Receptive Communication The understanding of communicative attempts.
• Receptive Language The ability to understand another person's wants, needs, thoughts, ideas, or beliefs when they are presented in symbolic language form. Symbolic language may be spoken, sign language, graphic icons, or in written form.
• Reciprocal Given, felt, or done in return
• Reciprocity Reciprocity refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action, and responding to a negative action with another negative one.
• Recline In reference to seating in a wheelchair, the recline feature allows the back support to pivot posteriorly, increasing the seat to back support angle.
• Recreation Refreshment of the mind, body or spirit through play and relaxation.
• Recurrence To happen again
• Redirection Prompting a learner with ASD to engage in a more appropriate, alternative behavior rather than the interfering behavior.
• Reductionist Analyzing something complex in terms of its simple parts
• Referral When an educator or parent submits a formal written request to conduct a full nondiscriminatory evaluation on a child who is having academic challenges and may be suspected of having a disability; referral is not required by IDEA but is a common best practice.
• Referral Bias Excluding or including individuals for incorrect reasons
• Refreshable Braille Refreshable braille is provided by a braille display device which raises dots or pins through holes in a flat surface. Generally, 40 to 80 braille cells are displayed at one time.
• Regulation A neurological function that allows the senses to work together to form a composite picture that tells who we are, where we are, and what is going on around us
• Regulations The rules or procedures codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and determined by the government agency authorized to enact and enforce a statute.
• Reinforce The process by which a consequence (in the form of an item, activity, or event) is delivered immediately after a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior will occur in the future.
• Reinforcement The process by which a consequence (in the form of an item, activity, or event) is delivered immediately after a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior will occur in the future.
• Reinforcement Schedules Also called schedules of reinforcement. A protocol (i.e., schedule) for determining when responses or behaviors should be reinforced, ranging from continuous to intermittent reinforcement, is used to fade reinforcement with learners with ASD.
• Reinforcer Any event following the occurrence of behavior that increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future.
• Reinforcer Assessment A procedure for allowing learners to come into contact with potential reinforcers and for teachers to determine which reinforcers are likely to be effective with individual learners.
• Reinforcer Menu A list of age-appropriate reinforcers that a student has expressed interest in. The student is given the opportunity to choose from the list when they perform a target behavior or skill.
• Reinforcer or Reinforcers Reinforcers are particular items, activities, or events that are used for reinforcement. Typically, preferred items, activities, and events are effective reinforcers. Any event following the occurrence of behavior that increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future.
• Reinforcer Sampling A procedure for allowing learners to come into contact with potential reinforcers and for teachers to determine which reinforcers are likely to be effective with individual learners.
• Reinforcing Process in which a behavior is strengthened; increasing the probability that a response will occur by either presenting a contingent positive event or removing a negative event.
• Related Services As defined by IDEA 2004 (§ 602.26) consist of transportation and developmental, corrective, and other supportive services, including:
• Interpreting services
• Psychological services
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Recreation, including therapeutic recreation
• Social work services
• School nurse services designed to enable a child with a disability to receive a free, appropriate public education as described in the child's IEP
• Counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling
• Orientation and mobility services
• Medical services, except that such medical services shall be for diagnostic and evaluation purposes only) as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education; includes the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions in children.
• Remnant Book A remnant book gathers highly iconic, tangible objects in a book format to help students share and re-visit their personal experiences. Fallen leaves gathered on a walk, the napkin or party bag from a birthday party, and a movie ticket can all serve as remnants to give students a concrete object to help them retrieve memories and engage in communication about their own life.
• Removable Storage Device A device used for saving to and storing computer data (e.g., USB drive, external disk, SD card).
• Repetition The recurrence or repeating of an action or event
• Repetitive Behavior A type of interfering behavior in which a learner with ASD engages in the same behavior repeatedly, often to the point where it prevents the learner from participating fully in classroom routines and activities. Repetitive behaviors often include: hand flapping, finger flicking, body rocking, and nail biting.
• Replacement Behavior An alternative behavior serving a functionally equivalent response to the function of an problematic behavior.
• Residual Vision Remaining sight that people with low vision use for various tasks and activities.
• Resistance The act of opposing something you disagree with
• Resistance to Extinction A phenomenon in which the behavior does not respond to the extinction and continues to occur.
• Resource Ownership A mutually beneficial process of acquiring materials, equipment, or skills that, when matched to a job seeker's interests and customer needs, generates profits for the employer and wages for the employee.
• Response Blocking Preventing the learner with ASD from using the interfering behavior.
• Response Class A group of behaviors that all serve the same function.
• Response Independent Schedule A response independent schedule is most often used in conjunction with noncontingent reinforcement. This schedule of reinforcement often is used to reduce or eliminate interfering behaviors by providing reinforcement for the behaviors periodically across the day, often at specific time intervals.
• Response Interruption Preventing the learner with ASD from using the interfering behavior.
• Response Interruption/Redirection Response interruption/redirection (RIR) is an evidence-based practice used to decrease interfering behaviors, predominantly those that are repetitive, stereotypical, and/or self-injurious. RIR is particularly useful with persistent interfering behaviors that occur in the absence of other people, in a number of different settings, and during a variety of tasks.
• Response Interval The interval of time between the delivery of a cue/task direction and a prompt.
• Response Latency Elapsed time between the onset of a stimulus and the initiation of the behavior.
• Response Prompting Procedure Prompts are provided before learners use the target skill and then are systematically faded so that learners begin to use target skills independently.
• Response To Intervention (RTI) A three-tiered approach to identifying and supporting students with learning and behavioral needs.
• Response-Reinforcer Contingency The occurrence of a consequence is dependent upon a particular response; thus, the response must be emitted before the consequence will occur.
• Restrictive Patterns of Behavior Behaviors that may cause an individual to have difficulty transitioning from one activity to the next, or to have difficulty dealing with unexpected changes in routines.
• RFID Radio-frequency identification system using electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects.
• Rich Site Summary (RSS) Feeds Rich Site Summary feeds are also referred to as Really Simple Syndication. These are digital feeds that can be customized to search only for a particular genre of articles (e.g., comedy, student life) or a particular topic (e.g., meerkats). These types of feeds allow students to focus their searches by research topic or area of interest.
• Ritual A pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner
• Ritualistic Restricted, repetitive, and stereotypic patterns of behavior that include, but are not limited to, motor mannerisms, object use, language use, and adherence to nonfunctional routines
• Role Playing Parents performing the intervention strategy with a child or adult in an effort to practice and perfect the intervention prior to implementing with their child. Role playing is preferably combined with feedback and coaching.
• Routine A regular course or procedure.
• Routines Routines can be defined as regular or customary procedures. Routines, in combination with visual schedules, assist individuals in understanding the environment and in becoming more flexible (Swanson, 2005).
• RTI (Response To Instruction) The RTI process begins with high-quality instruction and universal screening of all children in the general education classroom. Struggling learners are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning. These services may be provided by a variety of personnel, including general education teachers, special educators, and specialists. Progress is closely monitored to assess both the learning rate and level of performance of individual students.
• Rubric A set of guidelines about behaviors; a well-established custom or tradition that provides rules for conduct.
• Rules Rules are statements defining behavior that are permissible or not permissible in given situations or environments. Rules should be short, observable, stated positively and easily generalized.
• Salient "Important" or "relevant" or "receiving the focus of attention."
• Sampling A small selection that is thought to represent the whole.
• Satiation Used to describe a situation in which a selected reinforcer is no longer motivating to a learner with ASD.
• Savant An intellectually disabled person with an exceptional skill or talent in a special field
• Savantism Remarkable talents or cognitive strengths.
• Scaffold Supports are provided to facilitate a learner's development.
• Scaffold(ing) Instructional supports that can help a child move progressively toward better understanding, independence and mastery.
• Scanning Techniques Process of selecting a word or phrase from an SGD by listening to lists of word options and activating a switch to indicate a choice.
• Scatterplot A scatterplot is a chart or grid on which an observer records single events (e.g., number of times learner yells) or a series of events (e.g., teacher requests and learner yells) that occur within a given context (e.g., during teacher-led reading instruction, at lunch, on the playground). The purpose of a scatterplot is to identify patterns of behavior that relate to specific contextual conditions.
• Schedule A procedural plan that indicates the time and sequence of each operation.
• Schedule of Reinforcement The rate at which reinforcement is delivered following the occurrence of the behavior.
• Schedule within a Schedule A visual schedule used to guide individuals through short segments of their day such as: steps for brushing teeth, steps for completing a worksheet, activities for the speech lesson, etc.
• Screen Reader A screen reader is a software program with speech output used to help people with visual impairment use computer operating system and applications; the speech comes from a speech synthesizer (or synthetic voice) associated with the screen reader; most screen reading programs also support Braille devices. A screen reader may also be referred to as a screen reading program.
• Screencasting A digital recording of a computer or tablet screen, usually with audio narration. If a screenshot is a static image of a screen, then a screencast is a video of what happened on a screen, often with annotation.
• Screening The assessment of individuals to determine those may who have an undiagnosed developmental delay or disability.
• Script Used during peer social network training to help peers problem-solve ways to interact with the focal child. The scripts that are generated during the initial training sessions can be placed in the structured intervention activities to provide prompts for interacting with the student with ASD.
• SEA State Education Agency
• Seating and Positioning Accommodations to a wheelchair or other seating system to provide greater body stability, trunk/head support and an upright posture, and reduction of pressure on the skin surface (cushions, contour seats, lumbar).
• Secondary Reinforcer Reinforcers that are learned (e.g., social, tangible).
• Section 504 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is part of a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. A written 504 plan is developed to guide the provision of instructional services, including accommodations and modifications, designed to meet a student's individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met.
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794d) Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that all electronic and information technologies developed and used by any Federal government agency must be accessible to people with disabilities. This includes websites, video and audio tapes, electronic books, televised programs, and other such media. Individuals with disabilities may still have to use special hard­ware and/or software to access.
• Sedentary Remaining in one area; sitting
• Self Monitoring To be aware of and regulate one's own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
• Self-Advocacy Self-advocacy refers to the ability to effectively communicate about and negotiate for one's own interests, desires, needs and rights. Self-Advocacy is learning how to speak up for yourself, making your own decisions about your life, learning how to get information so that you can understand things that are of interest to you, finding out who will support you in your journey, knowing your rights and responsibilities, problem solving, listening and learning, reaching out to others when you need help and friendship, and learning about self-determination.
• Self-Determination Self-determination means making choices, setting goals, assuming responsibility, and driving how one's own life is lived. To achieve this, the individual needs to understand those choices, express their needs, and make informed decisions about how they will live, work and participate in the community.
• Self-Injurious Behavior Behaviors that learners with ASD engage in that cause physical bodily harm to themselves.
• Self-Injury Any behavior that causes physical harm to oneself.
• Self-Management Methods, skills, and strategies (e.g., goal setting, planning, and self-evaluation) used by learners with ASD to help them achieve goals and objectives (e.g., raising hand in class, initiating interactions with peers).
• Self-Recording Device Devices used to monitor behaviors. These types of devices include checklists or charts, token boards, alarm clocks, or wristwatches with beeping alarms.
• Self-Regulation The ability to control one's level of arousal and activity state, as well as response to sensory input without external support (e.g., teacher support, prompting).
• Self-Stimulation To provoke oneself to activity as a result of one's own behavior.
• Self-Stimulatory Behavior A behavior that is persistent, nonpurposeful, and repetitive and is maintained with sensory consequences (e.g. hand flapping, finger flicking, head banging).
• Self-Verbalization Technique Technique taught to individuals that assist them in working through the steps in a task, the steps in a calming strategy, or the steps in a social activity.
• Semantics Study of one of the structural aspects of language; that is, how meaning develops from the relationships between words, phrases and sentences
• Sensor A sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information to other electronic devices.
• Sensorineural Hearing Loss A hearing loss caused by a pathology of the cochlea and/or auditory nerve and pathway to the auditory cortex, which is the area of the brain where sound is interpreted.
• Sensory Of or pertaining to the senses or sensation
• Sensory Activities Planned and well-thought out interventions that satisfy one's visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, vestibular, and/or proprioceptive needs.
• Sensory Extinction With sensory extinction, teachers/practitioners identify a sensory consequence that may be maintaining an interfering behavior (e.g., bright lights, strong smell, loud noise) and remove or mask it to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of the interfering behavior.
• Sensory Over-Responsive Individuals who are over-responsive are hypersensitive to sensory stimuli and often react negatively to sensory stimuli. These individuals may interpret sensory stimuli as painful or overwhelming, often resulting in meltdowns.
• Sensory Overload a condition of receiving too much information or stimulation via visual or audio sources; overstimulation of one or more senses
• Sensory Processing Sensory processing refers to the ability to take in the information we receive from our senses, both external and internal, and then use that information to function effectively.
• Sensory Processing Disorder Sensory processing disorder refers to the inability to modulate, discriminate, coordinate, or organize sensations effectively.
• Sensory Reinforcement Reinforcement that provides a pleasant sensation for learners with ASD when they engage in certain interfering behaviors (e.g., head banging, hand flapping).
• Sensory Reinforcer Used with learners who are motivated by sensory input.
• Sensory Under-Responsive Individuals who are under-responsive are hyposensitive to sensory stimuli and often do not react to sensory stimuli. These individuals may not even notice sensory stimuli occurring around them.
• Sensory-Maintained Behavior Interfering behaviors that continue to occur because they provide a pleasant sensation for the learner with ASD.
• Sequence Serial arrangement in which things follow in logical order or a recurrent pattern.
• Sequenced Social Script A pre-planned, often pre-recorded scaffold to allow students with complex needs to participate in conversation and story telling. Sequenced social scripts are often recorded on a simple speech generating device, such as a step-by-step. For example, a story telling social script might include the initial attention getter (“Hey!”), a starter (“You won’t believe what happened this weekend!”), a simple narrative (“I went to a birthday party, but something awful happened!”), a maintainer and more narrative (“Can you guess what happened? I’ll give you a clue. It involved the cake. And a dog.”), a turn transfer (“Has anything like that ever happened to you?”), and a closer (“Let’s chat again soon!”).
• Sequential Message Communication Aid A simple voice-output communication aid that plays a series of recorded messages in order; each time the switch is activated, the next message plays.
• Serif a small line, generally attached at the bottom of letters in some fonts. Typography is generally listed as serif or sans (without) serif. Times New Roman font is a serif font.
• SETT Framework A concerns-identification and solution-seeking model that helps collaborative teams consider, identify, and develop student-centered, environmentally useful, and task-focused systems of tools that support student independence, participation, and achievement.
• Setting Event Anything that increases the likelihood that an interfering behavior will occur (e.g., not getting enough sleep, working with a particular person, noisy activity, too bright lights).
• Shadowing Holding your hands near the learner's hands so you can immediately guide the learner to complete the task.
• Shaping A process of systematically and differentially reinforcing successive approximations to the whole behavior.
• Shared Attention The ability of a learner to engage another's attention to share enjoyment of objects or events.
• Shift Attention Move attention from one task to another.
• Sign Language A manually coded language system, such as American Sign Language.
• Sign-Supported Speech Use of spoken language in conjunction with sign language as a mode of communication. This is sometimes referred to as Sim Com.
• Signal-To-Noise Ratio Level of the desired signal (typically target speaker) compared to the level of the overall background noise.
• Signs Words represented by hand movements that are part of a formal language system, frequently taken from American Sign Language.
• Simultaneous Prompting Procedure With the simultaneous prompting procedure, two types of sessions are needed: instructional sessions and probe sessions. In the instructional sessions, the task direction or cue (i.e., a signal to learner to use target skill) and controlling prompt (i.e., prompt that ensures that the learner will do the target skill successfully) are delivered simultaneously. In the probe sessions, the cue or task direction is delivered without the prompts. The probe sessions are used to determine whether learning is actually occurring.
• Single-Message Communication Aid A simple voice-output communication aid that plays the same message each time it is activated.
• Single-Sided Deafness Profound hearing loss in one ear and normal hearing in the other ear.
• Six Traits of Writing Key qualities that define quality writing. The six traits include voice, ideas, conventions, organization, word choice, and sentence fluency. Some resources include an additional trait of presentation.
• Skill Acquisition Absence of a particular skill or behavior
• Skill development A service approach that focuses on teaching the child to do things in the same manner as their peers (e.g., learning to speak words or to hold a pencil).
• Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) offer one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance in central and easily accessible branch locations.
• Smart Home Technology Smart home technology is the general term given to basic home amenities that have been fitted with communication technology, enabling some degree of either automation or remote control.
• Smart Speaker An Internet-enabled speaker that is controlled by spoken commands and is capable of streaming audio content, relaying information, and communicating with other devices. Common examples include Google Home or Amazon Alexa.
• Smartpen A high-tech writing tool that records spoken words and synchronizes them with notes users write on special paper. A student can thus record everything a teacher says and later replay any part of it by tapping the pen's tip on words written throughout the class.
• Smartphone A cellular phone that allows the user to connect to the Internet, store data, and install programs.
• SOCCSS Situation, Options, Consequences, Choices, Strategies, Simulation: SOCCSS is a strategy developed to help individuals with social disabilities understand social situations and develop problem solving skill. (Myles & Adreon, 2001)
• Social Accommodations Social accommodation involves modifying the physical or social environment to promote positive social interactions. Examples of social accommodations include training peer mentors and conducting autism awareness training.
• Social Assimilation Social assimilation refers to instruction that facilitates skill development or fundamental changes in the child that allows the child to be more successful in social interactions. Examples of social assimilation include social skill intervention strategies that are child specific, such as video modeling, social narratives, and self-monitoring.
• Social Autopsy The working definition of a social skill autopsy is "the examination and analysis of a social error to determine the cause of the error, the amount of damage that occurred, and to learn about the causal factor (s) in order to prevent reoccurrence in the future." The basic principle is to assist the child in analyzing actual social errors that she has made and to discuss the behavioral options that the child could have utilized in order to have improved the situation.
• Social Cognition Generally, social cognition refers to the manner in which you process social information; more specifically it involves understanding the thoughts, intentions, motives, and behaviors of ourselves and others.
• Social Competence The ability to relate to other people
• Social Curriculum A means of teaching students how to interact and empathize with one another. It helps ensure students feel good about themselves and their relationships. When students learn a social curriculum, they become more socially aware.
• Social Emotional Reciprocity Back and forth interaction and communication
• Social Initiation To begin a social interaction
• Social Interaction An exchange between two or more persons for the purpose of enjoying the companionship of each other.
• Social Narrative Social narratives are visually represented stories or narratives that describe social situations and socially appropriate responses or behaviors. Social narratives may help the individual with ASD gain information on the thoughts and feelings of others, as well as contextual information they may have missed. Overall, social narratives can be an effective, inexpensive strategy that aids in enhanced social and behavioral understanding.
• Social Networking A peer-mediated approach that can be used with older children and adolescents. With this approach, peers are taught to provide ongoing social support (e.g., initiating interactions, maintaining physical proximity) throughout the day to children with ASD.
• Social Problem Solving Use of social reasoning activities to understand social behaviors and social rules
• Social Reinforcement Consequences characterized by social praise and attention following the occurrence of a positive behavior.
• Social Reinforcers Reinforcers that are socially mediated by teachers, parents, peers, and other adults (e.g., praise, written approval, thumbs-up, pat on the back).
• Social Scripts Visual information such as words or pictures that help define the context of the situation. Social scripts can be used to practice what to say and how to act in a given social situation.
• Social Skills Social skills are those communication, problem-solving, decision making, self-management, and peer relations abilities that allow one to initiate and maintain positive social relationships with others. More information
• Social Skills Groups Groups designed for the purpose of teaching and enhancing the social skills of individuals with social deficits.
• Social Stories(TM) A Social Story(TM) is a story written to describe a situation, skill, or concept. Designed to provide relevant social cues, perspectives and common responses, it is written in a specifically designed format and style (Gray, 1994). It may be used during peer social network training to provide peers with information about specific social behaviors. Social stories(TM) also help peers problem-solve ways to interact with the student with ASD.
• Social Supports Supports put in place to assist individuals gain understanding of social rules, nuances, norms, and so on. Social supports also help provide relevant social information to individuals who struggle with social understanding.
• Social Validity Social validity is the social significance of the treatment objectives and intervention strategies, as well as the social importance of the intervention results.
• Socially-Reinforced Behavior An interfering behavior that is reinforced by another person or by something that is happening in the environment.
• Soft Braille Braille dots and characters converted from a digital print text by special translation software and subsequently displayed as pins in a Braille cell on a refreshable Braille display.
• Software A general term used to describe various computer programs, procedures, and documentation. Instructions for the computer. A series of instructions that performs a particular task is called a "program."
• Somatic Pertaining to the body
• Sound Field Amplification Systems Similar to a public address system, the person who is talking uses a microphone and the system broadcasts his or her voice through speakers that are placed around the room.
• Spaced-Responding DRL Delivers reinforcement after a period of time elapses from one behavior to the next. The amount of time that separates the two behaviors or responses is referred to as interresponse time (IRT) and is functionally related to rates of responding.
• Spasticity Tightness in the muscles that cannot be controlled voluntarily; usually the result of a neurologic impairment.
• Spatial Relations Visual recognition of how an object is located in space in relation to a reference object.
• Speakable Items This term is specific to the speech recognition option in the Macintosh OS X operating system. Speakable Items refer to spoken commands to control menus, menu items, and buttons.
• Special Education Specially designed instruction regardless of the location; thus, special education is not a place or type of classroom but rather the process of ensuring that instruction is individualized.
• Special Instructional Factors A portion of the IEP that requires the team to consider the student's needs in the following areas: behavior, English proficiency, visual impairment, communication, assistive technology devices or services and physical education.
• Specialized Formats Specialized formats of print-based materials include braille, large print, audio, and digital text. A specialized format provides exactly the same content as the printed material. Only the way in which the content is presented to the student is different. The specialized format neither adds nor changes any information.
• Specialized software Software programs designed to assist persons with disabilities in completing various tasks; people with visual impairments often use screen reading or magnifying programs to interact with information displayed on a computer screen.
• Specially Adapted Math Tools Assistive technology devices that can be used to provide support for students completing functional tasks in the area of math.
• Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP) Speech and language pathologists provide a wide range of services, mainly on an individual basis, but also as in small group settings. Speech services typically begin with an initial screening for communication, speech, and/or swallowing disorders. SLPs then typically continue with assessment and diagnosis, consultation for the provision of advice regarding management as well as providing on-going intervention and treatment.
• Speech Generating Device (SGD) An aided assistive/augmentative communication system that produces speech when activated by a learner.
• Speech Reading / Lip Reading Speech reading is often used in the same manner as lip reading and it is the method of watching a speaker's lips, facial expressions and gestures so that a person with a hearing impairment can understand what is being spoken.
• Speech Recognition The process in which the human voice is used for control, command, or text entry on computers and other electronic items (phones, computers, environmental controls, etc.). This term is often used as an abbreviated description of automatic speech recognition (ASR).
• Speech-To-Text Speech-to-Text refers to software that converts spoken words into typewritten text. It is a term commonly used for ASR.
• Spontaneity An act of free will. In PECS, the goal is for learners to use the exchange in a spontaneous manner, meaning that it is initiated by them and not prompted by others.
• Spontaneous Recovery A phenomenon associated with extinction in which the behavior reappears even though it has not been reinforced.
• Stability The condition of being stable or resistant to change.
• Stalactite An icicle shaped mineral deposit hanging from the roof of a cave
• Stalagmite A cone shaped mineral deposit formed on the floor of a cave
• Static Having no motion; being at rest.
• Static Screen Devices A speech generating device that has buttons which, when activated, reproduce a pre-recorded message (these devices generally require overlays).
• Statute A law enacted by Congress, the legislative branch of the United States.
• Stereotyped A fixed structure or pattern
• Stereotypical Behavior Stereotypical behavior has been categorized as repetitive motor and vocal responses, possibly serving no function, or automatically reinforced by the sensory consequences it produces.
• Stereotypy Repetitive, mechanical and frequent occurrences of speech, movement or postures,
• Stimulus A term used to describe specific aspects of the environment that can be differentiated from one another. In a study, the term refers to an environmental variable that is controlled or manipulated to determine its influence on the behavior under investigation.
• Stimulus Control A collection of practices used to decrease interfering behaviors and increase on-task behaviors by using environmental and curriculum modifications.
• Stimulus Over-Selectivity Response to an inappropriately narrow range of stimuli or an overly narrow range of components within a stimulus.
• Storyboard A graphic organizer that shows a sequential series of pictures to tell a story. This tool is used to visualize and sequence different parts of the story. Using sticky notes is an effective way to storyboard so that if the sequence changes, individual scenes of the story can easily be rearranged.
• Strategies Groups of activities carried out to produce outputs required to achieve planned outcomes. Strategies usually comprise several activities and outputs.
• Streamer This is a type of Bluetooth technology that is worn by a person with compatible hearing aids. It enables a connection to other devices such as remote microphones, TV devices, cellular phones, smart phones, computers, and even some cars and, thereby, allows the acoustic output of the connected devices to be heard through the hearing aids.
• Structured Environments Refers to the planning and organization of a setting to emphasize clear boundaries, expectations, and order.
• Structured Observation These observations involve observing social behavior in a structured play group or structured social group setting
• Structured Play Group or Activity In PMII, structured play groups or activities follow the initial dyadic instruction provided to peers. In contrast to the training group in which only the peers participate, both the peers and the focal child are included to practice new social skills.
• Structured Teaching A visually based approach for creating highly structured environments that support individuals with autism in a variety of educational, community, and home/living settings.
• Student, Environments, Tasks, Tools (SETT) Developed by Joy Zabala (1995) and widely used in school settings, SETT guides the team through the AT decision-making process by using a four-part model.
• Study Carrel A table or desk with three sides extending above the writing surface to serve as partitions, designed for individual study
• Study Guide Packet of information needed to prepare for a quiz, test, or final exam. Information may include content such as vocabulary words, fill-in-the-blanks, completing a map to show the state names and capitals, or recall of specific information that needs to be synthesized.
• Subasis Bar A pelvic stabilizer which consists of a padded bar designed to hold the pelvis in a predetermined position. SubASIS, sub (below) ASIS (Anterior Superior Iliac Spine-a bony prominence on the pelvis).
• Subjective Interpretation that is based on thoughts, feelings, or opinions.
• Subtend (of a line) To form an angle a particular point.
• Summary of Performance (SOP) The student's academic achievement and functional performance and recommendations on how to assist the student in meeting postsecondary goals.
• Superficial On the surface, limited
• Supplemental Reinforcer A reinforcer that is in addition to a final reinforcer that increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future.
• Supplementary Aids and Services Aids, services, and other supports that are provided in general education classes or other education-related settings to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 § 602.33 (2004).
• Supported Employment According to the U.S. Department of Labor, "Supported employment facilitates competitive work in integrated work settings for individuals with the most severe disabilities (i.e. psychiatric, mental retardation, learning disabilities, traumatic brain injury) for whom competitive employment has not traditionally occurred, and who, because of the nature and severity of their disability, need ongoing support services in order to perform their job. Supported employment provides assistance such as job coaches, transportation, assistive technology, specialized job training, and individually tailored supervision." Through supported employment, a person with a disability receives ongoing support, supervision, training, and transportation to secure and maintain a paid job in a competitive work environment.
• Supports Visuals, objects, auditory cues, printed text, videos, etc. that are put in place to assist the individual with ASD in completion of a task, transition within their day, communication, social interactions, or comprehension of directions.
• Switch A device that is used to activate another (used during scanning techniques).
• Switch A device that breaks the connection in an electrical circuit. In reference to computers, communication devices and other AT, switches are used to interact with those devices when direct selection is not an option. Switches may be mechanical or electrical, and typically perform just one action that can be programmed via the switch interface equipment. Switches can be used to access computers, mobile devices, toys and environmental activities of daily living. For example, a switch can perform the basic function of turning something on and off but may be programmed for a variety of functions to provide access to technology.
• Switch Access A way to interact with a computer or mobile device, AAC device, toys and environmental controls using a switch.
• Switch Interface An input control designed to support switch access to a computer or mobile device. A switch interface translates switch closures to specific actions on a computer, communication device, toy or other electronic device. A switch interface is required because switches are not typically connected directly to a device. Actions are assigned to the switches to allow navigation, selection and other programmable commands and keystrokes to the computer or device. Many switch interfaces accommodate multiple switches and actions.
• Switch-Accessible toy A toy that can be turned on and off or controlled using a switch.
• Symbol Something that stands for or suggests something else by means of relationship or association. Also a representation of a word or phrase (varying in degrees of abstractness).
• Symbolic Communicator A symbolic communicator uses words, signs, and/or pictures, etc. to represent a concept or to express meaning. In contrast, a non-symbolic communicator may use sign language or gestures to communicate their message.
• Symmetrical Affecting both sides of the body or corresponding parts, such as both legs.
• Syntax Study of one of the structural aspects of language; that is, how to formulate words into a meaningful sentence; the grammar of a particular language
• Synthesized Speech Synthetic or computer-generated speech.
• Synthetic Speech Computer-generated speech.
• T-coil/telecoil A small bundle of copper wire located within a hearing aid or other device that is able to pick up the signal from a telephone and convert it to an auditory signal. This helps the person using the telecoil hear better over the telephone. Some large auditoriums and churches also have systems that can transmit signals to telecoils in hearing aids. This allow people to hear better in those environments as well.
• Tactile Of or connected with the sense of touch
• Tactile Defensiveness An unusual or increased sensitivity to touch that makes affected students feel anxiety, aversion, and even pain in response to ordinary touch sensations. Students often protect the palm of the hand from contact with objects or the floor, and demonstrate a reluctance to grasp objects (such as writing tools), appearing to have a weak grasp, despite having a strong grasp with preferred objects. An occupational therapist can help create a desensitization program.
• Tagboard A strong paper-based material suitable for making posters or other heavy duty uses. Also called oak tag and paperboard.
• Talking Book An audio book that is usually accessed by computer or media player; may use either human or digitized (computer) speech.
• Talking Calculators Calculators that provide auditory feedback.
• Tangible Able to be understood by touch
• Tangible Reinforcers Include edibles, toys, and other objects.
• Target Behavior/Skill A skill or behavior that needs to be increased or decreased and is the focus of the intervention.
• Target Speaker The person that the listener primarily wants to hear.
• Target Stimulus The "thing" or "situation" to which teachers/practitioners want the learner to respond by performing the target skill.
• Targeted Screening Targeted screening focuses on a specific group of children, such as high risk children or those who may be showing differences in their development and behavior.
• Task An activity or set of activities that might be defined as part of a process or job.
• Task Analysis The process of breaking down a skill into small incremental steps that can be taught step-by-step.
• Task Demand Interventions Interventions designed to remove obstacles to success within the task itself.
• Task Direction Tells learners the skills or behaviors they should be using.
• TEACCH Developed in the early 1970s by Eric Schopler at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the TEACCH approach includes a focus on the person with autism and the development of a program around this person's skills, interests, and needs. The major priorities include centering on the individual, understanding autism, adopting appropriate adaptations, and a broadly based intervention strategy building on existing skills and interests.
• Teacher, Practitioner, or Team Member The person to whom communication is addressed
• Teacher-Directed The teacher decides the content and direction of the learning experience
• Techniques A method of accomplishing a desired aim.
• Templates Anything that serves as a pattern; a model. Also can be an empty board or overlay designed to fit with certain speech generating device.
• Temporal Environment Takes into account timing for transitions, routines, and activities and includes a balance of quiet and active, group and individual, and indoor and outdoor activities.
• Terminal Reinforcer Reinforcement applied at the end of a chain of tasks.
• Text Format A kind of file that contains textual information; there are different text formats like doc, txt, rtf, odt, etc.
• Text Reader Commonly referred to as text-to-speech, a text reader reads text that is in a digital format out loud using speech synthesis.
• Text-to-Speech (TTS) Text-to-speech or speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech and is generally accomplished with special software and/or hardware. The quality of various speech generation engines can vary considerably. Some voices sound almost human while others sound more primitive and robotic. The robotic-sounding voices are considered desirable for achieving high rates of "reading" speed.
• The Cloud Cloud computing allows for internet enabled devices (any platform) to run software applications and provide storage for documents and other media files utilizing internet based servers. Using "the cloud" allows multiple users to access the same files (if shared), download the same files (e-text) to different users and are generally accessible from any location as long as the device can connect to the internet.
• Theory of Mind (ToM) The ability to attribute mental states including beliefs, intents, desires, knowledge, and so on, to oneself, and to understand that others have beliefs, intents, desires, knowledge, and so on, that are different from one's own.
• TheraBand Brand name for latex exercise bands.
• Three-Term Contingency The three parts of the discrete trial. Each of the three parts are contingent on each other.
• Tilt-In-Space In reference to seating in a wheelchair, tilt-in-space is a feature that allows the seat to tilt posteriorly without changing the seat to back support angle.
• Time Delay Time delay is a response prompting procedure that focuses on fading the use of prompts during instruction activities by gradually increasing the response interval between the time the response occurs and when the reinforcement is delivered.
• Time Sampling Data on a particular behavior are collected after a certain amount of time. If a learner is engaging in the behavior at that time, then teachers/practitioners record this on the data sheet. This sampling technique is best used to monitor high frequency behaviors such as engagement and parallel play.
• Time Timer, LLC A specific timer that provides a visual "red" count down to allow individuals to see how much time is left in a task or activity.
• Time-Out A nonpunitive, unlocked area, as well as a period of time, which provides an individual with the opportunity to regain control of behavior or attitude.
• Timeline A sequence of related events in chronological order.
• Token Economy Program Involves awarding tokens, chips, stickers, or other items to learners who use target skills identified by the teacher that may be exchanged periodically for items or activities.
• Topic Dictionary Banks of words created around an area of focus. Topic dictionaries assist students with using the correct terms within a specific subject area. For example, if you were discussing the Civil War, you would not speak about missiles; instead, you would talk about cannonballs.
• Topography What a behavior looks like to an observer
• Torque A twisting force that causes something to rotate around an axis or other point.
• Total Task Presentation When a task is presented, a learner attempts all the steps from the beginning to the end and continues with attempting each step with reinforcement afterwards until all steps are mastered.
• Tourette Syndrome An inherited neurological disorder accompanied by multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic.
• Toxic Stress Continuous stress that can have adverse long-term effects, especially for very young children.
• Trade books Trade books are not textbooks but can be both fiction or non-fiction books.
• Training Group A training group is the first step in implementing PMII. During these groups, only peers participate in the dyadic instruction led by an adult trainer. During the training groups, peers receive instruction about various social behaviors and role play with the adult trainer and other peers.
• Trait Distinguishing quality or characteristic
• Transdisciplinary Professionals from varied disciplines working in a collaborative manner in order to integrate information for diagnostic and programming decisions.
• Transition In the education context, transition refers from a child's adaptation from school life to adult life. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004), designates the time for this process, for students receiving special education services, as age 16. Transition also refers to the change within the day that occurs when an individual moves from one activity to the next. It is also, the period of time when a student exits the school system and is no longer eligible for school-based services. The student enters the "real world" where he may qualify for adult services. At this point in time, some students enter the workforce, others continue their education, and some pursue other interests.
• Transition Movement or change from one position, subject or location to another.
• Transition Activities Transition activities are times through out the day where a transition is expected, such as moving from classroom to classroom, coming in from the playground, going to the cafeteria, putting personal items in designated locations like lockers or cubbies, and gathering needed materials to start working, etc.
• Transition Area An area of the home, school, or work setting specifically designed for checking schedules when activities are finished and the individual with ASD needs to transition to the next activity.
• Transition Assessment The ongoing process of collecting data on the individual's strengths, needs, preferences, and interests as they relate to the demands of current and future working, educational, living, and personal, and social environments.
• Transition Cue Any visual cue used to alert the individual with ASD of an upcoming transition. Transition cues can include objects such as a pajama top to signal it is time for bed, a toothbrush to signal time to brush teeth, a stop sign card for ending an activity, a visual picture of the computer to signal that is the next activity. These cues should be designed to support the specific needs of the individual.
• Transition Plan Plan for a coordinated set of activities that will assist the student in a transition from one educational program to another or from school to postsecondary environments.
• Transition Process Process of moving from one task or activity to the next.
• Transition Services Transition services are defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) as a coordinated set of activities that are focused on improving the academic and functional achievement that are based on the individual child's needs. These services may be provided as special education or related services.
• Transition Strategies Activities, supports, cues, or prompts put in place to assist the individual as they move through the transition process. These strategies may include visual, verbal, written, or video format.
• Transition/Transitioning The coordinated process of assisting children with special needs to move smoothly from an early intervention program to a preschool program; this process requires planning as well as the participation of the student's support team and family.
• Transmitter This part of the FM system is worn by the teacher. It has a microphone that picks up the teacher's voice and sends it to the receiver, which the child is wearing.
• Trauma A serious injury or shock to the body, as from an event or situation that causes great distress and disruption. Trauma also refers to the lasting neurological and psychological effects of experiencing the threat of physical or emotional death or annihilation. Research has also showed that a series of smaller, continuous traumatic events, such as sustained bullying, anxiety or neglect can affect a person in the same way as a single significant event.
• Treatment Fidelity Treatment fidelity refers to the degree to which the intervention was implemented as intended.
• Triad A group of three
• Trial In time delay, a trial is made up of the delivery of a cue, a learner's response (or use of the target skill), and teacher/practitioner feedback based upon the learner's response (i.e., positive reinforcement, corrective feedback).
• Trigger something that sets off or initiates a process or a reaction
• Typoscope A simple tool in the form of a thin plastic card with a cutout that helps a person stay focused on a line while reading or serves as a signature guide.
• UDL Universal design for learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.
• UEB Stands for Unified English Braille code – an English language braille code standard representing a variety of literary and technical material in use in English-speaking countries.
• Unaided Systems Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems that do not require anything external from the user (e.g., sign language).
• Underresponsive Observed in individuals that have sensory processing disorders, the body does not respond to stimuli as quickly, or as intensely, as it would in a typically developing individual.
• Unilateral Hearing Loss Hearing loss of any type or degree in one ear and normal hearing in the other ear.
• Universal Design A process of creating spaces, activities and products that are accessible to all people, including those with disabilities.
• Universal Design (UD) This is an approach to the design of products and environments that is aimed at making them accessible to all people, both those with and without disabilities. Examples of universally designed environments include buildings with ramps, curb cuts, automatic doors, widened doorways, and door handles (rather than knobs).
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) UDL is an educational approach to teaching, learning and assessment, drawing on new brain research and new media technologies to respond to individual learner differences. It is an approach to designing course instruction and materials.
• Universal Screening Universal screening is a type of assessment that is characterized by the administration of quick, low-cost, repeatable testing of age-appropriate skills to all students.
• Unplanned Activity An activity that occurs during the day that is not on the visual schedule for the individual with ASD.
• Utterance Used in the analysis of spontaneous language, an utterance is a single thought expressed by a speaker. An utterance may be a single word, a phrase, a grammatically incorrect sentence or a complete sentence.
• Variable DRO Schedule of Reinforcement The interval of time is set to vary across trials for delivering reinforcement.
• Variable Schedule of Reinforcement Learner is reinforced after an average number of correct responses or amount of time.
• Vehicle Modifications Adaptive driving aids, hand controls, wheelchair and other lifts, modified vans, or other motor vehicles used for personal transportation.
• Verbal Expressed in spoken words
• Verbal Advance Warning A warning provided to the individual as an auditory cue alerting them to an upcoming change or transition. This can be delivered at a certain time (e.g., 5 minutes prior to the completion of the activity or the time to transition).
• Verbal Blocking Preventing learners with ASD from engaging in vocal stereotypes by prompting them to use more appropriate, alternative language or vocalizations.
• Verbal Cue A statement or vocalization provided by an adult or peer working with the individual with ASD that cues him or her to the next step in a task, social response, or appropriate behavior.
• Verbal Directives Direction given in a verbal format.
• Verbal Prompt Any verbal assistance given to learners with ASD to use target skills correctly.
• Verbalizations Oral words.
• Vestibular System The vestibular system gives us information about where we are in space, as well as how fast and in what direction we are moving. It also contributes to our posture and overall muscle tone.
• Video Analogy A video model of the intervention that allows parents to observe the strategy being implemented correctly.
• Video Analysis Review of a video clip of one or both parents implementing the intervention with feedback provided by the practitioner regarding accuracy of intervention implementation. Feedback includes both aspects implemented correctly as well as those in need of improvement. Corrective strategies are outlined, allowing parents to change and improve implementation.
• Video Modeling Video modeling is a strategy that allows information captured on video to be presented to an individual as a model of the appropriate behavior, reaction, etc. It uses a medium that is visually interesting to motivate and direct attention to a model of appropriateness.
• Video Priming Videotaped instruction used to prepare individuals for upcoming transitions.
• Videobooks Screencasts of digital books that enable students to participate in reading through the use of video.
• Virtual Manipulatives Interactive, software/application-based representations of physical manipulatives.
• Visual Of or relating to seeing or sight
• Visual Acuity How clearly a person sees from a specified distance. For example, a measurement of 20/20 denotes normal vision.
• Visual Boundary A visual boundary can be created through a variety of means including furniture arrangement, labels, and color coding. It visually defines a section of the room, providing visual organization for the student/individual with an autism spectrum disorder.
• Visual Countdown A system or tool used to provide visual cuing for counting down time left in an activity or task.
• Visual Cue A visual cue is a picture, graphic representation, or word used to prompt a student regarding a rule, routine, task, or social response.
• Visual Distraction Visual overload that can clutter pertinent information; excessive number of objects, posters, or the content of posters and other learning material may be illegible for a person with low vision.
• Visual Functioning Measure of how effectively a person can use his/her residual vision in completing tasks and orientation and mobility.
• Visual Impairment A condition of the eye or visual system that results in a reduced vision due to limited visual acuity or a visual field that cannot be corrected using standard corrective lenses.
• Visual Memory The relationship between perceptual processing and the encoding, storage, and retrieval of the resulting representation.
• Visual Perception Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye.
• Visual Processing Disorder The inability to make sense of information taken in through the eyes.
• Visual Prompt Any type of visual assistance that provide learners with information about how to use target skills correctly (e.g., checklists, pictures/photographs, schedules, written instructions).
• Visual Representation A model that shows a likeness of something.
• Visual Schedule A procedural plan that indicates the time and sequence of each operation presented in a visual format.
• Visual Strategies Visual strategies include accommodations to support individuals in less structured situations, assist them as they access curriculum, or scripts for social situations.
• Visual Supports Visual supports are any tool presented visually that supports the individual as he or she moves through the day. Visual supports might include, but are not limited to, visual boundaries, schedules, maps, labels, organization systems, timelines, and scripts. They are utilized across settings to support individuals with ASD.
• Visual Symbols The term visual symbol is used interchangeably with the term visual tool or visual support. Visual symbols are visual representations of people, places, or objects designed to assist individuals with ASD in better understanding the expectations within their environment.
• Visual Tool The term visual tool is used interchangeably with the term visual symbol or visual support. Visual tools are visual representations of people, places, or objects designed to assist individuals with ASD in better understanding the expectations within their environment.
• Visual-Motor Skills The integration of vision and motor skills that allows people to use their eyes, hands, and body effectively.
• Visual-Motor, Eye-Hand Coordination The ability to control hand movement guided by vision.
• Visual-Perceptual Skills The ability to see, analyze, and give meaning to visual information around us.
• Visual-Spatial Processing The ability to tell where objects are in space.
• Visually Defined A visually defined space is one where the boundaries are clearly outlined through the placement of furniture or the use of color. The visually defined space provides the individual with an autism spectrum disorder specific boundaries.
• Visually Structured Tasks Visually structured tasks are tasks that are highly organized and incorporate visual instructions.
• Vocal Output Communication Aids (VOCA) Aided communication devices that produce verbal output.
• Vocal Stereotypy A repetitive or ritualistic use of language or vocalizations (e.g., repeating words/phrases, moaning).
• Vocalizations Oral sounds, such as crying, whining, or grunting.
• Vocation A particular occupation, especially one for which a person is particularly suited or qualified
• Vocational work-related; pertaining to one's job.
• Vocational Assessment There are two types of vocational assessment: functional and ecological. A functional vocational assessment is an evaluation of a person's ability and desire to do a job by observing her performance on various tasks in a variety of job settings. An ecological vocational assessment focuses on particular employment tasks within a designated job site to determine whether the person with disabilities can perform those specific tasks and if so, with what accommodations and supports.
• Vocational Rehabilitation Services Every state has a federally funded agency that administers vocational rehabilitation (VR), supported employment, and independent living services. Vocational rehabilitation services offices will often pay for AT if the technology will enhance the worker’s ability to prepare for, get, or keep a job.
• Voice File A computer file that registers an individual's voice characteristics, which is usually established during the training process. This file changes constantly to increase the accuracy of voice recognition in given speech recognition software and systems.
• Voice Recognition Refers to speech recognition which is software that converts spoken words into editable digital text. The terms automatic speech recognition (ASR) and voice recognition are often used interchangeably although voice recognition is a more specific term. Voice recognition is a type of ASR.
• Wait Time Periods of silence after a teacher asks a question that allows the child to think about an answer
• Waiver an exception to the federal Medicaid law that provides alternatives to long-term institutional care. Medicaid waivers are funded through the Department of Job and Family Services.
• Weak Central Coherence (WCC) The tendency to focus on details and miss the big picture.
• Wearable Technology or Wearables Wearables are electronic technology or devices incorporated into items that can be comfortably worn on a body.
• Wheelchairs/Mobility Aids Manual and electric wheelchairs, mobile bases for custom chairs, walkers, three-wheel scooters and other utility vehicles for increasing personal mobility.
• Wireless Network (slang term WiFi) Allows computers, smartphones, and other devices to connect to the Internet or communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area.
• Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) Previously funded by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (1992-2009), WATI is currently a volunteer network of AT consultants who provide AT training and support across the state of Wisconsin.
• Within-Stimulus Prompting Prompting that involves exaggerating or over-emphasizing the feature that differentiates between two presented stimuli.
• Word Prediction Software or a built-in feature that anticipates and predicts potential words after typing two or three letters.
• Work Area An area in the home, school, or community solely used for work activities.
• Work System Visually structured sequences that provide opportunities to practice previously taught skills, concepts, or activities (Schopler, 1995).
• Working Memory Temporary storage for holding and processing of information.
• Written-Text Cue Written-text cues are used to prompt peer social behavior through the use of short phrases written at the peers' reading and vocabulary level. Written-text cues often are written on note cards making them portable and available to peers throughout the peer social network activity.
• XML XML is a universal format for structured documents and data. It is a set of rules, guidelines, and conventions for designing text formats for data in a way that produces files that are easy to generate and read (by a computer), are unambiguous, and avoid common pitfalls such as lack of extensibility, lack of support for internationalization/localization, and platform-dependency. Like HTML, XML makes use of elements and attributes, but while HTML specifies what each means (and often how content will display in a browser), XML uses elements, attributes, etc., only to delimit pieces of data and leaves the interpretation of that data completely to the application that reads it. The separation of content and its presentation is a primary advantage of XML.
• XY Table A moveable tray mounted on some CCTV magnifiers to make reading more comfortable; a user can glide text placed on the tray side to side or front to back.
• Zero-Second Delay The initial level of time delay used in fading prompts. With a zero-second delay the prompt is provided immediately. Over time, a pause or delay is provided. It is the goal of instruction that during the pause, the learner will beat the prompt by responding appropriately.
• Zone Assignment Students are assigned areas in the room where they will work on specific skills

The Radiant Spectrum

Task Analysis in Special Education: How to Deconstruct a Task

• September 15, 2022 April 11, 2024

As educators, we often go through the process of deconstructing a task by breaking down a complex skill into smaller steps so that students are able to learn the skill gradually, and easily. This process is known as Task Analysis and is especially crucial when teaching students with special needs.

We typically learn in two ways, explicitly and implicitly. Explicit learning is the intentional experience of acquiring a skill or knowledge, while implicit learning is the process of learning without conscious and deliberate awareness, such as learning how to talk and eat. Our students with special needs benefit more from explicit teaching and learning because they often face challenges acquiring skills implicitly due to the need for contextual understanding, communication skills, and so on. 

For explicit teaching and learning to be effective, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the skill through task analysis.

Task Analysis involves a series of thought processes:

1. Goal Selection: Know exactly what it is that you want to teach

Be clear and specific about the goal or the skill that you want to teach. Avoid having too many sub-goals. 

• Negative example: Play a complete song.
• Positive example: Press keys on the piano by following the alphabets shown on a flashcard or music score.

2. Identify any prerequisite skills, if any 

In our earlier example of teaching the sequence of piano keys, some of the prerequisite skills will include:

• Literacy skills of alphabets and/or colours
• Matching skills of alphabets and/or colours
• Visual referencing skills in top-down and/or left-right motion
• Motor skill of only using one finger to press the key, or to imitate an action

Prerequisite skills are important because these skills help to make the learning more feasible and increase the possibility of successfully performing the new skill. 

3. Write a list of all the steps needed to complete the skill you want to teach

A skill can be completed in a single step, or in a series of sequential steps. It is thus helpful that we list down all the steps needed to complete the skill we want to teach. With this, the Task Analysis becomes more detailed and effective. Let’s take the above goal and list down the steps needed. 

Goal: Press keys on the piano by following the alphabets shown on a flashcard or music score.

The keys steps needed to complete this task are:

• Look up at the flashed alphabet.
• Process and retain the information in the learner’s working memory.
• Look down at the piano keys.
• Find the corresponding key by scanning past non-target keys.
• Identify and stop at the target key.
• Aim and press with one finger. 

4. Identify which steps your child can do and which he/she cannot yet do

The next step will be to know the current skill level of your learner by identifying which steps the learner can do, and which the learner cannot. Assume the learner has the following challenges:

• Not consistent in visual referencing skill of looking up and down repeatedly.
• Unable to focus and scan more than 4 keys at one time.
• Often mistakes Letter G for C and vice versa. 

This means that this learner will have challenges in completing Steps 3, 4, and 5 in the above Task Analysis. 

5. Isolate any gap skills, if needed, and teach them first

The steps in which the learner cannot do or has challenges in are known as gap skills . After identifying the gap skills, take time to isolate the skills, teach them, and bridge them. This process takes time. For example, looking at the gap skills in the above example: 

• Visual Referencing Skill: 

This is an abstract skill that takes time to build. It is unlikely that the learner can learn and master this in a couple of weeks. Therefore, to bridge this, the teacher should intentionally provide opportunities for top-down visual referencing across activities and settings, such as taking a toy from a shelf above and keeping them back on top, or sorting activities whereby one item is on top, and one is at the bottom. 

• Working Memory Stamina

This is also another skill that takes time to build. Teaching it across settings and activities will be more effective and efficient. 

This is a skill that can be taught together with the target skill. Since the learner mistakes G for C and vice versa, and is unable to scan more than 4 keys at any one time, reduce the sequencing to CDEF or FGAB such that there is only either C or G in the target sequence. Once the learner is more confident, isolate C and G so that the learner learns to differentiate the two before the full sequence is introduced again. 

Once the gap skills are bridged, the likelihood of the learner performing the target skill will increase vastly.

6. Determine the strategy to be used when completing the target skill, with or without gap skills

At this stage, the learner might still have some gap skills to work on, but the teacher decides to move on to teaching the actual target skill. There are generally three strategies to use:

• Backward Chaining

As the name suggests, Backward Chaining involves the teacher helping the student complete all the steps in the front, leaving only the last step for the learner to do. This also means that the teacher focuses on the last step in the teaching process. The teacher then slowly moves to teach the step before the last until the learner is able to complete all the steps.

• Forward Chaining

This is the opposite of Backward Chaining. The teacher starts teaching from the first step and then moves on chronologically. 

• Total Chaining

This strategy involves the learner in all the steps and the teacher teaches all the steps to the learner with prompts. The learner is learning all the steps. 

It is common to have tried all three strategies before the teacher is able to decide which one works best, so do not be afraid to evaluate and change your mind halfway!

7. Develop a systematic teaching plan, implement, assess and evaluate the progress

After you decide on your teaching strategy, you can then plan and start the actual teaching. Do remember to assess and evaluate the learner’s progress regularly so as to make the learning effective!

Task Analysis may be a long and daunting process at the beginning. However, the more you do it, the better you get at it. In fact, we are practising the steps of Task Analysis as we write this article for you! Practice more and you will soon see how useful it is. 

Interested in more tips on teaching to children with special needs? You can read about the importance and features of a good classroom set-up here !

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Indiana Institute on Disability and Community

Indiana Resource Center for Autism

Applied behavior analysis: the role of task analysis and chaining.

By:   Dr. Cathy Pratt, BCBA-D, Director, Indiana Resource Center for Autism and Lisa Steward, MA, BCBA, Director, Indiana Behavior Analysis Academy

A task analysis is used to break complex tasks into a sequence of smaller steps or actions. For some individuals on the autism spectrum, even simple tasks can present complex challenges. Having an understanding of all the steps involved for a particular task can assist in identifying any steps that may need extra instruction and will help teach the task in a logical progression. A task analysis is developed using one of four methods. First, competent individuals who have demonstrated expertise can be observed and steps documented. A second method is to consult experts or professional organizations with this expertise in validating the steps of a required task. The third method involves those who are teaching the skill to perform the task themselves and document steps. This may lead to a greater understanding of all steps involved. The final approach is simply trial and error in which an initial task analysis is generated and then refined through field tests (Cooper, Heron, Howard, 2020).

As task analyses are developed, it is important to remember the skill level of the person, the age, communication and processing abilities, and prior experiences in performing the task. When considering these factors, task analyses may need to be individualized. For those on the autism spectrum, also remember their tendency toward literal interpretation of language. For example, students who have been told to put the peanut butter on the bread when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich have literally just placed the entire jar on the bread. It is important that all steps are operationally defined. Below are two examples of task analyses.

Putting a Coat On

• Pick up the coat by the collar (the inside of the coat should be facing you)
• Place your right arm in the right sleeve hole
• Push your arm through until you can see your hand at the other end
• Reach behind with your left hand
• Place your arm in the left sleeve hole
• Move your arm through until you see your hand at the other end
• Pull the coat together in the front
• Zip the coat

Washing Hands  

• Turn on right faucet
• Turn on left faucet
• Place hands under water
• Dispense soap
• Rub palms to count of 5
• Rub back of left hand to count of 5
• Rub back of right hand to count of 5
• Turn off water
• Take paper towel
• Dry hands to count of 5
• Throw paper towel away

Skills taught using a task analysis (TA) include daily living skills such as brushing teeth, bathing, dressing, making a meal, and performing a variety of household chores. Task analysis can also be used in teaching students to perform tasks at school such as eating in the cafeteria, morning routines, completing and turning in assignments, and other tasks. Task analysis is also useful in desensitization programs such as tolerating haircuts, having teeth cleaned, and tolerating buzzers or loud environments. Remember that tasks we perceive as simple may be complex for those on the spectrum.

Again, the number of steps involved and the wording used will differ dependent on the individual. Determining the steps to a TA as well as the starting point for an individual often requires collecting baseline data, and/or examining the individual’s ability to complete any or all of the required steps. Assessing the individual’s level of mastery can occur in one of two ways. Single-opportunity data involves collecting information on each step correctly performed in the task analysis. Once a mistake is made, data collection stops and no further steps are examined. In multiple opportunity data collection, progress is documented on each step regardless of whether the performance was correct or not. This provides insight into those steps the student can perform and where additional training or support is needed. Remember that once implementation begins, the TA may need to be revised to address any additional needs.

Once a task analysis is developed, chaining procedures are used to teach the task. Forward chaining involves teaching the sequence beginning with the first step. Typically, the learner does not move onto the second step until the first step is mastered. In backward chaining, the sequence is taught beginning with the last step. And again, the previous step is not taught until the final step is learned. One final strategy is total task teaching. Using this strategy, the entire skill is taught and support is provided or accommodations made for steps that are problematic. Each of these strategies has benefits. In forward chaining, the individual learns the logical sequence of a task from beginning to end. In backward chaining, the individual immediately understands the benefit of performing the task. In total task training, the individual is able to learn the entire routine without interruptions. In addition, they are able to independently complete any steps that have been previously mastered.

Regardless of the strategy chosen, data has to be collected to document successful completion of the entire routine and progress on individual steps. How an individual progresses through the steps of the task analysis and what strategies are used have to be determined via data collection.

Cooper, J.O., Heron, T.E, and Heward, W.L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd Edition). Pearson Education, Inc.

Pratt, C. & Steward, L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis: The role of task analysis and chaining. https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/articles/applied-behavior-analysis.html .

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Teaching Multi-Step Skills Through Task Analysis for Autistic Students

Topics: Teaching with Pictures , Autism & Transitions , Infant/Toddler (0-3) , Elementary (4-12)

Life is filled with constant multi-step directions and processes. That’s why a common elementary project is to have students write exact directions to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Their peers are then told to only do exactly what the directions say. As you might imagine, hilarity ensues—inevitably some steps are missing, like “Open the jelly jar” or “Spread the peanut butter evenly across (one or both slices) of bread.” Peers will stare confusedly at jars or pile massive amounts of peanut butter on the bread just to make a point when detailed steps are left out. What students may not realize is, this assignment is actually a task analysis in the making.

What is it?

Task analysis (TA) is the process of taking a complex skill such as making a sandwich, running the dishwasher, or doing laundry—and breaking it down into smaller, manageable, and observable steps.

Why is it useful?

If a student is struggling to complete a skill in its entirety, breaking the task down into steps can make it more apparent to teachers or parents as to where the error is occurring. Then we can use prompting, reinforcement, and/or modeling to help fill the gaps.

Autistic students particularly struggle with executive functions that govern the ability to plan and organize thoughts, recall and remember information, and initiate an activity. Listing manageable steps can be a quick reference as they learn new skills through repetition and muscle memory.

When should I use task analysis?

Task analysis should be used to chain-link together a sequence of smaller steps to perform a bigger action. Many functional, self-help, or vocational skills fit this description—rather than simply opening a microwave, the act of cooking a packet of oatmeal is comprised of multiple small steps to complete the greater action.

Here are some ideas for skills that task analysis could be helpful in breaking down:

• Doing dishes
• Setting the table
• Logging on to a device
• Cooking a meal
• Tying shoes
• Using the bathroom

TA can also be a great way to introduce simple play scripts for anyone learning how to appropriately use play materials. Sample ideas could include:

• Feeding a baby doll
• Playing dress up
• Building a train track
• Playing restaurant
• Making sandcastles
• Building block patterns

How to implement it?

1. choose a specific skill to target.

To identify the skill you will teach, start by identifying the student’s needs and the team’s goals for them. Depending on age or developmental level, the necessity or desire of the individual to learn the skill (such as toilet training) may be an important factor in prioritizing where to start.

2. Assess the learner’s ability level and necessary materials or supports

Begin by collecting baseline data on the student’s ability to complete the identified skill. If you were going to teach them how to cook something in the microwave but they cannot accurately match numbers on a recipe to the microwave, then you may need to start with preliminary instruction before you’re ready to begin teaching the broader skill of cooking. 

Similarly, if the need is high for an individual to learn a skill and they can perform each step, but they lack motivation, you may need to evaluate how to provide ample reinforcement when going through the TA.

3. Break down the skill

As described earlier in the peanut butter sandwich challenge, breaking down a skill into smaller steps can be harder than you’d expect. The best way to segment the information is by actually completing these steps or observing someone else doing so, and analyzing the process as it occurs. Here are a few different breakdowns of steps to provide some ideas of what the process can look like:

Task Analysis for PB&J Sandwich

And of course, after eating the PB&J, you may need to consider brushing your teeth!

TASK ANALYSIS EXAMPLE: Brushing Teeth (Mason et al., 1990)

• Obtains materials
• Takes cap off toothpaste
• Puts paste on the toothbrush
• Replaces toothpaste cap
• Wets brush (I know—debatable for when to wet the toothbrush!!!)
• Brushes left outer surfaces
• Brushes front outer surfaces
• Brushes right outer surfaces
• Brushes lower right chewing surfaces
• Brushes lower left chewing surfaces
• Brushes upper left chewing surfaces
• Brushes upper right chewing surfaces
• Brushes upper right inside surfaces
• Brushes upper front inside surfaces
• Brushes upper left inside surfaces
• Brushes lower left inside surfaces
• Brushes lower front inside surfaces
• Brushes lower right inside surfaces
• Rinses toothbrush
• Wipes mouth and hands
• Returns materials

Of course, when writing a task analysis, there’s room for flexibility. I personally wet my toothbrush before I put the toothpaste on, and I definitely put peanut butter on both pieces of my bread when I make a sandwich, so I may write my version a bit differently—that’s where personalization comes into play.

4. Determine the comprehensiveness of task analysis

The best way to make sure you’ve developed a comprehensive TA is to have someone else run the steps exactly as you’ve written them. Then you’ll see if anything has been left out and revise the steps as needed.

5. Develop a teaching plan

Depending on the complexity of the skill and the student’s baseline data, the teacher should determine the best way to teach it—can the learner manage the TA in its entirety, should some of the steps be taught in phases or using forward or backward chaining ? For students who are very reinforced by the end product (for example: cooking), start with the last several steps (backward chaining) and end with the positive experience of how to get there.

Similarly, the way in which the TA is presented should take into account the student’s learning style and ability. Some may need pictures of each step, some readers may have the steps written out and still others may benefit from a video model of the task before they complete it. Steps should be subtle but thorough and efficient in communicating the process to the learner.

6. Implement and monitor progress

When collecting data for task analysis, a checklist for each step can pinpoint discrete steps that may be difficult for the student—isolating those independent skills lets the teacher practice any step in isolation (when possible or applicable). Further, the checklist should include a section that outlines the level of prompting a student requires to complete the skill. Since the goal is always for students to be as independent as possible, this will help guide future instruction, too.

So whether you’re making a sandwich, washing your car, editing a paper, cooking dinner, or taking a shower, life is filled with many discrete steps that make up a larger action. Finding a way to effectively break those steps down and instruct the gaps can help students gain valuable skills, a greater quality of life, and self-reliance. 

What other tips and tricks have been effective in using task analysis in your practice? Are there any specific skills that you’d like help breaking down?

For more specific information on Task Analysis see:

References:.

https://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/sites/autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/files/TaskAnalyis_Steps_0.pdf  

https://cehs.unl.edu/documents/secd/csi/pbj.pdf

Written by Frankie Kietzman, Ed.S.

Frankie Kietzman is a Sales Development Associate for STAGES Learning with experience teaching as an elementary teacher, self-contained autism teacher for elementary and secondary students, autism specialist and coach for teachers dealing with challenging behaviors. Frankie’s passion for supporting children and adults with autism originates from growing up with her brother who is deaf and has autism. As one of her brother’s legal guardians, she continues to learn about post-graduate opportunities and outcomes for people with autism. Frankie has a Bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University in Elementary Education, a Master’s degree in high and low incidence disabilities from Pittsburg State University and in 2021, completed another Master’s degree in Advanced Leadership in Special Education from Pittsburg State University.

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Special Educator Academy

Free resources, what you need to know about task analysis and why you should use it.

Sharing is caring!

Returning to the Effective Interventions in Applied Behavior Analysis series , I wanted to talk a little about the use of task analysis and why it’s important.  For more information on how we use task analyses, check out this post on using shaping and this one on using chaining .

Everyone in special education has probably heard about task analysis.  It’s a decidedly unexciting topic in some ways, but it so critical to systematic instruction that we have to address it.  In addition, there is a lot of misinformation flying around out there so hopefully this will address just what you need to know about them.  

We are told to use them frequently in the classroom to break skills down into smaller components.  So, we set up steps, like we do for some of our mini-schedules like the one below for washing hands .  Sometimes task analyses have visuals to support them and sometimes they are just written out for the staff.

What is a task analysis?

So if you aren’t familiar with the jargon, what does task analysis mean? The National Professional Development Center found task analysis to be an evidence-based practice, which interests me because I don’t think that behavioral task analysis is actually an intervention.  I see the task analysis process as part of other interventions.  A task analysis is simply a set of steps that need to be completed to reach a specific goals.  There are basically two different ways to break down a skill.  You can break it down by the steps in a sequence to complete the task.  The hand washing task analysis does that.  In this type of task analysis you have to complete one step to be ready for the next.  For instance, you have to turn on the water to get your hands wet.  This type of task analysis is typically used with chaining which will be the topic of our next post.

You can also have a task analysis that breaks skills down into smaller chunks, like increasing time.  A task analysis for remaining in a group might do that like the examples at the bottom of the picture above.   In this type of task analysis, each step replaces the one that comes before it.  So, when you sit for 5 minutes, that includes all the steps that come before.  This type of task analysis is usually used with shaping, which I will talk about in 2 weeks.

Why Do I Need a Task Analysis?

So if a task analysis is just breaking skills down into smaller skills, you probably do it all the time. Conducting a task analysis isn’t a very time-consuming process.

But, why is using a specific task analysis that is established for a student important?  Below are 3 reasons to answer that question.

1.  Consistency

In order to assure that everyone is teaching a skill in the same way, breaking it down into the same steps is critical.  I am willing to bet that if you ask parents, paraprofessionals or even your significant other how they brush their teeth, you will find some variation in the order of the steps.  Your significant other doesn’t put the cap back on the toothpaste.  You keep the water running while you brush your teeth while your paraprofessional turns it off to conserve water until she is ready to rinse.  My point is that we all have individual differences in the steps of completing simple, everyday tasks.  Now, imagine that you are a student who is having difficulty learning to brush his teeth.  If you show me one way and prompt me through the steps, and then the parapro shows me another way and prompts me through her steps, and my mom shows me a third way, I’m going to be pretty confused.  It’s the beginning of the year and we all need a laugh, so here’s a great video example of why it’s important.  Archie and Michael can’t even agree on how to put on shoes and socks.  Imagine if they both tried to teach one of our students to put theirs on (no, I would not recommend doing this)–how confused would that student be?

Take Away Point: Writing down a task analysis assures that everyone follows the same steps and teaches the student the same way.  Then your instruction is much less confusing and more efficient. 2. Tailor It To The Student

Students need task analyses that are tailored to their needs.  I love starting with standard ones, so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but then adjusting them to meet the needs of this student.  Here’s why the individualization is so important.  If your steps are too large for the student, he or she may not make it to the next step and will stall out.  For instance, if you are teaching Molly to stay in a group activity for 20 minutes and your task analysis jumps from 5 minutes (that she can currently stay) to 10 minutes, she might never be successful at jumping to 10 minutes and won’t progress.  She might do better if we went to 7 minutes next and then 9 minutes.  On the other hand, for Max, if we were teaching the same skill and we had him stay in the group for 5 minutes, then 7 minutes and then 9 minutes it might take a very long time when he could have made the jump straight to 10 minutes.  Each student is different and we have to figure out how to individualize their steps based on their past data.  Is it taking too long to master a step? Step it down to a smaller step.  Is he mastering steps really quickly?  Make the steps bigger.

3. It is the Basis for Systematic Instruction

Breaking skills down is a critical component of discrete trial programming as well as teaching life skills and other chaining and shaping applications.  Discrete trial programs are made up of smaller steps that lead to a larger goal.  Learn 1 letter, then 2, then 3?  That’s a shaping task analysis.  Our research shows us that it’s important to break skills down for students with autism in order to eliminate extraneous variables that might mess up their learning.  Teaching systematically is the key to success with any student and especially any student in special education.  It’s also key for some of our students to be able to show progress.  While it’s not exciting to say that a student has mastered 4 of the 8 steps of tying his shoes, it better than being able to say AGAIN that he can’t tie his shoes–assuming he had no steps mastered earlier in the year. It’s slow progress, but it’s progress.

So, how do you use task analyses in your classroom and why do you think they are important?  Are there questions you have about task analyses or teaching strategies that use them? Please share them in the comments and I will try to address them.  In the meantime, I’ll be back next Thursday to talk about ways to make your instruction using task analyses more efficient.

• Read more about: Curriculum & Instructional Activities , Effective Interventions in ABA

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Using Task Analysis to Guide IEP Goals and Instruction

Educational Consultant

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Task Analysis as an Assessment Tool

An ideal starting point for planning any learning target, IEP goal, or instructional plan is a sound assessment. While formal assessments can give you a broad overview of students’ skill levels compared to their peers, an informal assessment of a specific skill can give you valuable information about which steps may require additional support or instruction. And using task analysis is a helpful way of looking more closely at discrete parts of a larger skill.

To carry out an informal assessment using task analysis, start by writing down each step of the skill (for example, two-digit addition with regrouping). Perform it yourself to be sure that you have included each step. Once your list is complete, observe your student performing the same skill. Keep in mind that you are assessing it, not teaching it. So, resist the temptation to give any instruction or direction before your student makes an attempt. While you observe, notice where they require extra prompting or support for steps and record what type of support is effective. Be aware of your student’s engagement, attention, and stamina. Also take note of any steps they take that were not included on your task analysis list and adjust it as needed.

Once you have a clearer picture of exactly how your student goes about performing a skill, you have more information to use in planning learning targets and instruction in a way that best meets their specific needs.

Writing IEP Goals

The information you gain about how your student performs each step of a broader skill or task can be helpful in writing goals that are more specific, measurable, and attainable (three elements of a SMART goal !).

Use what you have learned about your student’s strengths and needs within each step of the skill to directly target the area of high need when writing your IEP goal.

Through your assessment, you have learned what type of support is meaningful for your student (visual cues, verbal reminders, etc.), which will allow you to set measurable criteria for mastery. By creating a task analysis, you also have a thorough way to segment the skill, making it easier to track data on specific steps.

You know what your student is capable of since you just completed an informal assessment and observed your student attempting the entire skill. If their attention and stamina did not allow for completion of the skill, consider adjusting expectations by targeting only a portion of the skill in the IEP goal. Or include explicit levels of support within the goal that will increase your student’s likelihood of achieving it.

Example: When given a visual support, Samantha will independently and accurately add two-digit numbers with regrouping with 80% accuracy in 8 out of 10 trials within a 9 week period.

The remaining elements of relevant and time-bound can be addressed as you consider what both you and your student are capable of achieving (“Is this relevant within the context of my classroom?”) and as you are setting your criteria for mastery (“What is the specific time frame in which I expect my student to meet this goal?”).

Task Analysis in Instruction

There are three methods for using task analysis in your instruction . Select the method that best fits your learner’s strengths and needs.

Forward Chaining

Start by teaching and reinforcing the first step of the skill. Then provide as much support as needed for your student to successfully complete the remaining steps. Once the first step is mastered, teach and reinforce the second step. Continue likewise with the remaining steps until the entire skill is mastered.

Backward Chaining

Start by supporting your student through all but the final step of the task. Then teach and reinforce the final step. Once they have mastered that step, continue likewise with the preceding step until all steps are mastered. This method benefits students who respond to immediate success as prompting is not faded until the last step.

Total Task Presentation

Teach and reinforce each step of the sequence simultaneously. The student learns to complete the entire task at once. This method works best for those who already show partial or full independence with some of the steps in the sequence.

When evaluating which method to use, consider your student’s learning style and temperament. Also consider the learning environment and time available to teach; for example, total task presentation may require more time as you teach and reinforce each step of the skill. Think about any past experiences with using task analysis. What method has been successful for your student? In addition, look closely at the IEP goal related to the target skill. The method of task analysis to use may already be indicated in that goal.

Progress Monitoring

As always, effective progress monitoring will not only inform you of your student’s progress but also can help you evaluate your instruction. Examine your data regularly to adjust your instructional plan, as needed. If your student shows a lack of or plateau in progress, look at your data to help answer the following questions:

• Is the learning target clearly defined and measurable?
• Is the skill completely task analyzed and in the order that makes the most sense for your learner?
• Is your team consistently using the same method of chaining?
• Is the reinforcement meaningful and powerful enough for your student? Is it being used consistently?

Remember that instruction is an ongoing process of assessing, planning, teaching, and evaluating. Your data can inform decisions on what adjustments to make in order for your student to achieve success.

About the Author

Becky Dees is an Educational Consultant who specializes in Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has worked as an autism clinician, an educational coach, and a special education trainer. Becky currently works with the autism group in research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Becky received her degree in psychology from UNC‑Chapel Hill.

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Task Analysis in Special Education: Break Down Complex Tasks into Managable Chunks to Aid Students with Disabilities

• Categories : Teaching students with learning disabilities
• Tags : Special ed information for teachers & parents

What is Task Analysis?

Task analysis is a process by which a task is broken down into its component parts. Everyone uses task analysis at some point, even if it is unconsciously. How else would anyone learn to complete processes? As the adage goes, you have to walk before you can run. It is easy to forget that some tasks need to be broken down into chunks, because after a time, they become like second nature to us. We often expect students to be able to figure out the steps involved in completing a task. But with a special needs population, where you might have children with processing disorders or difficulty with organization, it’s necessary to take the time to express the different parts of a task until the student has mastered each one.

Consider telling a student to put his coat on to go home at the end of the day. It seems self-explanatory. Yet when you think about it, there are several steps involved. Where is the coat? If the student isn’t already holding it, he has to go to a location to retrieve it. Once that is accomplished, how does he put on the coat? He could just stick his arms in, but then it would be backwards. He could lay it on the floor, stick both arms in upside down and then flip it overhead, but that in itself is three steps. He could put one arm in and then send the coat around his back until he finds the other sleeve to put his arm into – three more steps. Finally, should he just leave the coat hanging open? Is there a zipper, snaps or buttons? Working any of those fasteners requires several operations. So, the simple instruction of putting on a coat to go home is not as simple as it may have initially seemed.

How Does Task Analysis Work?

Like any other undertaking, Task Analysis can also be deconstructed into steps:

• Determine what task you want the student to perform
• Figure out what steps will be required to complete the task.
• Teach the student one step until the student displays mastery of it.
• Decide what order to teach the steps in. You might have the student master the last step,then second to last and so on until the entire task can be done independently. Or vice versa, you can work from the first step to the last. This is known as chaining.
• As each part of the process is learned, add it to the chain until the task can be completed independently.

Task Analysis can be an invaluable tool for a special educator trying to help students gain independence. Whether the students have cognitive, physical or communication impairments, they can benefit from this process.