504 is a component of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and protects the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education. Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district’s jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. This may be defined as regular or special education services. Section 504 does require development of a plan, usually referred to as a 504 plan, although this written document is not mandated. The Individualized Education Program (IEP) of IDEA may be used as the 504 plan . Typically, a student who needs 504 services needs accommodations and/or related services but does not need special placement or instruction from a special education teacher. For example, students with ADD or ADHD, who do not qualify under the disability categories of IDEA, often have 504 plans. General education teachers, resource teachers, and speech and language therapists usually provide the additional services.

Accessing the General Education Curriculum occurs when students with disabilities are actively engaged in learning the content and skills of the same curriculum that is being taught to general education students. This is our current perspective on access, which is more focused on curriculum access than access to a particular setting. Access is more likely to occur when instructional and learning goals are operationalized and monitored through appropriate assessments, research-based instructional practices and materials are utilized, and accommodations matched to the child’s individual needs are made available.

Accommodations are services or supports used to enable a student to fully access the subject matter and instruction. An accommodation does not alter the content or expectations; instead it is an adjustment to instructional methods. Accommodations should be specified in a student’s IEP. Examples include books on tape, content enhancements, and allowing additional time to take a test.

Adaptation involves an adjustment to the instructional content or performance expectations of students with disabilities from what is expected or taught to students in general education. Adaptations are usually included as part of a student’s IEP. Adaptations can include decreasing the number of exercises the student is expected to complete, assignment of different reading materials, or use of a calculator instead of working out problems by hand.

Annual Goal is a statement of reasonable expectations for a student with a disability to accomplish in the next 12 months. These goals are included in the student’s IEP and should help to direct the services and instruction the student will receive.

Assistive Technology is technology designed to be utilized in an assistive technology device or assistive technology service. An assistive technology device is any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Examples include: Braille readers, motorized wheelchairs, and specialized keyboards.

Autism (as defined by IDEA) means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects educational performance. Characteristics often associated with autism are engaging in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to changes in daily routines or the environment, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term autism does not apply if the child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has emotional disturbance. A child who shows the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the criteria above are satisfied.

Bullying includes behaviors and actions that are verbal, physical and/or anti-social, such as exclusion, gossip and non-verbal body language. It can occur at school or in transit between school and home.

Deaf-Blindness (as defined by IDEA) means concomitant [simultaneous] hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

Deafness (as defined by IDEA) means a hearing impairment so severe that a child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

Developmental Delay occurs when a child's development progresses at a slower rate than most children. This is often seen as a delayed achievement of one or more of a child’s milestones. A developmental delay can affect a child’s physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development.

Disproportionality is the over or under representation of minority students in special education. In other words, there is a disproportionate number, either a significantly larger or smaller percentage, of students from a specific minority background receiving special education services than the percentage of that minority in the population generally. Typically, African Americans and Hispanics are over-represented and Asians are underrepresented. IDEA ’97 specified that disproportionality needs to be addressed by state and local districts.

Dyslexia: Students who have dyslexia demonstrate an inability to attain language skills commensurate with their intellectual ability. The challenges these students face mainly arise in the area of processing information and having the ability to reproduce it in an understandable fashion. Individuals having dyslexia may demonstrate problems in any of the areas of reading, writing, spelling, or math calculations.

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