Glossary
Special Education Teacher Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential special education teacher terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key special education teacher vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in special education teacher training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Accommodation
- A change in how a student learns.
- Assistive technology
- Tools that help students access learning.
- BIP
- Behavior intervention plan.
- Co-teaching
- General and special educators teaching together.
- FAPE
- Free appropriate public education.
- FBA
- Functional behavior assessment.
- IDEA
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
- IEP
- Individualized education program.
- LRE
- Least restrictive environment.
- Modification
- A change in what a student learns.
- Present levels
- A student’s current performance in an IEP.
- Progress monitoring
- Tracking growth toward goals.
- Resource room
- A setting for part-time special education.
- Self-contained classroom
- A full-time special education class.
- Transition plan
- Planning for life after high school.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Special Education Teacher practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Special Education Teacher training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.