Terminology

 Special Education Transition Planning

Family Involvement

• Adult Services – agencies and programs that are provided to adults with disabilities
• Advocacy – speaking on behalf of another person or group of persons
• Age of majority – the age that the state has determined persons able to make decisions on their own (usually 18) unless determined incompetent to do so by a court of law.
• Case Manager – a person from an agency who is responsible for seeing that services are obtained and coordinated for an individual.
• Eligibility – a set of rules that determine whether students or families are qualified to receive services based on the nature and severity of the disability, income, or other characteristics.
• Empowerment – education and practices aimed at transferring power to or strengthening individuals and groups.
• Entitlements - programs that must be provided to all eligible persons upon demand. Special education and social security are entitlements, many adult services are not.
• Family – a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head of household.
• Guardian – a person or agency that assumes limited or unlimited authority to make decisions for a minor or an adult who has been determined to be incompetent in a court of law (includes medical guardianships, guardianship of the person, and guardian of the estate).
• Inclusion – the process of including students with disabilities in the environments, activities, ad curriculum of typical students and persons. Inclusion may mean different things to different people. Sometimes used interchangeably with the term “integration”
• Integration – the process of including persons with disabilities in the environments, activities, and social networks of typical persons.
• Mainstreaming – a terms used widely in the 1970’s to refer to the practice of placing students with disabilities in the regular education curriculum. This term lost favor when it was found that many students were being placed in regular classes without needed supports.
• Natural Supports – refers to the use of persons, practices, and things that naturally occur in the environment to meet the support needs of an individual.
• Parents – the adults who play an important role in the child’s life, since other adults – grandparents, aunts, uncles, step-parents, guardians – may carry the primary responsibility for a child’s education, development and well-being” (National PTA, 1997, p.5).
• Referral – the process of notifying an agency to request services. A referral is often followed by an eligibility determinations to the referred agency.
• Self – advocacy – the ability and opportunity for students to speak on behalf of oneself.
• Self – determination – refers to the ability and the opportunity for students to make decisions for themselves.
• Waiting list – a list of persons who have been determined eligible for services that are in short supply and cannot be provided until openings arise or services are expanded.