Building vocabulary is necessary for fluid reading & writing. But a great vocabulary depends on students getting early, frequent, & sustained exposure to words that expand their horizons. 

Ableism is to disability what racism or sexism is to ethnicity & gender. Ableism involves discriminatory attitudes & practices arising from the perception that a person who experiences disABILITY is in some sense inferior to a person who does not experience a disability.

Accommodations are changes in how something is taught or the materials used to teach it. The goal is to make it possible for a student to work around learning challenges. For instance, a student with language difficulties might not have to answer questions out loud. But would still have to learn the same material as other students.

ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder): Term commonly used to describe symptoms of inattention, distractibility, & poor working memory. 

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): Term used to describe additional symptoms of hyperactivity & impulsivity. 

Appropriate intervention: Approaches that meet the needs of the learner & help reduce the development of further barriers to learning

Assessment: The process of collecting & interpreting evidence of a learner’s performance.

Assistive technology is any kind of tool that helps students work around their issues. These could include a laptop, voice recognition software or electronic math worksheets.

Atypical Behaviour: Behaviour that is deemed to be out of character or not expected

Auditory memory refers to the brain’s ability to remember what it hears. That might include a teacher’s lecture or a line in a play. Weak auditory memory makes it hard to follow directions.

Auditory processing is the brain’s ability to process & interpret sound correctly. Trouble with auditory processing is not related to hearing loss.

Automaticity: Becoming automatic in a skill.

Average range is a term specialists use when they test for learning issues. If a child scores below average in listening comprehension, for instance, they may suspect a language disorder.

Blended Learning

Classroom practitioners: Staff supporting learners in the classroom – teachers & & support staff

Cognitive Ability: Intellectual capability

Collaborative: All involved are working together in partnership.

Consultation: Opportunity to discuss & share views & ideas.

Creativity: Originality, vision, inventiveness & innovation in arts, science, math & design & other areas of the curriculum.

Curriculum: All of the experiences are planned for children & young people through their education. It is not specific to subject areas but applies to activities that take place across the school including lunchtimes, after-school clubs & excursions.

Decoding is the ability to recognize basic sounds & sound blends within a word. It can involve sounding out an unfamiliar word & being able to read it out loud.

DLD (Developmental Language Disorder): A diagnosis given to a person who has difficulty talking and/or understanding language. It has been known as expressive-receptive language disorder, specific language impairment, or speech-language impairment. 

Differentiation: The adjustment of teaching & learning strategies & resources to suit the accessibility & learning needs of pupils.

Disability: Impact on the individual’s daily life is significant/severe – 2010 Equality Act.

DSM-5 stands for The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. (It is also called DSM-V.) This is the guide doctors & specialists use to diagnose learning, attention & behaviour disorders.

Dyslexia:  an alternative term used to refer to a pattern of learning difficulties characterised by problems with accurate or fluent word recognition, poor decoding, & poor spelling abilities.

Dyslexia-Friendly Approaches: Learning & teaching approaches are designed to enable learners to interact with them using a range of senses & skills. These approaches also support a wide range of learners.

Early Identification: Identifying & supporting additional support needs as they arise – not waiting until a specific age /time to identify & support needs.

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Hybrid Learning

Inclusion: ‘Schools should accommodate all children regardless of the physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other condition’. UNESCO

Inclusive practice: Removing barriers to enable the learner’s full participation with the school curriculum & school community. To ensure they learn to the best of their ability & achieve positive outcomes.

Inclusive Education: Is a way of thinking; a deeply held belief that all children, regardless of ability or disABILITY, are valued members of the school & classroom community.

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Language proficiency refers to whether the student has enough language skills to read, listen, write & communicate well.

Listening comprehension refers to the ability to understand speech. Kids with poor listening comprehension may have trouble interpreting what others say.

Literacy: The set of skills that allows an individual to engage fully in society & in learning, through the different forms of language, & the range of texts, which society values & finds useful (Curriculum for Excellence).

Modified Curriculum: changes to what’s being taught. The student may have a simpler assignment. Or he may not be expected to learn as much.

Multi-Sensory: Using all of the available senses to aid learning – hear it, see it, say it, write it: – do it, act it out, shape it with dough, trace it, type it on the computer, feel it etc.

Neurodevelopmental: The development of the brain or nervous system.

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Pedagogy is the study of the theory, methods & activities of education.

Phonological Awareness refers to the general ability to attend to & discriminate between the sounds of language (as distinct from its meaning).

Phonological Processing refers to the ways children simplify speech as they’re learning to talk. Phonemic awareness is just one example of phonological processing.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about & break down the individual sounds in spoken words. It’s a key skill for learning to read.

Processing Skills: How the brain processes & uses a range of information e.g. text, sound, object or event.

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Remote Learning:

Reading Comprehension Levels: Ability to understand & gain meaning from what has been read.

Reading Fluency: Ability to read text accurately & quickly & with expression.

Scaffolded Curriculum:

Screening is often the first step in determining whether a child has a learning issue. It may include observation, interviews, a brief written test & a review of school & health records.

SEN (Special Education Needs):

SEND (Special Education Needs & Disabilities): People who experience disability: The reality in current Australian society is that the use of ‘disabled person’ generally involves a negation of personhood, rather than recognition of the social imposition of disability. Consequently, the term people who experience disability is used to recognise the social imposition of disability, whilst still identifying the person first. 

Sequencing & Directionality: Ability to carry out a task in a particular order & understand the spatial direction e.g. orientation, left & right.

Short-term Memory: Ability to hold, but not manipulate, a small amount of information for a short period of time.

SLD (Specific Learning Difficulties): A term that is used to refer to a range of learning differences/difficulties such as Dyslexia, dyspraxia ADD & ADHD.

Spatial Awareness: The ability to be aware of oneself in space. It is an organised knowledge of objects in relation to oneself in that given space. Spatial awareness also involves understanding the relationship of these objects when there is a change of position.

Standardised Assessment: A test that is administered & marked in a consistent manner. Standardised scores & percentile rankings are usually provided. These tests often need to be purchased.

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UDL (Universal Design for Learning): Ensures that all environments & experiences are ready for all children, rather than targeting learning experiences to a homogenised ‘middle ground’, which excludes most learners, including many children who experience disabilities.

Visual Processing: Seen or perceived by the eyes & processed by the brain

  promoting egalitarian processes & attending to differential needs.

Working Memory: Process the information stored in the short-term memory into meaningful stimuli.

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Building vocabulary is necessary for fluid reading & writing. But a great vocabulary depends on students getting early, frequent, & sustained exposure to words that expand their horizons. These great vocabulary games, apps, & websites do just that, getting words in front of students in engaging ways, & giving students supports to understand definitions, uses, & meanings. Use these vocabulary tools — alongside a regular reading habit — to help students build word knowledge. They feature tech-enabled supports like text-to-speech, customizable flash cards, adaptive instruction, & clever gameplay. There are also resources for teachers to craft activities, lessons, & assessments to keep kids’ vocabulary skills on track.