Special Ed Speech

Special education is full of acronyms.
IEP, FAPE, IDEA, LRE, MET, PAM, SELPA, are a few that I can think of the off the top of my head that have to deal with all of special education.

Then there are the dozens of acronyms having to do with visual impairments:
RoP, RP, CVI, ONA, ONH, for eye conditions.
NFB, AFB, RFBD, APH, _SB, VI, organizations.

There are many others for other disabilities. Then there are those for general education. You get to the point where you use them so often that you know what they mean, but forget the actual words that line up with the letters.

I remember in one of my special education classes I counted how many were used. I wish I could remember the number, but it was quite high.

You really can have a conversation using all of them.

1 Specialist: "According to IDEA he needs to have accommodations for his class."

2 Specialist: "Before we address that, are we sure he is in his LRE?"

1 Specialist: "Yes, we did FVAs, LMAs, and the WISC. This is the best place."

2 Specialist: "Ok. So for his accommodations: What does he have again?"

1 Specialist: "He has RP."

2 Specialist: "Is it Usher's?"

1 Specialist: "No."

and so on. They go longer.

These are the kinds of conversations we need to have involving less "special ed talk" with parents.

The longer you work in the field though, the more likely you slip into doing this. You converse in it everyday. It saves time for us as teachers and specialists. I know what all of those acronyms mean or at least refer to. I need to remember, however, that not all of the parents I work with know these terms, especially when beginning their journey.