35 Frequently-Used Special Education Acronyms Every Parent Should Learn (PDF Chart)

When I first started this journey, I swore that I wouldn’t do this! I swore that I would never be one of “those people.” Those people who speak in IEP and special education acronyms. Guess what? I am one.

This list of special education acronyms was crowdsourced from our parent group. We asked all the parent to contribute what they felt are the most commonly used IEP acronyms, and this is their list.

List of Special Education Acronyms

ABA	Applied Behavior Analysis
APS	Approved Private School
AT/AAC	Assistive Technology or Augmented Communication (different acronyms but often paired)
BCBA	Board Certified Behavior Analyst
BIP/PSP/PBSP	Behavior Improvement Plan/Positive Support Plan
BASC	Behavior Assessment System for Children
CBI	Community Based Instruction
DIBELS	Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills, an early reading assessment.
ED	Emotionally Disturbed
ER	Evaluation Report. Your child only ever receives one ER report. Everything after the first one is an RR.
ESY	Extended School Year
FAPE	Free and Appropriate Education
FBA	Functional Behavior Assessment
IEE	Independent Education Evaluation
LEA	Local Education Agency
LRE	Least Restrictive Environment
MA	Medical Assistance, Medicaid
OCR	Office of Civil Rights
PLOP	Present Levels of Performance or PLAAFP
PT	Physical Therapy/Therapist (work on gross motor skills)
PTE	Permission to Evaluate
PWN	Prior Written Notice
O & M	Orientation and Mobility
RR	Re-evaluation Report, for most every 3 years.
SD	School District
SDI	Specially Designed Instruction
SLD	Specific Learning Disability
SLP	Speech Language Pathologist
TVI	Teacher of the Visually Impaired
OT	Occupational Therapy/Therapist (fine motor skills)
ASD	Autism Spectrum Disorder (one of the disability classifications on an IEP)
ED	Emotionally Disturbed (one of the disability classifications on an IEP)
ELL/ESL	English Language Learner/Second Language
EI	Early Intervention
IFSP	Individual Family Service Plan
OHI	Other Health Impaired (one of the disability classifications on an IEP) ADHD falls under this
RTI/MDSS	Response to Intervention or Multi Disciplinary Supports Services, RTI is NOT special education
FERPA	Federal Education Records Privacy Act
HH	Hard of Hearing
IEP	Individualized Education Plan
AEDY	Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth

If you are looking for definitions of these special education acronyms, we have a whole separate post with Special Education Terminolgy.

IEP Stands For…..

And let’s face it, acronyms exist for a reason. IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan.

To say “individualized education plan” over and over is much more cumbersome than IEP. Note: on the IDEA website, they use Program, not Plan.

However, on the Pattan site, it says Plan. Plan and Program are often used interchangeably.

The FAPE acronym is Free and Appropriate Education.

Special Education Acronyms

Or NOREP, that’s a long one. What’s a NOREP? Glad you asked! That IEP acronym stands for Notice of Recommended Educational Placement, and is PA specific. It’s what we call the PWN.

As if learning about a PWN wasn’t enough work, PA residents have to learn it twice.

For a long time, I thought of publishing a list of acronyms on here. Pattan puts one out and I have it. But they are also available online.

Some of the sites I have seen list up to 3 pages of them! So what I decided to do, poll the parents in the chat group about what acronyms they find themselves using frequently.

So no, I haven’t statistically or scientifically verified that these are the most commonly used special education abbreviations. This is anecdotal information, but my group has well over 200k parents in it.

And, there definitely was a pattern. If I was going to recommend a list of IEP acronyms that you should memorize, this would be the list.

In this list of special education acronyms, I also have hyperlinked most of them to a post explaining more about it. I wanted to keep the explanations brief on this list.

IEP Acronyms

For most of them, you can click on the Special Education Acronym to get more information. Also, if you scroll down I have more information and even a free printable of IEP Acronyms.

ABA	Applied Behavior Analysis
APS	Approved Private School
AT/AAC	Assistive Technology/Augmented Communication
BCBA	Board Certified Behavior Analyst
BIP/PSP/PBSP	Behavior Improvement Plan/Positive Support Plan
BASC	Behavior Assessment System for Children
CBI	Community Based Instruction
DIBELS	Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills, an early reading assessment.
ED	Emotionally Disturbed
ER	Evaluation Report. Your child only ever receives one ER report. Everything after the first one is an RR.
ESY	Extended School Year
FAPE	Free and Appropriate Education
FBA	Functional Behavior Assessment
IEE	Independent Education Evaluation
LEA	Local Education Agency
LRE	Least Restrictive Environment
MA	Medical Assistance, Medicaid
OCR	Office of Civil Rights
PLOP	Present Levels of Performance or PLAAFP
PT	Physical Therapy/Therapist (work on gross motor skills)
PTE	Permission to Evaluate
PWN	Prior Written Notice
O & M	Orientation and Mobility
RR	Re-evaluation Report, for most every 3 years.
SD	School District
SDI	Specially Designed Instruction
SLD	Specific Learning Disability
SLP	Speech Language Pathologist
TVI	Teacher of the Visually Impaired
OT	Occupational Therapy/Therapist (fine motor skills)
ASD	Autism Spectrum Disorder (one of the disability classifications on an IEP)
ED	Emotionally Disturbed (one of the disability classifications on an IEP)
ELL/ESL	English Language Learner/Second Language
EI	Early Intervention
IFSP	Individual Family Service Plan
OHI	Other Health Impaired (one of the disability classifications on an IEP) ADHD falls under this
RTI/MDSS	Response to Intervention or Multi Disciplinary Supports Services, RTI is NOT special education
FERPA	Federal Education Records Privacy Act
HH	Hard of Hearing
IEP	Individualized Education Plan
AEDY	Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth

State Specific Special Education Terms

I am highlighting some state specific special education terms for this special education glossary, and yes, I have included PA specific ones. Since I live in PA, may of my readers do too! If you have one you wish to be added, just email us.

1. IU-Intermediate Unit, these are unique to PA and we have 29 of them, they are the “intermediate unit” that is the link between the state department of education and the school district, provide special ed services
2. ARD-this is unique to Texas, stands for Admission, Review, Dismissal
3. PDE-Pennsylvania Department of Education
4. LTF–Local Task Force, PA only, please join yours!
5. NOREP-Notice of Recommended Educational Placement. It’s what PA calls the PWN.

Printable List of Special Education Acronyms

If you want, print this special ed acronym cheat sheet so you have it for IEP meetings and correspondence.

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Special Education Acronyms List

If you want a graphic, here you go. This is a list of acronyms for special education, just in a prettier format than above.

But, once your child has an IEP for a few years, you’ll be speaking in acronyms too!