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 |
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.
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 acronyms, this is anecdotal.
But there definitely was a pattern. If I was going to recommend a list of special education 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 Schoool |
| 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.
- 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
- ARD-this is unique to Texas, stands for Admission, Review, Dismissal
- PDE-Pennsylvania Department of Education
- LTF–Local Task Force, PA only, please join yours!
- 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.
Education_ABCsSpecial 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!