ACCESS EQUIPMENT Special Education Resource Unit
Glossary
The process of arriving at conclusions through the use of symbols or generalisations rather than concrete factual information.
Devices used by people with disabilities to enable them to perform activities otherwise prohibited by their disability.
Software that supports input to computer by devices other than the standard keyboard or supports output from the computer in formats other than those normally provided by the standard monitor.
Evaluative instruments designed to measure knowledge, skills and understandings in a given field.
Software created or modified to allow switch access through the game port via touch boards, switches with scanning, or single hand or finger keyboard use.
Materials to which modifications have been or will be made to allow use by people with disabilities.
Technology that changes existing technologies to make them user friendly for individuals with disabilities.
Process of human emotional growth.
Skills to smoothly change direction of body movements.
Non standard devices that enable a user to access computers such as large mice or large key keyboards.
Words opposite in meaning.
Inability to comprehend or produce language.
Evaluative instruments designed to indicate an individual's potential ability for performance of a particular type of activity.
Skills in the production of speech sounds.
Asperger's syndrome (AS), is a pervasive developmental disorder commonly referred to as a form of 'high-functioning' autism. Individuals with Asperger's are considered to have a higher intellectual capacity while suffereing from a lower social capacity.
Formal measures of ability, achievement or personality.
Any technology that assists individuals to overcome limitations.
Any test designed to measure the nature or speed made in response to stimuli.
The establishment of functional relationships between ideas, objects or experiences.
ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER - ADD
A medical condition which affects a person's ability to concentrate and maintain attention to tasks.
ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER - ADHD
A condition where inattention is combined with significantly heightened activity level and impulsiveness.
Capable of being heard; clear or loud enough to be heard.
Audiological refers to sound awareness and is used in conjunction with the use of heairng aids and other technical devices for hearing, as well as listening development such as responding to sound; associating meaning to sounds; listening, identifying and imitating language and speech that is modelled; and listening with competing stimuli.
Designed to increase the ability to identify and accurately choose between pure-tone and speech sounds of different frequency, intensity and pattern.
Any test designed to assess ability to hear. Includes audiometric tests.
Instruction and practice in the development and use of hearing skills and the auditory discrimination to enable an acoustically disabled person to make maximum use of residual hearing.
Auditory verbal techniques teach a child to develop the listening skills they need in order to develop spoken language using the child's residual hearing with hearing aids and/or coclear implant.
Australian Sign Language.
A developmental disability characterised by difficulties in social relationships, language, play development and perception.
The development of a set of behavioural expectations and a system of consequences to determine ways of reinforcing responsible behaviour.
A system of writing or printing for the blind which employs various standardised arrangements of raised dots.
Screen reading software program that converts text on Browse Aloud enabled websites into digitised speech.
The use of specialised toys or computer software in which one specific action produces an effect such as a specific sound, movement or graphical output. Can be used with any kind of input device .
CD-ROM (COMPACT DISC READ ONLY MEMORY)
A device that reads information from a high-capacity, read-only disk by using laser technology.
Centra is a web based software application that enables real-time, virtual meetings and online professional development. Events will be planned in response to demand.
CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING (CAP)
The inability or impaired ability to discriminate, recognise or comprehend information presented auditorily even though the person has normal intelligence and hearing sensitivity.
Alteration of movement or motor function arising from an injury or disease of the central nervous system.
Skills associated with collecting, organising and interpreting data, creating graphs, statistics, chance and likelihood.
Physical, emotional, social and cognitive growth of the child.
Oral, dramatic reading by a group.
Organising things into groups or categories of the same type.
Sentence reconstruction technique in which words are omitted from a sentence. To close the sentence correctly, the student must comprehend the story.
Process of human intellectual growth.
Study of educational theory and practice in different countries or cultures.
Words that are composed of two smaller words, such as - greenhouse.
Manipulation of mathematical facts to solve problems.
An intensive learning approach for children and adults with physical and multiple disabilities originating from damage to the central nervous system, in most cases diagnosed as Cerebral Palsy.
A conductor receives four years training in the areas of education, conductive education, psychology, anatomy, neuro-anatomy and speech therapy. The conductor provides a positive, encouraging environment for children/students by providing personalised tasks and positive reinforcement.
Any letter of the alphabet that is not a vowel.
The central thesis is that the learner is active in the process of taking in information and building knowledge and understanding; in other words constructing their own learning.
Programs provided by SERU services to support preschools and schools across the state. This includes advice in relation to the needs of individual students, professional development and the provision of information.
Clues to the identification or meaning of a word gained from parts of the words and adjacent words, the sentence or the paragraph.
Shortened words formed by omitting or combining some of the letters or sounds in written or spoken materials.
Thought process involving a search for the one right, best or conventional answer to a problem.
That number of words (usually 100-300 words) which allows an individual to communicate within his environment.
Designed to teach the correct form for various letters.
Reading carefully to thoroughly comprehend and evaluate what is read.
Method of language learning for the hearing impaired utilising manual configurations as a supplement to lipreading.
The total of the shared, learned behaviour of a group, including their customs, ideas and tools.
Current Awareness is a compilation of the latest articles selected from the range of journals held at SERU.
Having both hearing and vision impairment.
Program in which the sequencing of instructional activities are designed to develop systematically skills and abilities.
DEVELOPMENTAL LEARNING RESOURCES
Describes the range of play and active learning resources for children/students birth to year 12.
Program of reading instruction which systematically develops skills and abilities.
Standardised tests used to assess the mental, motor and behavioural progress in children.
Examination to determine specific strengths and weaknesses as a basis for intervention.
A pair of letters representing a single speech sound.
Two vowels together represent one sound.
Concepts involved in understanding the basic directions in the environment.
The inability to perform the motor movements required for handwriting.
Creative, imaginative and flexible thinking in which emphasis is upon variety, originality and abundance of ideas or answers, rather than upon finding a single correct solution.
A Chromosomal disorder which influences physical and intellectual characteristics.
Difficulty understanding or using mathematical concepts and symbols.
A specific learning difficulty that affects writing skills. It is characterised by difficulties with spelling, handwriting and transferring thoughts to paper..
Language-based learning disorder characterised by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. Dyslexia is neurobiological in origin and marked by deficits in phonological processing, naming speed, working memory and processing speed, which are unexpected in relation to an individual's other cognitive abilities. Dyslexia is sometimes labelled a specific learning difficulty, a reading disability or reading disorder.
There are some children who have difficulty with words, either it is hard for them to find the words they need when they need them (expressive dysphasia) or they simple possess inadequately developed vocabularies.
Dyspraxia is a complex learning difficulty which impacts on a learner's ability to think out, plan and carry out sensory/motor tasks.
Birth to 8 years.
A collection of services provided by public and private agencies to support eligible children and families in enhancing a child's potential for growth and development from Birth to Age 3.
Birth to 8 years.
Toys and games operated by either batteries or electricity.
Changes in affective behaviour.
Perception and understanding of others' problems, values and orientations.
ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)
Non-English speaking students learning English as a second or foreign language.
Process involved in the appraisal of status or growth.
Discovery learning in which the student constructs learning based upon observation and experience.
Planned procedures accompanied by controlled conditions and the observations of results to discover relationships and evaluate hypotheses.
Communicating one's thoughts and feelings through the use of finger spelling in sign.
Ability to produce language meeting both structure (syntax) and meaning (semantic) criteria.
Ability to coordinate the function of the eyes and the hands in carrying out activities involving the hands.
Social studies or guidance materials dealing with family relationships and values.
Fiction characterised by highly fanciful or supernatural events. Includes fables, fairy tales, folk tales and legends.
Class of literature comprised of imaginative narration especially in prose form.
Tendency of one part of perceptional to stand out clearly while the remainder forms a background.
Spoken or written expression such as metaphor, simile and personification.
Consonant sounds appearing at the end of a word.
Developing the use of small muscle groups.
Spelling by finger movements to communicate.
Cards containing print and/or pictorial representations.
An umbrella term used to describe foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and the less noticeable, but sometimes equally serious, foetal alcohol effects (FAE). FAS and FAE are permanent defects syndromes caused by maternal consumption of alcohol.
Process of interpreting and following written or oral instructions.
Essential ideas and constructs.
The study of language that deals with principles governing the formal features of a language, including sentence structure.
Developing the use of large muscle groups in various types of locomotion, object control and rhythmic movement.
Tests so constructed that they can be administered to a number of individuals at one time.
Counsel regarding vocational, personal and/or educational problems. Refer to categorical listing for specific guidance descriptors.
The skill of identifying and choosing between tastes.
The skill to associate, organise and sequence meaningful units of tactual - kinesthetic and visual input.
SACSA Key Learning Area.
Those who are Deaf or have identified hearing loss.
Content designed to interest learners whose reading ability is below that of their chronological age or year level.
A grouping of occupations concerned with food and nutrition, child development, clothing, housing, family relations, parent education, consumer education and the management of individual and family resources.
Two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings.
Story theme primarily amusing in nature.
The continuous process of increasing the presence, participation and achievement of all young people and adults in local community schools where possible. (Ainscow, M et al).
An accepted phrase, construction or expression contrary to the usual patterns of the language or having meanings different from the literal (to catch one's eyes).
The ability to form a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.
Evaluative instruments designed for administration to only one person at a time.
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
Application of modern communications and computing technologies to the creation, management and use of information.
See ICT.
Consonant sounds at the beginning of a word.
Any device that enters information into the computer by an operator or another device.
Baseboards with inset puzzle pieces.
Including students from segregated classes into mainstream classes.
A developmental delay.
Evaluative instruments comprising a series of standardised tasks yielding a score indicative of the intellectual ability of the individual.
The global network of computers used for a range of purposes.
The skill to identify and choose between particular positions or movements of one's body or body parts as well as feelings and senses.
Collection of two or more media formats designed to be used as a unit.
SACSA Key Learning Area.
Children with a language disorder have a significant deficit in learning to talk, understand or use any aspect of language appropriately.
A person with a receptive or expressive language disability.
The development and stimulation of expressive, oral and written language.
Children with a language impairment have a significant deficit in learning to talk, understand or use any aspect of language appropriately.
Materials produced with print usually 18 point type or larger.
Developing the internal awareness of sidedness.
A general term that is used to describe a range of factors that can impact on learning. These may include the presence of physical or sensory disability, education factors such as teaching approaches which do not suit the learner, environmental factors such as family issues, illness, transience or trauma.
Refers to much smaller groups of learners who have more difficulty with their schoolwork than can be expected for their age and ability. Factors which suggest a learning disability including: dyslexic type confusion of letters or numbers, or confusion of letters or numbers within a sequence, sequencing and short term memory difficulties, both auditory and visual; a genetic link.
Movement of the eye from left to right across the page.
The importance and significance of law, law enforcement officers and courts, and their relationship to and effect upon individuals.
Approach that is based on the patterns which govern the similar spelling of words and also regulate the sentence structure of the language.
Literacy is the ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activities, at home, at work and in the community; to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.
Reading materials dealing with ideas of universal interest.
Awareness of aesthetic qualities of literature.
The use of reasoning ability and logical thought processes.
Vowels having the same sound in a word as their alphabetical name.
Devices used with the partially sighted to maximise residual vision.
The inclusion of all students in regular schools.
Objects which require touching, handling or moving in order to gain information or response.
Requiring manipulative response.
Development of finger and hand agility to manipulate objects skillfully.
SACSA Key Learning Area.
Consonant sounds appearing in the middle of a word.
Vowel sounds appearing in the middle of a word.
The ability to remember, including memorising, retention, recall and recognition.
Learning or behavioural disorders in students having near average, average or above average intelligence as a result of diagnosed or suspected deviations in the functions of the central nervous system.
Racial, religious, political, national or other identified groups.
Devices or materials which assist people who have a disability.
Instructional technique by which the learner acquires skills through imitation.
Teaching technique of early childhood, emphasising free physical activity, individual instruction, intensive sensory and motor activity and early development of reading and writing skills.
Forces that initiate, direct and sustain individual or group behaviour in order to satisfy a need or attain a goal.
Requiring gross or fine motor response.
Form of physical activity based on problem solving, which enables self exploration through movement.
Educational programs designed to increase cultural knowledge.
The incorporation of text, graphics, sound and other medias into a computer document or presentation.
Approach utilising materials with formats which stimulate two or more sensory avenues.
An individual with two or more disabilities.
Stimulation of two or more sensory avenues.
The Negotiated Education Plan (NEP) is a learning plan which is compulsory for students identified as eligible for support under the Students with Disabilities Policy in South Australia.
Prose work based on fact.
Methods of communication which do not employ speech.
Tests which do not require the use of verbal symbols in the formulation or solution of tasks presented.
Skill of recording selected information from material presented orally or in written form.
The ability to understand, analyse, critically respond to and use mathematics in different social and cultural contexts.
Evaluation techniques using observation as opposed to diagnostic tests.
Rehabilitative process to help individuals to further develop essential life skills.
Computing software primarily designed to meet the needs of the office and management workplace.
The protection of workers in their employment in their work place from risks resulting from factors adverse to physical and mental health.
The skill to identify and choose between dissimilar odours.
Knowledge and application of determining whether or not sets are equivalent.
OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANCE DISORDER
A pattern of negativistic, hostile and defiant behaviour lasting at least 6 months. Characteristically seen in children below the ages 9 or 10 years.
Verbal as opposed to manual communication (sign language).
The understanding and appropriate use of spoken words that are put together in order to communicate with others. We communicate with each other to exchange information and convey ideas.
Designed to teach spatial orientation of the visually impaired to surroundings and the techniques of moving about or travelling using various mobility aids.
The skill of describing in an abbreviated form.
A device that receives information produced by the computer and makes it available to the operator in an understandable form.
Grammatical units such as nouns, verbs or adverbs.
Discovering Post School Pathways link is a web resource which provides information to support the planning of transition to post school pathways for young people with a disability.
An approach in which one child tutors another.
Evaluating instruments designed to measure an individual's awareness of the elements of the environment, usually through visual, auditory or tactual sensation.
Ability to distinguish between stimuli and to organise them into useful patterns.
Evaluative instruments in which the score is based on a non-verbal response.
Publications, including journals, which are issued at fixed intervals.
Refers to being able to identify where the sound occurs in a word.
The method of analysing a printed word to determine its pronunciation through the use of consonants, vowels, blends and digraphs.
Phonic Ear is a classroom amplification system and is designed to provide an even level of sound throughout the classroom, so that a teacher's voice is amplified about 6 – 10 decibels and is clearly audible above background noise at all instructional locations within the room, and students hear equally well wherever they are seated.
Study of sound-letter relationships and the use of this knowledge in recognising and pronouncing words.
Phonological awareness is the ability to auditorily distinguish parts of speech, such as syllables and phonemes. Children develop phonological awareness through verbal communication. Songs and nusrsery rhymes are particularly good tools for developing this auditory skill.
Program of instruction and participation in large muscle activities designed to promote desirable physical development, motor skills, attitudes and habits of conduct.
Techniques used in early childhood education organised toward teaching the concepts of classification and conservation.
An augmentative/alternative training package that allows children and adults with autism and other communication deficits to initiate and develop functional communication.
Technique of utilising recreation, structured and unstructured, for its own benefits or as an aid in instruction.
The meaning and derivation of prefixes and the spelling rules for adding beginnings to root words.
Pre-requisite skills necessary for the development of maths skills.
Developmental stage during which sensory skills and cognitive and affective abilities become sufficiently organised to enable the child to begin structured learning tasks.
Pre-requisite skills necessary for the development of literacy skills.
Educational site for pre-compulsory aged children.
A measure to determine the status of the student in relation to the content objectives of the lessons.
Pre-requisite skills necessary for the development of literacy skills.
The act or process of arriving at conclusions through the use of symbols, generalisations of concrete data.
Evaluative instruments designed to predict future behaviour or actions.
Instruction utilising sequentially constructed materials specifically featuring means for teaching facts, concepts or skills. May or may not require use of hardware.
An anti-victim training program designed to prevent physical, psychological verbal and sexual abuse.
Study dealing with the mind, with mental and emotional process and behaviour.
Standardised marks or signs in written materials used to clarify meaning and separate units.
The ability to answer and ask various types of questions.
The maturational level at which a child has developed the sensory and cognitive skills necessary for mastering structured learning tasks, is interested in learning, and is able to perceive the purpose and significance of what is being taught.
Skills needed to perceive and understand recorded language.
Evaluative instruments which measure various reading skills and concepts.
The act of understanding the meaning of recorded language.
The sensory and cognitive skills necessary for mastering decoding skills and comprehending language.
Pictorial or other coded representation used as partial or complete substitution for the printed word.
Skills in comprehending verbal, written or other forms of communication.
Leisure activities designed to provide physical development and mental stimulation.
Books frequently consulted for referral information.
Abilities employed in the proper use of dictionaries, encyclopedias, libraries and research techniques.
Skills to promote a lessening of tension in various parts of the body. May be accomplished through mental concentration, breathing exercises or muscle control.
The ability to cope successfully in the face of significant adversity or risk.
Inversions of numerals and/or letter forms.
Token, activity or praise given for appropriate performance.
Technique in which the student assumes the part of another person.
South Australian Curriculum Standards Accountability Framework
SACSA Key Learning Area. Study of any of the recognised scientific fields.
A software application that converts on-screen text into a digitised speech.
Instruments which provide a rough selection which eliminates certain people and includes others for more careful consideration.
Refers to materials which provide feedback as to the accuracy of the learner's response.
Health or science materials which teach about the senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.
Devices used to increase or enhance learning.
Materials and activities intended to invoke responses or heighten awareness to specific stimuli.
Skills that require the simultaneous use of both sensory and motor modalities.
The rules and words used in forming correct sentences.
Resources that depict a series of events.
Groups of materials that are sequential in nature.
SEVERE AND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES
Students identified as having severe and multiple disabilities have very complex educational, health and personal care needs.
Education about sexual reproduction in human beings, sexual intercourse and other aspects on human sexual behaviour.
Vowels which have sounds in a word other than their alphabetical names.
Method of teaching reading based on recognition and pronunciation of whole words.
A vocabulary basic to formal reading where each word is recognised or memorised as a whole, rather than by blending its parts.
A language used by Deaf or hearing impaired people. Also see Auslan.
Sign Supported English uses signs taken from Auslan. It is used in English word order but does not attempt to sign every word that is spoken.
The use of sign language to communicate.
Refers to materials which teach spelling concepts regarding silent letters.
The process whereby interpersonal relationships are learned during growth to adulthood.
Sociological conditions representing barriers to human progress.
Abilities of the individual to meet social responsibilities and mores.
Skills needed to identify and understand another person's needs and to successfully interact with others.
SACSA Key Learning Area.
Activities and materials designed to encourage make-believe play.
Study of society, social institutions and social relationships.
Soundfield systems are designed to provide an even level of sound throughout the classroom, so that a teacher's voice is amplified about 6 – 10 decibels and is clearly audible above background noise at all instructional locations within the room, and students hear equally well wherever they are seated.
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MODERN CURSIVE
Standard cursive handwriting form taught in South Australian Government Schools.
Recognition of the state or adjustment of the body or other objects in relation to the immediate environment.
The education of students with disabilities and/or learning difficulties or younger children with developmental delay.
Resources on loan from SERU which are adapted for switch operation for use by students with severe physical and multiple disabilities.
The study of oral communication, speech sounds and vocal physiology.
1. Hardware device that allows the computer to produce sounds similar to human speech through the use of a synthesiser or digitiser. 2. Software that supports the generation of speech through speech output devices.
The ability of a computer to understand spoken commands.
A hardware device that allows the computer to produce sounds similar to human speech.
Evaluative instruments which test speech skills.
Technique used for the development of speech processes and language.
Resources to support the teaching of spelling skills.
Evaluative instruments composed of empirically selected materials having definite directions for use, adequate norms, data and reliability.
Study of the collection, analysis, inter-relation and presentation of masses of numerical data.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES POLICY
The revised Students with Disabilities Policy (2006) sets the DECS commitment to ensure students with disabilities gain the necessary knowledge, skills and attributes to achieve to their highest level of learning and participate successfully in our society. It aligns to the Commonwealth Disability Act (1992) and the related Disability Standards for Education (2005).
The meanings and derivation of suffixes and the spelling rules for adding endings to root words.
Concisely restating the essence of a spoken or written presentation.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS
Materials other than textbooks ie library books, story books, some social and science books; usually easier to read than textbooks and designed to furnish enrichment.
Words, signs, colours, shapes and symbols needed for daily living.
A hardware device that allows a user with little motor control to operate a computer or other electrical device.
Hardware that allows the convenient connection of a switch to a computer.
Dividing words into parts according to established rules.
Words having the same or nearly the same meaning.
The way in which words are ordered, relative to one another, to form phrases, clauses or sentences.
Utilisation of the sense of touch as the sensory mode.
Stories recorded on CDs and audiotapes.
Instruction in wood, metal work, plastics and electronics or other industrial laboratory skills.
Books dealing with a definite subject of study, systematically arranged and intended for use at a specified level of instruction.
Speech output equipment that will pronounce (or spell) whatever text is input.
Use of all forms of communication available to develop language competence, includes use of any residual hearing present.
A neurological or neurochemical disorder charaterised by irregular motor tics - involuntary, rapid, sudden movements or vocalisations that occur repeatedly in the same way.
Planned activities to assist students transferring from one educational setting to another or into the workplace.
Software that instructs.
The development of an individual's personal, social, ethical or moral standards or values.
Pre-recorded program.
Utilisation of sight as the sensory mode.
Skill to identify and choose between shapes, forms and patterns when presented visually.
Non-specific term including both the blind and partially-sighted.
Visual tools are those things that we see that enhance the communication process. They include body language, environmental cues (menus, directions on packages), traditional tools (calendars, signs, maps) and specially designed tools to meet specific criteria.
The process of fixating on following a visual pattern or the movement of an object through space.
Instruction and practice in the development and use of visual skills and visual discrimination to enable a person to make maximum use of his visual ability.
An individual's speaking, reading and/or writing vocabulary.
Evaluative instruments used to measure potential for performing various jobs. Formal preparation for an occupation.
A hardware device that sends signals or information to the computer when the user speaks into an attached microphone.
Any letter that is not a consonant.
Web Links is a database of annotated websites related to supporting children and students with disabilities and learning difficulties.
Written in the context of the DECS Towards a Learner Wellbing Framework from Birth to Year 12. See DECS website. The framework aims to improve the levels of child/student attendance, retention and engagement in learning programs and improve child and student wellbeing.
Development of reading skills which enable the trainer to use context clues, phonetic analysis, structural analysis or syllabication.
Software that produces text on-screen in place of handwriting. Can include predictive, speech input, speech output.
Year level of schooling.